Leg Training for Linemen: The Top Eight Lower Body Movements for the Big Men
By
Steve Morris
One thing that absolutely baffles me about most football strength training
programs is that everyone does the same thing. The linebackers go through the
same training as the quarterbacks. The wide receivers do the same exercises,
sets, and reps as the linemen. As if we weren’t different enough as individuals,
now we’re going to take guys who perform extremely different functions on the
field and have them all train the same way?
Sure, there are many similarities. There’s a base of movements and exercises
that everyone should do. However, how, when, and how much of them is quite
different, especially when it comes to the big guys up front!
Some key points to remember about linemen are:
· They are much bigger than the rest of the team.
· Their recovery ability will either be much less or much more than
the other guys (more on this later).
· Their job is to move another huge, strong, and explosive guy using
strength from their hips, legs, arms, back, and just about everything else.
· Their secondary job is to be able to move quickly through space and
keep guys off of their quarterbacks. This often involves moving laterally and
blocking players who are much faster (corners, safeties, linebackers).
Linemen are workhorses, right?
Most linemen need tremendous amounts of work. They’re built big and can
handle a ton of work. In fact, some need this high workload to thrive. However,
there are some big guys who, by virtue of being so large, have lessened recovery
ability. This is usually tied to poor eating (we’re talking about high school
and college players who are quite large with high levels of body fat).
This will sound odd, but if you’re this guy or you coach these guys, the
first thing you should do is have them lose some fat. Yes, I know. It’s all
about having the biggest linemen on the field. And most guys will point to the
NFL, specifically the Dallas Cowboys from the 90s who had enormous linemen.
Sure, we all watched Madden circle ole’ Nate Newton’s belly, but the reality is
that those guys had tons of muscle and were bull strong. (There’s a video of
Newton benching 700 lbs).
If a linemen is too fat, he will need to be twice as strong just to move out
of his own way. Because this is difficult to do, it’s best to just drop the
excess weight. I’ll have a fat loss article specifically for linemen coming
soon. Until then, stop shoveling in the junk food!
Now, for those who do have a high work capacity, let’s get to work. We’ll
look at the top eight exercises for linemen (both offensive and defensive) and
how and when to do them. The subtle changes make all the difference in the
world.
1. Box front squats
Want explosive linemen? Want linemen who can physically dominate their
opponents and bulldoze their way down the field? Then adding box front squats to
your football training program is the first thing you should do.
While lesser known than its cousin the box squat, the box front squat is
actually more effective for linemen. If you’ve ever seen one done, you’ll notice
that the position is almost identical to the blocking/driving position—chest up,
arms out, and hips and legs working to go from a static position (your stance)
to a dynamic position (driving through the other guy). This is about as close to
sport-specific as one can get.
Many put the front squat down because it has less of an impact on the
posterior chain, but this is nonsense. The quads can’t be ignored! Plus, when
doing front squats on a box, you involve the glutes and hams to a much greater
degree.
These are quite easy to teach. You need a box that is at least parallel.
Ideally, an adjustable box should be used so that you can vary the depth. Unrack
the weight with the bar resting high on the chest near the clavicles.
Keep the bar high so that the stress on the wrists is greatly
reduced and the bar is in a more secure position.
Now sit way back and lower yourself under control on to the box. Relax the
hip flexors, pause for a beat, and then explode up. Don’t rock while on the box!
Performing box front squats will push your hip, glute, ham, abdominal, and
quad power to the absolute maximum and will improve any linemen’s ability to
drive, block, and bulldoze opponents. Keep the reps under five and the sets
medium to high. These are a perfect max effort movement. They can also be used
with chains or bands for an excellent speed movement as well.
2. Deadlifts
Deadlifts are the king maker. Before I go on, let me say that some of you may
have heard that deadlifting is bad for the back or some other such douchebagery.
This is plain ole’ crap. When done properly, the deadlift and its variations
may be the single best builder of strength and speed known to man.
