QUESTION:

Dear Coach:

I am getting ready for spring football at my high school. I play linebacker. My buddy and I have been working out hard at the local Y. Our workout consists of the following schedule:

Monday - Wednesday - Friday
bench press 4 sets x 20
dB incline press 4 x 20
seated machine chest press 4 x 20
tricep pressdowns 3 x 20
bb curls 6 sets x 15-20 (we do them until they burn!)
db incline curls 6 sets x 15-20 (same as above)
cable curls 6 x 20
crunch machine 10 sets x 20 reps each with as much weight as we can handle
leg extension 4 sets x 20
lying leg curl 4 sets x 20
calf raise 2 sets x 100 reps each, just bodyweight - we do these until they burn

On Tuesdays and Thursdays we do our running...to get in top shape, I have been running 1.5-2 miles every day on a track By our school.

Do you have any suggestions to help our workouts get even more intense?

Thanks in advance.

Jack

ANSWER:

Dear Jack,

First of all, it looks like your workout, although very demanding in terms of total volume, is not very specific to the needs of neither football nor the position of linebacker.

Football is a sport that demands anaerobic power, or the ability to produce maximum power (re-force production) for brief periods of time. Football is a fast-developing game of action, reaction and more action, with many plays lasting less than a minute in duration.

As such, you should be preparing your body to meet these demands. The workout you are doing is geared more towards the development of general muscle endurance and hypertrophy. While both of these physical qualities may have a beneficial effect on your base conditioning level, neither one really meets the needs of your sport and position.

In much the same manner, running long distances such as 1.5-2 miles will have a positive effect on your base aerobic conditioning and may help with recovery between bouts of intense anaerobic activity. However, this also does not meet the needs of your sport.

As a linebacker, you should be concentrating more on your ability to react to external stimuli and move quickly in the direction of play. This will often demand good lateral movement skills, explosive starting power, and the ability to accelerate, decelerate and abruptly change direction if needed. As such, speed, agility, quickness and balance must be key components of your training goals.

For the sport of football, the ability to produce power (speed blended with strength in a sport specific nature) is essential. Likewise, the ability to reduce force (force reduction) will help prevent injury.

The program that you outlined above does not appear to properly address any of these goals and objectives.

Without getting into too much detail (you can write privately to us at the clinic for a more personalized strength and conditioning protocol), I would suggest that you switch "gears" and apply the following principles to your program;

1. Speed and Agility Training
*Concentrate on lateral speed development as well as straight ahead speed.
*Concentrate on short distances - 5-25 yds. This is more specific to your needs.
*Concentrate on the ability to "get off the line", or explosive first step quickness.
*Concentrate on the ability to make sudden changes of direction (acceleration and deceleration).

2. Strength and Power Training
*Focus on exercises that help you to become more explosive
(i.e. Power Snatch, Cleans, Jerks, Plyos, Medicine Ball Throws)
*Focus on building football specific functional strength (Gambetta, Burgener)
(i.e. Perform most exercises from a ground based position - i.e. standing up)
(i.e. Perform Multi-Joint Exercises of a Multi-Planar nature -i.e. 3-d strength training)
(i.e. The majority of your exercises should be total body, closed kinetic chain activity)
(i.e. Concentrate on Legs -squats, split squats, lunges, lateral lunges, step-ups, etc.)
* Build Core Stability
(i.e. Work your core musculature from a multi-pronged approach)
(i.e. Flexion, extension, rotation and static postural stability)

3. Pay attention to Recovery and Regeneration
* Sleep, Nutrition, Active Recovery - stretching, whirlpools, pool work, hot-cold contrast, etc.

The above training is very general in nature. To be more specific to your individual needs, please contact our high-performance training staff at rclopti@aol.com to set up a consultation.

Do not attempt any activity or exercise, such as any of the ones described or alluded to in this column, without first consulting a qualified strength and conditioning professional, such as a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a certified speed development coach and/or a certified USA Weightlifting coach.

Best of luck with your new training.

Richard C. Lansky, CSCS*D
Director of Athletic Performance
OPTI Sports & Fitness Clinic
Sarasota, Florida USA

NOTICE: THE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE IN THIS COLUMN ARE NOT MEANT AS MEDICAL ADVICE.

YOU ARE URGED TO CONSULT A PHYSICIAN OR THE APPROPRIATE MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY OF THE ACTIVITIES, DRILLS OR EXERCISES DESCRIBED IN THIS OR ANY OTHER PART OF THE O.P.T.I. SPORTS & FITNESS CLINIC WEBSITE

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PERFORM ANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES WITHOUT QUALIFIED SUPERVISION, SUCH AS THAT PROVIDED BY A LICENSED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL OR CERTIFIED STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING SPECIALIST

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