Now that the summer is winding down and the fall season is upon us, it is time for strength and conditioning coaches to see if all of their hard work paid off. As coaches of physical preparation, our job is to try and improve talent levels and maximize our athletes' genetic potentials, so that they become better in their sport. I am a coach who isn’t afraid to ask for help and seek out advice from those who are smarter than me. At the end of the last high school football season, I sought out the advice of my friend Yosef Johnson, who is the President of Ultimate Athlete Concepts, and mentored under Dr. Yessis for over 15 years.

I thought I had a decent knowledge base because I corresponded with, and studied under coaches who I consider some of the best in this country. I'm certified by the NSCA and Westside Barbell, and I'm also an obsessed reader of Dr. Yessis, Dr. Verkhoshansky, Bondarchuk, James Smith, Zatsiorsky and Robert Sapolsky. However, after listening to Yosef’s recommendations, I was dumbfounded at the simplicity of it all. But knowing who he is as a person and knowing that he mentored under Dr. Yessis for a long period of time, I followed Yosef’s recommendations….with ¾ of the team. The other quarter of the team used a popular method that got a ton of praise for its practicality and results. I did this because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I knew that the with other program, the guys would see results because I used that program with myself and other athletes.

As I mentioned in the parts 1 and 2, through Yosef I had the great fortune of working with Dr. Yessis to help find the root cause of our starting quarterback Troy Green's season ending elbow injury, as well as build him into a better athlete. In the second article about working with Doc, I mentioned some of the results I was noticing with Troy after only working with Doc for a short time.

Following Yosef’s and Dr. Yessis’ recommendations with Troy and my team, I applied everything that I practically could with my athletes. Working with a high school football program is difficult for many reasons, however, compliance is one of the biggest issues. This includes: kids having to work, not having a ride from or to home, playing multiple sports, having to stay after with teachers, or just sheer and utter laziness. But all in all, the majority of my athletes worked extremely hard when they were able to come in and train.

Before the start of doubles, I compiled the results from the team’s training and tested my athletes in the 40, pro shuttle, vertical and single leg broad jumps. Listed below are the average (AVERAGE may be stronger) results from my entire team’s off-season training.

Training: Initial Stage of Training Junior Skill Position Player (three times per week)

Compliance Variables:

  • 25 Returning Varsity Football Players
  • 6 - 3 Sport Athletes
  • 11- 2 Sport Athletes
  • 6 – Athletes that came into the offseason injured or got hurt during their other sport
  • 3 – Students transferred in during Feb.
  • 8 – athletes w/ over >50% attendance (32% of the returning Varsity Players)

Facts:

  • Before off-season training
  1. 5 athletes benched over 200 pounds
  2. 1 athlete squatted over 300 pounds
  • After off-season training
  1. 12 athletes benched over 200 pounds
  2. 15 athletes squat over 300 pounds
  3. 2 athletes squat over 400 pounds
  4. 1 athlete squatted over 500 pounds

Results:

  • Average team increase in Body Weight = 15 pounds
  • Average team increase in Bench Press = 38 pounds
  • Average team increase in Squat = 118 pounds
  • Average team increase in 40 yard dash = 0.23 seconds
  • Average team increase in Pro Shuttle = 0.26 seconds
  • Average team increase in Vertical Jump = 6 inches
  • Average team increase in Single Leg Broad Jump with left leg = 9.6 inches
  • Average team increase in Single Leg Broad Jump with right leg = 10.6 inches

Stories:

Troy Green: Senior

  1. Quarterback: injured coming into the off-season training. He wasn’t able to perform upper body exercises until the end of February. He wasn’t able to hold more than 10 pounds in his hands until January.
  2. Wasn’t given full clearance to train until March, when he started to work with Dr. Yessis.
  3. He put on 20 pounds of body weight since last football season.
  4. He put 60 pounds on his bench press.
  5. He put 155 pounds on his squat.
  6. He took 0.15 seconds off of his 40 yard dash (4.78 – 4.63).
  7. He went up 7 inches in his vertical jump.
  8. He went up 10 inches in his single leg broad jump with his left leg and went up 16 inches with his right leg.
  9. His throwing velocity improved tremendously.
  10. He can drop back into the pocket much quicker, and can maneuver out of trouble with ease.

