“I tell ya. His legs are as strong as an ox, but he throws a punch like a 7-year old girl!”

Ah, yes, football coaches are definitely known for their sensitivity. Actually, in this case, the coach was right. I had been called by a coaching friend of mine to figure out what was wrong with one of their most promising lineman. The kid was big and could squat a ton, but he just wasn’t taking people out like he should be.

After watching him practice for a while, I immediately noticed he had two problems—he was leaving his hips behind a bit when blocking (a quick form correction fixes this), and his hands were slow (this take a little more work).

The last decade or so has seen the spread of heavy, hard, and fast lower body training. An emphasis on the posterior chain has led to increases in speed and explosiveness and has made the game of football a whole lot faster. This is a welcome break from the Muscle & Fitness inspired programs of the 1980s. However, many football training programs still neglect a huge element—upper body explosiveness! Hand speed is largely ignored. So many guys can run fast or lift a lot of weights but deliver a blow like Glass Joe!

If you have strong legs and explosive hips but no power in the upper body, you’ll get owned. You will lose so much power that the strength in your legs will be rendered worthless. In order to ensure that your upper body power matches your lower, here are four exercises you must do.

Rapid standing band press

This serves as a great warm-up exercise to the bench and will also train your brain to make your arms move fast and with maximum power. Setting up is super easy. Grab a light band and stump it around your back and over your triceps like so.

Don’t know how to stump a band? Go low on the back and the band should lie across your triceps. It’s from this position that you do your band bench.

Now, get into a good athletic position (back arched, hips down, chest up—just like you would on the line ya big dummy). Once your position is set, start “benching” that band as fast as humanly possible for three reps. Rest 30 seconds and repeat. Do this for 3–4 rounds.

Because you’re working against band resistance, it’s important to make sure you don’t slow toward the end of the press. Try to punch the band so hard that it breaks. This is similar to how martial artists are taught to punch “through” someone rather than just make contact.

Plyometric push-up

This is an old school movement that just isn’t part of enough football training programs these days. Plyometric or explosive push-ups are a great way to wake up the central nervous system and get the muscles responsible for bench pressing and blocking to fire. They’re also a great way to train yourself to produce massive amounts of force in the upper body.

Drop down into a normal push-up position. Instead of simply doing a push-up, you’re going to explode up. You should come up with so much force that you literally leave the ground. If you’ve ever seen someone do a “clapping push-up,” this is what it should look like. You need to produce enough force so that your body leaves the ground and you have enough time to clap your hands.

Clapping push-up

A great alternative to the clapping style push-up is to set up two plates (25s work well) push-up distance apart. Now, start the push-ups with your hands on the plates. Drop down and explode up. This will give you an extra inch or so of range of motion.

Prowler duck walk and punch

This is a lineman favorite. It isn’t only effective but super fun to do. This might have something to do with the fact that it’s very similar to actually blocking, and players can really see how the movement would carry over.

You’ll need a Prowler or sled and a set of straps with handles. Blast straps work great for this.

Attach both straps to the sled and walk them out until there’s tension. Now, drop into your athletic position—handles in hand with the arms close to the body (again, just like you would be pre-block). Get set and explode. Pop the hips and punch the handles up and out like you do when blocking. Walk out a bit, reset, and do it again. Repeat for 20 yards or so, rest, and then do it again.

You can do this without the straps by just using the upright poles on the Prowler, but if you train more than a few athletes, your Prowler could end up getting the worst of the exchange. The new Prowler drive pads will make this easier! Either way, the important thing is to make sure you’re learning to time the hip pop and punch properly. Having fast hips or fast hands is great, but you have to be able to coordinate them for maximum results.

Sandbag clean and push

This is a cool variation of the clean and press and is perfect for football training because it’s highly specific, especially for lineman. It will require great strength, transfer of power from the legs through the hips and to the upper body, and muscular coordination. All you need is a sandbag and a little bit of room.

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, or sprint.

For the first few reps, hold that position. Then pop the hips hard and push the bag as far as you can. Think if it like a standing bench press. It’s the exact motion used when blocking, making it an excellent movement for lineman. It is maybe one of the most football specific training exercises in the world.

After you get the motion down, begin to do the entire movement as one complete exercise rather than pausing with the bag at chest height before pushing. This is an ideal time to video the lift or have a coach/teammate watch you and critique your form. There aren’t many guarantees in football or football training, but I can damn-near guarantee that this exercise will improve your blocking and tackling.