Alright So ill try to make this short. Im a 2nd year football coach at my old high school. D coordinator for Freshman team. They got 2 weeks left in the gym for the summer and they told me to come up with a structured workout for the remainder of the summer. Problem is none of the freshman have maxes in anything. All theyve been doing is benching, squatting, and power cleaning 3 days in a row. No structure no rep schemes, no weight percentages, nothing. They just put whatever they feel like on the bar and do whatever the feel like doing in terms of reps and sets. The few days ive been in the gym the kids have been amazing, incredibly responsive and they ask a ton of Q’s which is awesome. They deserve much better than “just go do whatever you feel like”. I would have loved to just go 5/3/1 or madcow 5x5 with them but no maxes make all that very strange. Any ideas?
http://hurricanesports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/weight-training.html
Miami U’s football offseason training
i would love to do something like that, but they have no maxes to go off of, and the have hardly enough muscle coordination to bench and squat let alone do snatches and jerks
What about starting strength? No percentages. No technical lifts. Just load up the bar and go then load it up a little more next time.
Not the sexiest program going but you guys could probably get a little bit done in the 2 weeks you have left.
You shouldnt be worried about their maxes right away? You find their max right now…Easy enough to do that you tell them to get the max i dont get that issue? And You start off light with the weight and build up the coordination and core strength. You wont get to be an explosive football player doing curls. Bench squat and cleans are a good start 3 days a week for them because it works everything they need and if they go to weight lifting comps for football thats what they do.
you can use a starting strength program or the one i provided. Just progress slowly
thats actually exactly what i had them do today, worked out nicely
Check out Westside for skinny bastards 3, good program for young athletes.
Disclaimer: I haven’t done it, but I’ve heard a lot of good things
Remember that 2 weeks before camp is not offseason. It’s preseason. The goal in preseason is flat out to prepare the kids to play, and football players need to be multiskill athletes, not just powerlifters or just sprinters. A high schooler (especially freshmen) will gain strength with any lifting whatsoever anyway.
Put together a short and fast 3 day a week total body workout (30 minutes), then have them work specific skills and have competitions. Examples:
-Ladder or dot drills for foot speed
-Unilateral (translates better to the field that bilateral) strength and quickness - one arm snatch or clean & press
-Any strongest man type loaded goblet carries, farmers walk, or tire flips
-Battling ropes
-Agility/sprint relays
-Reaction drills (eg coach directed agility)
-Have them play a game of 2 hand touch if you can
-As many position specific drills as you can get away with. I know there are a lot of regulations on what constitutes a practice and what constitutes training