Athlete A:  Sophomore

  1. O-Line/D-Lineman: two-sport athlete.
  2. Put on 40 pounds of body weight.
  3. Started training with 12 degrees of internal hip rotation.
  4. At the end of off-season training, his internal hip rotation was 55 degrees.
  5. He put on 160 pounds on his squat.
  6. He took 0.8 seconds off of his 40 yard dash.
  7. He went up 5 inches in his single leg broad jump with his left leg and 4 inches with his right leg.

Athlete B: Junior

  1. O-Line/D-Lineman: two-sport athlete.
  2. Put on 20 pounds of body weight.
  3. He put 85 pounds on his bench.
  4. He put 260 pounds on his squat.
  5. He took 0.38 seconds off of his 40 yard dash.
  6. He went up 9 inches in his vertical jump.
  7. He went up 9 inches in his single leg broad jump with his left leg and 4 inches with his right leg.

Athlete C: Senior

  1. Wide Receiver/Defensive Back: transferred to school in March.
  2. Put on 20 pounds of body weight.
  3. He put 100 pounds on his bench.
  4. He put 155 pounds on his squat.
  5. He took 0.21 seconds off of his 40 yard dash (4.85 – 4.64).
  6. He put 4 inches on his vertical jump.
  7. He went up 4 inches in his single leg broad jump with his right leg and 10 inches with his left leg.

Athlete D: Senior

  1. Strong Safety: two-sport athlete.
  2. He put on 15 pounds of body weight.
  3. He went up 60 pounds in his bench.
  4. He went up 150 pounds in his squat.
  5. He took 0.1 off of his 40 yard dash (4.63 – 4.53).
  6. He took 0.13 off his shuttle run.
  7. He put 6 inches on his vertical jump.
  8. He put on 20 inches on his single leg broad jump with his left leg and 10 inches with his right leg.

Program Overview:

Efficiency – “The highest results obtained at the least expense of time and energy.” – Thomas Kurtz

We did not perform any speed work until the end of April due to lack of facilities and the awesome Central New York weather

  1. We used Dr. Yessis’ special exercises and active cords to strengthen the muscles used in running.

My athletes only used 1 set on the Bench and the Squat 3 days a week

  1. My athletes picked their own weights.
  2. No athlete benched or squatted less than an 8 reps.
  3. The athletes that were using Yosef and Doc’s recommendations FAR exceeded the athletes using the more popular method in strength gains.

In May, I switched the remaining athletes to Doc and Yosef’s recommendations

  1. My athletes didn’t perform any “agility” work.
  2. No cone drills, no agility ladders.
  3. We followed Doc’s cutting techniques to improve our cutting actions as well as used his special exercises to strengthen the muscles used in cutting.

Everything used was anecdotal

  1. Everything was based on the athlete’s progress and form.
  2. There were no set time blocks.

We didn’t change exercises for the sake of changing exercises

  1. The individual athlete dictated the length of using an exercise.
  2. The volume of explosive exercises was based on the athlete’s preparedness level.
  3. The total amount explosive exercises used during the whole off-season was 9 exercises.
  4. No Olympic exercises were used.

“Everything we were taught says this shouldn’t happen.” -  Jay DeMayo University of Richmond Men’s Basketball Strength & Conditioning coach

Lesson’s that I have learned:

  • Learn from people who are smarter than you.
  • Learn and teach the proper biomechanics (technique) in your sport.
  • Look at the individual athlete for their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Use specialized exercises (same neuromuscular pathway) to strengthen the muscles used in the specific joint actions in your sport.

The art of being a coach is to see how the athletes respond to the demands placed on them. Give the athlete a relatively light, but precise load - in comparison to the usual recommendations - and watch how they perform. Stress is not the key…optimal stress is! Athletes are going to adapt at their own rate. As coaches we can’t speed that up, we can only mess it up!

For those who believe that teaching proper biomechanics and using specialized exercises in a large team setting isn’t practical, I am living proof that it can be done with what I believe to be great results.

If I could give any guidance to physical preparation coaches out there, it is to take the time, money and effort to speak with and learn from Dr. Yessis.  He has forgotten more information than I know.

I want to personally thank Yosef and Dr. Yessis MANY times over, for their help and guidance.