How have high school football players changed since you were in high school? Are they stronger, faster, or facing new challenges?
Thinking back to when I was in high school, we did not have a “strength coach” or someone that was fully qualified in athletic development. Our weight room consisted of a few power racks that were older than we were at the time and had rusted, bent up bars. We also only had a few dumbbells lying around. There was no programming or progressions or anything remotely close to that. We were expected to lift heavy and max out every week. However, now it is more common for high schools to have certified strength coaches working at their schools to program and teach students how to lift properly while going through the recommended progressions. Within recent years, schools have become more committed to investing in providing students with better facilities and equipment to support them with achieving their athletic goals. The main challenge that so many high school seniors are facing now when they graduate is the college recruiting process. College coaches in numerous sports are now heavily relying on the transfer portal, which directly impacts potential opportunities for high school kids looking to compete at the next level. Despite this challenge, it is the responsibility of the strength coach to develop their athletes to where they can compete to earn an opportunity.
How do you effectively organize and supervise strength training sessions when working with a large group of football players in the weight room?
Training the whole football team can become pretty chaotic. I like to call it “controlled chaos”. There is so much going on at one time, but at the same time everything is under control. When it comes to training our football program, I use a couple strategies to help control all the “chaos”.
Tip #1
I assign all the athletes a rack and pair them up into groups of three to four. Thankfully I am blessed with an amazing facility to where I can distribute our groups as such. Each athlete is assigned to a rack based on their strength levels, height measurements, and position groups. For example, three wide receivers will be paired at the same rack or three defensive linemen at the same rack. Pairing athletes that are around the same strength level allows for quicker transitions between changing the weight, which will save you time in your workout. This can also create competition between the groups. Pairing athletes by their height level helps setting the height for pressing or squatting variations. When they are paired up with athletes of their same position group, it encourages cohesion between the athletes to challenge one another. Key tip though is to not pair up kids that are distractions. We all know what I mean by that. This will increase focus between athletes and allow for a more effective workout.
Tip #2
Try to have as many eyes in the weight room with you as possible. For example, having football coaches present during the lift helps effectively observe and cover all the space in the weight room. In addition, I have found athletes are more likely to focus on their workouts when their position coaches are present. If an athlete is trying to prove himself to his position coach, he is going to make sure that his coach sees him working hard. With that, you need to observe who your captains or leaders are on the team. It is important to note who is working hard, leading by example, a leader vocally, and who the other athletes respect and observe. These individuals should be considered your “mini coaches”. Position these leaders in different areas throughout the weight room. Talk to these athletes before hand and let them know what is expected of them and how they can help to lead their team.
Tip #3
Have everything on your whistle. What I mean by that is, start each group or exercise on your whistle to bring order and organization into your workouts. This helps to also keep the workout on time and keep the tempo fitted to what you want it to be. I am not saying you can’t give kids a little bit of autonomy with the workout because I certainly will at times, but your standards and how you want the workout to be executed is established and consistent.
Tip #4
Get the idea out of your head that the workout is going to flow as perfectly as you pictured. I can count on one hand the number of workouts that have been executed perfectly. Sometimes you have to modify on the fly, so think of ways you can adapt the workout if it isn’t going as planned. For example, if you are implementing a new exercise, expect it to take a little bit longer. Even if you explain and demonstrate seamlessly, all athletes learn at a different pace. It could affect the rest of your workout time wise so have a plan in place already of how you can still effectively execute the workout.
What are the key differences in strength training for freshman and sophomores compared to juniors and seniors in a football program?