If all you could do was deadlift, you’d be head and shoulders above the guys
who bench and curl ad nauseum. It still sickens me when I hear from athletes who
tell me their coaches tell them not to deadlift.
Deadlifts are ultra important for several reasons:
· They build tremendous starting strength. Many linemen are woefully
lacking in the ability to get explosive and apply strength quickly. Failure to
do this will result in poor performance on the field.
· Deadlifts strengthen the posterior chain, building power and
strength in the hamstrings, glutes, calves, and the entire back
· Deadlifts, like squats, build insane strength in the hips—the seat
of power for all sports.
· They build slabs of muscle. Nothing will make you grow from your
calves to your traps like heavy deadlifts. For young linemen who need to get
bigger, deadlifts are the way to go!
· The deadlift can be extremely useful for injury prevention. Some
believe that the moderate to high hamstring activity elicited during the
deadlift may help to protect the anterior cruciate ligament during
rehabilitation.
You can and should use many variations of the deadlift to round out your
training and keep yourself working as hard as possible.
The deadlift has many forms including:
· Snatch grip
· Sumo
· Rack pulls
· Hack deadlifts
· Trap bar deadlifts
This is only a short list of some of the many variations of the deadlift that
should be used.
Deadlifts can be used as max effort, dynamic effort, or moderate rep
exercise. The classic 5 X 5 protocol applied to the deadlift can put more muscle
on your frame than most other exercises combined.
3. Sandbag clean and push
Sandbags are alive. They move, change positions, and fight you every step of
the way. Sounds a lot like a live opponent to me.
Live opponent work ties in closely with the concept of strength leakage.
Weights are fixed. They stay balanced, evenly distributed, and constant. This is
good when it comes to building maximum strength, but it can hinder the transfer
of power to taking on a live opponent.
Wrestlers, fighters, and martial artists have used sandbags for centuries
because of their effect on strength when fighting someone. For the most part,
football is a three-hour fight. In every play, you line up and fight your
opponent. He won’t stay in positions that allow you to block or tackle him. No,
he wants to make your job as hard as possible.
Power cleans have come under fire in the last few years because many coaches
believe they are difficult to teach and aren’t as effective at building speed as
dynamic effort movements. Both of these points are valid. But by using a sandbag
in place of a barbell, we get around both problems.
Sandbag cleans are the perfect movement to build the entire upper body,
specifically the upper body muscles responsible for controlling your opponent at
the point of attack. Adding an explosive push on the last clean is a great way
to learn to transfer power from the legs through the upper body.
Load a bag and clean it in any way you see fit. Use the various handles or
mixed grips or just grab the bag itself. Now clean it to chest height. When I
say clean it, I don’t mean end up in one of those “split the legs eight feet
apart” kind of clean position. No, I mean finish the clean in the good football
position just as you would pre-block, tackle, jump, and sprint.
If you’re new to using sandbags, check out Josh Henkin’s stuff at Sandbag
Training Systems. His sandbags are the highest quality I’ve ever seen!
4. Romanian Deadlifts
Romanian deadlifts are an excellent assistance exercise for linemen. All
linemen need big, strong, explosive hamstrings. Romanian deadlifts build muscle
and power in the hamstrings and glutes and also hit the lower back quite well.
The Romanian deadlift is great for any football player because it’s performed
in a stance very similar to the “ready position” (hips down, knees bent, flat
back…think a linebacker or the position of the body pre-jump).
Romanian deadlift at mid-point.
For many athletes, the Romanian deadlift is a far superior exercise to the
straight leg deadlift. This is especially true for some of the taller linemen.
For anyone with a long torso, the single leg deadlift can become a lower back
exercise and damn near neglect the hamstrings. But because of the hip position
(traveling backward) and the intense pre-stretch of the hamstrings, the Romanian
deadlift is much better at working the posterior chain.
Romanian deadlifts can be done as your max effort movement, especially if you
do them in the rack.
