We just finished out Winter Team Training.  As usual, we didn’t follow the plan exactly as it was written.  The plan got us going in a direction and adjustments were made along the way.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  And nothing we did was terribly innovative or fancy.  Yet, somehow, it worked?

The Winter was broken into two, 4 week training cycles.  The focus of the Main Lift was always strength and power.  During the 1st Cycle the Supplemental Block was geared towards trying to bulletproof the lower body (Single-leg and RDL work) and to build an awesome base to work with as our running volume increased.  The Circuit followed the normal set-up (Lower Opposite/Upper Push/Upper Pull) and was geared towards hypertrophy and overall conditioning.

I gave the guys a lot of freedom with exercise choices during the Circuits.  I wanted them to get as much variety as possible with the movements.

During the 2nd Cycle the Main Lift continued with the development of strength and power.  The Supplemental Block became opposite of the Main Lift (If we Squatted or Deadlifted the Supplemental Lift was an Upper Push with a barbell.  If we Benched the Supplemental Lift was the RFESS with a barbell) still paired with an Upper Pull.

I dropped the Circuit and added in another paired block - If we Squatted it was RDL/If we Trap Barred it was Lateral Squats.  Again, paired with an Upper Pull.  Insanely simple.

During this cycle the guys did not have choices with exercises.  I wanted to focus on a few things to finish out the training.

The Tuesday run was basic conditioning for the first 2 weeks.  We did 50 yard striders/sprints for 3 sets of 5 reps.  Starting in Week 3 we transitioned from Conditioning to some Speed Work.  This was massively simple.

  • Starts: x10 reps
  • Single-leg Hopping: x2-4 reps per leg
  • Bounding: x2-4 reps
  • Build-ups: x2 reps
  • Flying 10’s/Flying 20’s: x2-4 reps

Thursday was the old-school team run stuff based around conditioning via agility drills.  We ran 4 different drills, two times though.  Each drill lasted 4 minutes with a two minute transition period for the guys to get to the next station and catch their breath.  Basically, Drills 1 and 2 were the 1st Quarter, Drills 3 and 4 were the 2nd Quarter.  There was a 4 minute Halftime and then we repeated.

I’m not sure if this was the best training cycle I’ve ever had, but it went really well.

A few notes that I think are interesting:

  1. Squat followed the normal progression of percentages.
  2. Trap Bar was done FSL style, sort of…  I told guys to choose a weight that they could do for 5 sets of 5.  I gave them their 70% as a reference. They did this weight every week. Two times we worked up to heavy triples.
  3. Bench followed the normal progression of percentages.
  4. Assistance Work in the 1st Cycle (Circuits) was about getting reps.  I wasn’t worried about the weight.
  5. Assistance Work in the 2nd Cycle was about progressing weights each set/each week.

We had a weird finish to training.  It was my understanding that I would have 8 weeks to train the guys.  For some unknown reason that still makes no sense to me, the last week was turned into a Hell Week of sorts.  I think this is some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever come across.  When I said this (in much better words) to the head coach he was set on the stupidity.  So, I adjusted.

Unfortunately, because of the schedule I was not able to test our Trap Bar.  However, based on the Squat results, the Trap Bar will be phenomenal.  I’ll probably test it after we finish Spring Ball. 

Main Lift Results:

Squat

-January Team Average: 375lbs

-March Team Average: 410lbs

-8% increase in 7 weeks

Bench

-January Team Average: 275lbs

-March Team Average: 300lbs

-8% increase in 7 weeks

I’m excited about this because I don’t set up the program to specifically improve the Main Lifts.  Obviously I want them to improve.  If I was training to improve my Squat as a powerlifter I wouldn’t do most of the stuff I need to do with athletes.  Plus, we wouldn’t run.  So, I hope the Main Lifts improve as a consequence of well-rounded training geared towards improving movement on the field as opposed to specifically trying to increase them.

I’m curious how this will translate to Spring Practice.  After all, this is why we lift – not to be weight lifters, but to improve athletic performance.

I’ll keep my eye on injuries, overall conditioning (which isn’t a huge deal because the coaching staff understands they don’t have to be in football shape in April) and then talk with position coaches about their players and if they’re seeing the positive impact of what the kids did in the weight room.

In the middle of writing this the Head Football Coach came in and we talked about the winter. He just made the comment that he thinks the guys are in the best shape at this point that they've ever been in going into Spring Practice. So maybe we hit the nail on the head with the training set up? We'll find out in a week or so.