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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.