5. Snatch grip deadlifts
We already talked about the importance of doing deadlifts, and as far as the
deadlift variations go, none are more perfect for football training than the
snatch grip deadlift. Because of the wide grip, your body is forced into a much
lower position than with a normal deadlift. This hits the hamstring and glutes
extremely hard, which is always a good thing for any linemen.
Begin just as you would in a regular deadlift, but your hands will be much
further apart. Don’t go collar to collar unless you’re extremely tall. Your
index fingers should be on or an inch outside of the outer rings. Be sure to sit
back and pull hard. A nice side benefit is all the extra work your back and
traps will get.
6. Dumbbell incline
I’m often hated for saying this, but I believe the dumbbell incline is a much
better movement for linemen than the bench. Obviously, the bench press is a
great exercise, but when it comes to athletes—not powerlifters—the incline
rules. The dumbbell incline much more closely mimics the path taken by the arms
in many athletic movements such as blocking and punching and in many wrestling
moves. For linemen, this is crucial. Keeping the elbows in and pressing out and
up is exactly what we do on the field.
The incline is also much better at developing the all important shoulder
girdle. It’s a nice compromise between the overhead press and the bench,
allowing an athlete to hammer the shoulders, pecs, and triceps.
For those with shoulder problems, the incline can be a life saver. When I had
rotator cuff problems, benching even super light weights felt like I was being
stabbed in the front delts! But I was able to continue doing inclines as heavy
as I could handle. When I fixed my shoulder problems, I returned to the bench
and lost very little progress.
The dumbbell incline is also incredibly versatile. You can use it for timed
sets, high reps, or moderate reps, or you can go super heavy and treat it as a
sub max movement. If you’d really like a challenge, try doing a one arm dumbbell
incline. Now that’s real “core” training! Again, for those young, small linemen,
these can be a great way to add quality muscle and weight to your frame.
7. Lateral lunges
Somehow we all forgot about moving sideways. Offensive linemen often have to
slide block, drop step, or post and gather. Yet 99.9 percent of most football
training programs only focus on straight ahead speed and strength.
I realize that most hate lateral movements because of the ego hit you take
when doing them. A simple 135 lbs has left many strong squatters sore beyond
belief. This should tell you that there’s an awful lot of muscle not being
worked with squats and deadlifts alone.
Adding lateral lunges is easy. Plug them in after your max or dynamic effort
movement for 3–4 sets of 8–10, and you’ll notice a huge difference in your
lateral speed.
8. The Prowler
The Prowler, which is a crazy looking sled that because of a set of handles
and a set of uprights can be either pushed or pulled, absolutely owns all other
forms of conditioning for linemen. The Prowler should be part of any football
training program. No question. Sleds are good, but the ability to get into a
blocking position and drive a weighted sled is invaluable. Both offensive and
defensive linemen will see their conditioning levels go through the roof after
only a few sessions on the Prowler. Plus, you can easily pull or push it
laterally, which as we already discussed, is very important.
Use the Prowler as a finisher or on a non-lifting day as a way to condition.
Because of the lack of eccentric movement, the Prowler won’t cause much
soreness, which is a huge advantage for athletes. One of the biggest issues
when designing a training program for an athlete is how to give strength,
speed, and conditioning their proper due without compromising any of the
elements. Use the Prowler for sprints, walking conditioning, or relays, or load
it up for strength work.
Wrap up
Start adding these movements to your training, and you’ll become a better
lineman. It’s that simple. For coaches who need to get a crew of out of shape or
skinny guys and turn them into a cohesive unit of bulldozers, these movements
are a must do!
Steven Morris is a personal trainer and strength coach in the Philadelphia
and South Jersey areas and owner of Explosive Football Training. He has been
lifting weights for over 15 years and has been helping people achieve their
fitness and strength goals for over a decade. Learn more about his methods and
services at
www.ExplosiveFootballTrainingProgram and
www.ExplosiveFootballTraining.com.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
