Program to Gain Weight/Strength/Power for Football

Hi, I am a 20 years old football player moving from defensive end to defensive tackle this offseason, so I need to gain some weight, strength and power. I have tried my hand at building my own training program, primarily based on the work of Jim Wendler and Christian Thibaudeau. I would like to know your opinion and advice on the training program I have built that I posted below.

Thank you all!

Print it, ball it up, and throw it in the garbage.

If you like CT’s work pick one of his programs.

If you like Wendler’s work pick one of his programs.


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Id suggest Wendler myself since he came from a Football background… But yeah dont combine programs what normally happens is that you end up with a abomination.

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This.

I also played college football (offensive tackle), and I have no idea at all what you’re trying to do here.

I would strongly recommend a Wendler program, again for the reason that he played football and has written programs specifically for football players, but even if you don’t go that route, here’s a whole-lot-simpler thing that I did between my junior and senior year of college with great success.

Sunday:

Bench Press 3x3 @ 90%
Incline Bench 4x10 @ 50-60%
DB Shoulder Press
DB Lat/Front Raises

Monday:

Box Squat 10x2 @ 70%
Power Clean 3x3
maybe some high-rep leg press as finisher

Tuesday:

all plyometric work (box jumps, ladder, etc)

Wednesday:

Bench 5x5 @ 80%
Bench Max Reps @ 225
DB Shoulder Press
DB Lat/Front Raises

Thursday:

Front Squat up to 3RM
Power Snatch 3x3 @ 80-90%
Power Clean 3x3 @ 80-90%

Friday:

easy 1-2 mile run (general conditioning)

Saturday:

five 400-yard runs (dumb, but this was our team’s conditioning test)

Highly simplistic, and yet, I came into that season in pretty fantastic shape probably because I just got down to work and went after it every day in the gym instead of overthinking every last decision about sets, reps, and exercises.

Read this too:

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Am i wrong, but dont most college Football programs have S/C programs that they expect their guys to follow in the off-season.?

I live in the province of Quebec (Canada), I’m not yet in college, I am in what we call here the cégep (which is between high school and college), and we don’t have a S/C program at this time of the year.

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Thanks, this is the most brutally honest reply I have received and I think I will follow it.

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Ok , got you…

I know OP already addressed this, but even in the States this can be a little hit-or-miss.

My school has a full-time S&C coach now, but when I was playing at a small school in the mid-2000’s (not that long ago) it was just one of our assistants that wrote our offseason “program” and it was pretty dumb - too many exercises, too many isolation movements, no real progression scheme.

All major-college (D1) programs will have a fulltime guy, but smaller schools might not have a dedicated S&C coach and even if they do, there’s quite a bit of variability in quality.

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Thanks for clearing that up for me :thumbsup:

When I played football, I was asked to go from wide reciever to tight end, so I needed to bulk. Try a 5x5 three days a week. Each workout Do a OH press, Squat,Bench, Row, and pull (deadlift, clean, highpull). Finish each out with a cardio session, sled pulls, sledge hammer swings, or heavybag drills. The other 4 days a week havw active rest.

Take a look at westside 4 skinny bastards too

What? No turkish get-ups with a kettlebell while lying across a bosu ball?

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Man, every time I read the original post, I become exhausted. I like training volume but that’s crazy.

I have the Cincinnati Bearcat strength and conditioning program from 2014, I believe. Complete with strength training, diet and conditioning drills. I don’t know how I could get it to you but I have it saved to my phone as an iBook.