What To Do About Football?

Ok, so I’m 13 going into highschool next year, I’m young for my grade. I definatley want to play football next year and have been playing for 5 years already. With going into highschool football comes the stress of impressing coaches, scouts, etc.

I’m not extremely tall,or big but I do take pride in my weightlifting (pretty much the strongest on the team). I’ve been doing a routine as far as: bench 4X4;triceps extension;row;military press;butterflies;bicep curls;

and for legs: squat (I’m on the 20 rep squat) calf raises;leg press;lunges;leg curls;hamstring curls.

Ive actually gained about 14 lbs since August. I was wondering if this is a good routine (1), if I could be doing anything different/more (keep in mind that I’m pretty young, ignorant, and am not a master lifter (2), there isnt an olympic style gym around here (3).

By the way, I play QB and I’m going to do a lot of speed work. Thanks GUYS!!!

Id search and read westside for skinny bastards. Its built to pack on good size and speed etc for athletes. Do the program and plenty of game work

Phill

If you’re looking for a great starting program to go with for strength, google up Rippetoe’s Starting Strength. Don’t change the program, don’t fuck around with it. Do it, just like it calls for. Mark Rippetoe knows what he is doing far more than you or I do. Either that or Westside for Skinny Bastards, which I am gonna be using.

Westside for Skinny Bastards.

Ok, thanks. Ummm i was squating yesterday and someone told me my squatting from was wrong, he showed me how to correctly squat and it looked right. (with the hips moving back) and I just can’t seem to do that. Help??

[quote]norcal_BALLER wrote:
Ok, thanks. Ummm i was squating yesterday and someone told me my squatting from was wrong, he showed me how to correctly squat and it looked right. (with the hips moving back) and I just can’t seem to do that. Help??[/quote]

Sit back not down. Stay TIGHT the whole body SQUEEZE that bar make your upper back TIGHT as all hell. Core tight whole damn bodt tight. spread the floor push knees out. get in the whole first move head up draw that head up keep it looking straight maybe a little up the body follows the head.Fire the glutes and hams. push them forward as you go up squeese the but cheeks. and GO

practice every rep light heavy all in good form. READ plenty on here explaining the squat. Think about ordering the sqaut DVD from, Elite

PRACTICE. might try box squatting as well

Phill

Ya thanks a lot. Im first gonna try and get a base parrallel squat down first before i try any of this box squat, one leg squat or whatever.

What the guy told me at the gym was that the way I was squatting I would build up my Quad’s a lot but not my gluets, or hamstrings enough and that it would mess my knees up??

anyone??

I can’t believe no one has mentioned deadlifts or pullups yet.

And milk.

Just so you know, squats are bad for your knees and deadlifts are bad for your back. Anybody who tells you to do them are on boatloads of steroids and can recover from such a harsh effect on the body. Stick to leg presses, they’re a lot safer.

ya i do leg presses. As for milk and deadlifts, and pullups I drink like 8 glasses of milk a day and do pullups at the end of my workouts. I tried deadlifts once but I didnt really see any benefits to it, in my next “cycle” Im going to do deadlifts though.

The last poster you responded to is being sarcastic. (I think.) Squats and deadlifts are great for you, so long as you do them with proper form and allow sufficient recovery time between workouts. Once you start football practice, if possible, you will want to significantly reduce your volume, but as long as you are just lifting, squat and deadlift to your heart’s content.

I hate to say it like the old timers do, but “Squats and milk” man… trust me; it works.

[quote]norcal_BALLER wrote:
ya i do leg presses. As for milk and deadlifts, and pullups I drink like 8 glasses of milk a day and do pullups at the end of my workouts. I tried deadlifts once but I didnt really see any benefits to it, in my next “cycle” Im going to do deadlifts though. [/quote]

Please do a search on deadlifting. Eric Cressey did a nice article on it. Do yourself a favor and educate yourself on the value of the deadlift.

Ya i read that article, ill start doing more deadlifts. any other advice???

Assigned Reading:

Go to elitefts.com and search throught he articles. Here is your reading list:

Squat 900 Pounds - Dave Tate

Bench Press 600 Pounds - Dave Tate

The Dead Zone - Top 10 Deadlifting Mistakes and How to Fix Them - Dave Tate

I read on here that some performance coaches don’t allow their throwing athlets to overhead press at all. With that in mind, you might stop Mil pressing a few weeks before summer camp. But defeinitely read the mentioned articles, they helped me the most in those lifts. You might consider dropping the bench eventually, since it’s not going to do much for you as a QB.

Bench is great for linemen who are shoving each other around all day, but for you, not so much. Another option might be to try 1-Arm DB Benching, which is more of a shoulder girdle stability type exercise. You will have to lower the weight a bit at first, but you can still build good strength that way.

If nothing else, try cycling it in and out with bar benching.

www.houstontexans.com/fitness/pdfs/training_manual010703.pdf will take you to the Houston Texans Strength and Conditioning manual. Some of that may be a little advanced for you, but if that doesn’t give you some good ideas, I don’t know what will.

Good luck. I wish stuff like this had been available when I was in JH and HS, I might have gotten more involved in sports.

thanks a lot, that he3lps alot, I put it on my favorites and ill read it later. thanks guys.

At 13 all you should worry about is speed. DO NOT LIFT. RUN RUN RUN. DOT DRILL, ETC. Football is about SPEED. If you have dreams about playing Pro Football then listen up and get fast. Dont’ start lifting weights until 15-16 years old because it won’t matter cause you just too young. You will get most of your size and strength in your early 20’s so be patient with the size and strength. Just worry about speed. If you listen up you’ll be in college playing football and the strength coach will put on tons of mass on you. What key ingredient did all great football players have. SPEED

[quote]longhorn69 wrote:
At 13 all you should worry about is speed. DO NOT LIFT. RUN RUN RUN. DOT DRILL, ETC. Football is about SPEED. If you have dreams about playing Pro Football then listen up and get fast. Dont’ start lifting weights until 15-16 years old because it won’t matter cause you just too young. You will get most of your size and strength in your early 20’s so be patient with the size and strength. Just worry about speed. If you listen up you’ll be in college playing football and the strength coach will put on tons of mass on you. What key ingredient did all great football players have. SPEED[/quote]

Yeah, because everyone knows muscle slows you down. rolls eyes

Nobody knows this young guy’s talents. He has great potential if he starts lifting now, and I don’t mean football potential. Goals change, but the desire to become stronger always stays the same. I hope your post was sarcasm.

No it wasn’t. Your not going to be able to pack on a lot of lean muscle mass at 13 plus the rate at which your body is growing you can do harm. Kid ask your doctor what you should about the lifting. You don’t need to start lifting until your sophmore/junior year in high school. That’s when your body is mature enough to start seeing some gains, but your biggest gains will be in your 19-24 years. After your body is done growing and mature enough for weightlifting. Footwork and speed drills your never too young to work on. Don’t take my word for it. Talk to a doctor. As far as football. How many NFL teams go after power lifters? None. How many go after track stars? All of them because Speed is the most important factor in football.