It's Not Over When the Pads Go On
Photo: GamedayMD.com Staff
Photo: GamedayMD.com Staff
The Friday night lights illuminate the battle for the grid iron below. There is a chill in the air, and the hot steamy two-a days are a distant memory. The football season is in full swing and now is the time when all those reps, sets, and drills of pre-season are paying dividends.
Every good coach realizes the important role that a productive pre-season strength training program can play in preparation for the fall season, but few realize the importance of a maintaining the strength, power, flexibility and conditioning of their athletes throughout the season. It is a recognized truth that a team that can stay healthy has a greater chance of success as the playoffs approach.
A properly run in-season strength training program goes a long way to insure a team's health during the football season. By strength training in season, the athletes can greatly decrease their chances of injury by maintaining elevated levels of muscular strength, which will help muscles, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue become less susceptible to season-ending pulls and tears.
Now, obviously football is a violent sport and there are certain injuries that are not preventable, but proper in season training will prevent the injuries associated with the weakening of the body during the long season. Since a football season has a pretty consistent weekly pattern, it is very easy to coordinate the strength training regimen with the practice and game schedule.
For our intents and purposes here, we will use a prototypical high school schedule to illustrate a sample training schedule. At the high school level, most games are played on Friday nights, so it is important to schedule the higher intensity workouts earlier in the week in order to maximize recovery time before game night.
In addition, the period immediately following the game should be geared towards rest and recovery in preparation for the schedule to come in the following week. Let's walk you through a sample week, so you can get an idea of how to incorporate a sound in-season strength training program with your team:
Saturday:
The day after the game should be focusing on the assessing and the treating of injuries from last night's game. The players will be very sore and stiff, so it will be easy to see any swelling or bruising as the players go through their exercises.
Workouts should primarily consist of dynamic flexibility drills for all the major muscle groups. The goal is to restore flexibility, increase blood flow, and flush out toxins from the muscles. After the workout athletes should ice down any injuries and focus on rest, hydration and good nutrition.
Monday/Tuesday:
These are the best days to train because they are early in the practice week and there is ample time for the players to recover before game day. Workouts should be intense, but with lower volume and shorter duration.
They should consist of multi-joint, compound exercises and core training. Workouts can be done before practice for approximately an hour. Considering the large size of a football team it would be wise to "split" the routine into an upper and lower body workout.
Example:
Upper Body # 1
Bench Press
Lat Pull downs
Shoulder Press
T-Bar Row
Upright Rows
Dips
Barbell Curls
V Sits
Med Ball Twists
Lower Body # 1
Squats
RDL's
Lunges
Gluit Ham Raises
Lateral Lunges
Leg Curls
Plank
DB Side Bends
Once practice starts the coaches can run the players through a thorough dynamic warm up, and then utilize some ladder, hurdle or bag drills as a continuation of the warm up to maintain foot work skills and agility. Practices should finish up with a conditioning based drill with the sole purpose of maintaining the conditioning level of the team.
Example:
"Gasser" Sprints:
Width of the Football field (50 yds) down and back twice in a row. 200 yds total under the goal time. Four reps or "quarters" is the minimal number of times this drill should be performed. "Overtime" or extra reps should be added if one group fails to make their goal time. This is a great way to build mental toughness and teamwork!
Players should be divided into three to four groups
1. Receivers & DB's (35 seconds)
2. Running Backs, Linebackers, Quarterbacks, and Tight Ends (40 seconds)
3. Linemen (45-50 seconds)
Wednesday:
This day can be utilized primarily for auxiliary pre-habitation drills.
These workouts will focus primarily on the areas that are most stressed throughout the football season in an effort to prevent injury. They are neck, shoulders, Ankles, wrists, hips and Core.
Sample Workout
4 Way Neck
4 Way Band Rotator Cuff
Calf Presses
Tibia Toe Raises
Wrist extension and Flexion
Hip Mobility Exercises
Abdominal Exercises
Thursday:
Training should be light mostly consisting of dynamic flexibility drills. The focus is on mental preparation and physical execution!
Friday:
On game day the athletes should have had a good night sleep and be preparing their bodies for the up coming game by properly hydrating and eating clean high carbohydrate and lean protein meals throughout the day.
If followed these guide lines will ensure a team's physical readiness and decrease their potential for injury. So now you have to ask yourself one question: When those lights go on, will your team be ready?
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