College Football Training

[Andrew48]

I am a college football player at Jacksonville University. I am asking if anyone knows a few good training exercises that will get you stronger and bigger. We already do cleans, squats, bench, deadlifts, and snatch but, in season we go pretty light. I just would like to know if there are any other workouts that we can do in the off-season that will get us bigger and stronger without killing ourself?

[K.Diesel]

You've got the right basic exercises. Probably 90% of the people on this board will tell you Starting Strength which uses 4 of the 5 lifts you mentioned (overhead press instead of snatch). Whether or not SS is appropriate for you would depend on how long you've been lifting and more importantly, how much and fast you've progressed. You may be too advanced for it or you may be perfect for it.

Tell us a little more about your training history. What are your stats (i.e. height, weight, age, max weights on the lifts you mentioned)?

[Andrew48]

Alright well I am 19 years old. I am 6'3, my weight is 230. I have been lifting since I was in 8th grade. Bench=335 Clean=320 Squat=450 Snatch=205 Deadlift=360. Those are my maxes for the lifts. Just tell me what you think.

[Platus]

There are probably others on this forum who can give you more helpful information about specialized programming for football; however, looking at your numbers, I would say that your deadlift looks low. Unless you are using a squat suit or have some sort of limiting injury, your deadlift max should be above your max squat.

[Tor]

Hello Andrew,

Other than whatever is going on with your deadlift you've got some big numbers, suggesting that you've spent some serious time working with a barbell.

You ask about new exercises to help you out and K. Diesel responded with a question about where you were at in your training. This is because different things will work for you depending on how advanced of a trainee you are. Most people posting on this forum subscribe to the ideas contained in (or have at least read) the book Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore.

In this book trainees are divided into three categories, novice, intermediate, and advanced. A novice is defined as someone who can add weight to the bar every workout. You may remember from your early days lifting, poundages just shooting up. An intermediate is someone who has exhausted those easy gains, and now requires a more complex training routine to advance, but can continue to add weight every week (as opposed to every workout). An advanced trainee is someone who requires a month or longer of training to produce any kind of an increase in strength.

Most people will move through the novice stage in 3 to 9 months, but will continue to make advances in the intermediate stage for a couple years. Based on your high numbers but young age, I'd guess this is probably where you find yourself in your training career. The question then becomes not 'what's another exercise to add that will make me stronger' but 'how can I schedule my training, including sufficient intensity, volume and rest, so that I continue to add weight to the main exercises EVERY WEEK' (note that this could involve adding new exercises).

I'd suggest that you check out either Practical Programming or Andy 'KSC' Baker's eBook here: http://www.lulu.com/content/6143811 about strength training for the intermediate lifter.

KSC posts a lot on this forum and would probably be available for any questions you had, and this book is tailor fit for someone at your stage in advancement. There's a number of different templates to choose from based on your particular goals, but the overall idea is to drive up the core lifts.

Good luck and keep us posted with what you decide to do,

Tor

[Andrew48]

Yeah my deadlift is low because I have a problem with my lower back that started back during my high school days of football. Every time I try to go with a high weight I feel this tight pull on the lower right side of my back. No matter what it always happens. I keep my ass down in the deadlift and never pull it with my back so im not entirely sure why that happens. Other than that im working still working on getting my deadlift up. Still any one know what i should do like percentage and how many reps and sets. Not heavy cause im trying to save my legs on Saturday. I just want to know because our strength coach is a douche bag and thinks that going 70%-5 reps, 80%-5 reps, 90%-4 reps all for 2 sets is light. Our team is very sore the next day at practice and we always get mother fucked for slacking. Just help me out anyone

[K.Diesel]

Here's the best advice I can offer you on percentages, reps, and sets. It's a video by Matt Gary, CSCS, who owns Supreme Sports Performance & Training in Rockville, MD. I've worked with him since I started competitive powerlifting about a year and a half ago. He's been an invaluable source of reliable information. Let your douche bag strength coach watch it too, but beware - if he's got a big ego and thinks he knows everything, he may reject it before even watching it. Based on what you say about him, he's probably never heard of Practical Programming either.

Granted, this vid won't give you a program, but it gives a solid answer to your question about %, sets and reps which is useful in designing a program. It also gives you some info that is well regarded to counter the info you;re working from now.

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[Platus]

It sounds like your question is fundamentally about how to balance programming for strength gains with the need to recover for technical training (i.e. sport-specific practice) and for competing in that sport. There are plenty of differing opinions on exactly how to do this, but it is not uncommon to cut back on workout frequency or volume during competition.

You might want to post your question to Mark Rippetoe's section of this forum, as this sort of thing falls within his field of expertise.

[Mr.City]

I would suggest checking out the book "The Strongest Shall Survive" by Bill Starr. It's a book dedicated to training athletes in contact sports, like Football.

http://www.aasgaardco.com/store/stor...on=show_detail

[Andrew48]

Thanks for all the input. I don't need someone to type out a full workout for me just I want some ideas on what ya'll think or what do you do for a light workout. Let me hear em