Working with Workhorses
Today I opened my inbox and found an email from a guy who has made his claim to fame selling a football training manual chalked full of strength and conditioning workouts geared towards shaping gridiron giants. His system is essentially your run-of-the-mill heavy weight regimen with a few oddities thrown in for variety. In this email he focused specifically on linemen, their strength & conditioning needs, and the best exercises to implement in order to meet those needs. They are as follows:
1. Box Front Squat
2. Deadlifts
3. Sandbag Clean and Push (as opposed to press)
4. Romanian Deadlifts
5. Snatch Grip Deadlifts
What I find fascinating about this article and the related videos is that the guy acknowledges the fact that linemen need more than brute strength, saying that as a secondary job they have 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)." However, in neither of those "Top 5" exercises does the linemen move 1) quickly or 2) laterally. I suppose that it is possible to lighten the load and try to move the weight as explosively as possible, tailoring the workout to promote increases in power over absolute strength. Unfortunately, in the posted videos the guy performs a 1RM (or at least he only does one rep) that, naturally, takes several seconds to complete. In no way do these exercises come close to addressing a lineman's other biomechanical needs such as balance, body awareness, coordination, neuromuscular control etc. Targeting absolute strength only is not going to set a lineman (or any other power athlete) apart from the rest of the pack. I guarantee that the young athlete who possesses excellent footwork, displays tremendous body control, and has the ability to jostle a 280 lb defensive tackle around like child's play will most certainly win a starting spot.
Re: Working with Workhorses
The coaches the first year were very skeptical. I was lucky enough that the team had not been successful for a long time so i presented them with the question what do they have to lose? I was battling back and forth with another coach about the training that was being done during the entire offseason from january til august. The results during testing of the players, how the season turned out, plus the fact the number of injuries dropped substantially from the previous season was the greatest tool i can use when talking about this training. I understand what your saying about presenting this type of training to others because lets face it its so different that no one believes it. It is very hard to present this type of training and I would love to know how ssl responds when everyone bashes it?
Re: Working with Workhorses
John that's great man. Sometimes I wrestle with the conundrum of how to present this information to athletes in such a way that they'll readily respond to it. Sounds like you've broken pass that barrier easily and the results show. How did the coaches respond to your training methodology when you first started? I imagine they would have probably shown some skepticism.
Re: Working with Workhorses
I am on my second year of training a highschool football team and i do nothing of the conventional training exercises with the team. I only implement ssl training and this year i have put in the aquakinetic workout for the team as well. I can not say that we have the biggest or strongest lineman but last year there ability to be quicker off the line and make contact first greatly improved the teams ability to run/pass efficiently. The entire teams new quicker, faster, more explosive ability allowed them to make it to the playoffs for the first time in 7 years. Now with the aquakinetic system in place there are no limits to the growth every position will see.
Re: Working with Workhorses
well put plus most of those exercises put the athlete into the heel. As we all know an athlete will have a hard time moving if they are on their heels.