Here at Northwestern, I am blessed to have the class schedule set up to where I can mostly work with our freshman football team, JV football team, and Varsity football team separately. During the fall semester, we have a class specifically designed to have our varsity football players in our first class and our JV football players in second class. During the spring semester after football season, we have a class for both our varsity and JV football players combined and a class specifically designed to teach our ninth-grade football players in our second class. During the fall semester our JV football team would train five days a week. Now I know some people are going to say, “But aren’t they in-season?”, “Isn’t that too much for them?”. I treat our JV players like they are having a second offseason. Most of our JV players have a minimal training age (maybe a year and a half) and need that extra time to develop. I always consider their practice and game schedule to manage their load, so they do not experience burn out or increase the risk of injury. This time is utilized to build on their olympic lifts, squat, and pressing variations as well as their overall movement patterns. My goal with this class is to get them caught up physically and culturally with our varsity team. Also, if by chance they get called up to the varsity team during season, I must make sure they are ready physically to perform at that level. Several of these athletes make great strides in just one semester. I always start out our freshman class with teaching them the basics and work up in progressions. For example, here is a barbell back squat progression I will work them through:
Week 1: PVC Pipe Back Squat
-During the first few weeks I will always have them squat with a PVC pipe on their backs to teach them how to properly hold a bar on their backs.
-I will also have them squat to a 5 second tempo on the down portion of the squat and have them pause for 3-4 seconds at the bottom portion of their squat. The whole time I am assessing their movements and talking them through the proper squat pattern. During this time, the coach should be checking for any mobility issues in their ankles and hips. You can always throw in some mobility drills like the 90-90 Hip Flip series to work on their mobility issues.
Week 2: Goblet Squat (you can use a dumbbell or a kettle bell)
-Now that they have learned the proper squat pattern, I now want them to squat under a load. I will still have them follow the same 5 second tempo and 3-4 second pause on their squat movement.
-I am also teaching them how to properly brace their core while performing the squat.
Week 3: Barbell Front Squat
-Depending on how well the athletes perform the Goblet squat, I will progress them to a barbell front squat. However, I am not in a rush to try and throw weight on the bar. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Be sure to remind them to engage their core just like on a Goblet Squat. I will still have them follow the same 5 second tempo and pause on their squat movement.
-The first-time young athletes perform the barbell front squat, it exposes upper body mobility issues in their wrists, elbows/ triceps, and lats. This can cause some discomfort when in a front rack position. I coach my athletes to be in a front rack position because I want them to work on getting comfortable in that position, which will help whenever we start their Olympic clean progressions.
-Do not be in a rush to progress to the Barbell Back Squat, make sure they can consistently maintain their form and technique while working up to a heavy load.
Week 4: Barbell Back Squat
-Now we have gotten to the phase everyone loves is the Barbell Back Squat. Even during the Barbell Back Squat I will still have them follow the same 5 second tempo and pause on their squat movement.
-Now you can start to progress in a heavier load and work on gaining strength.
I am never in a rush to throw on crazy amounts of weight with our freshman team. The goal is to lay a solid foundation down to which we can continue to elevate. Athletes with minimal training age will also make significant gains within that first year simply due to the fact that their bodies are adapting to the stressors being placed on it. We will still max test them at the end of the year to see where their baseline is, and then from there we really amp things up to help them build off of what they have gained.
Have you noticed any specific trends or common factors contributing to the rise in injuries among high school football players?
A common misconception I see a lot especially with youth athletes is that they think more is better. Too many times, I have seen kids go from weightlifting in class with me in the morning, and then they will go to the gym later that night and either workout the same muscle group we trained that morning or do the opposite. For example, if we had a lower body strength day in the morning, they would go to the gym later that night and workout legs again or go workout their upper body. Many of them believe the workout wasn’t effective if they aren’t dead at the end of it. I tell my kids to think of their bodies like machines in the sense that you cannot run a machine nonstop and expect it to not break down. I constantly see kids fall into overtraining habits, especially since most of them are multi-sport athletes. Multi-sport athletes are almost always going to be “in-season” and need to be reminded to prioritize rest when they can. It is important to teach your athletes about adequate rest and sleep since it is vital for their development.
How do you approach speed and agility for football players? Could you share one or two of your go-to drills for developing and speed, quickness and explosiveness on the field?
When it comes to speed and agility training, I use the M.O.R.R. System with my athletes. M.O.R.R. stands for Movement, Over-speed Training, Reaction Training, and Resistive Training. With their Movement we are trying to work in different planes of motion through the different athletic based skills. With Over-speed training, this allows you to run faster than you normally could be due to the reduced resistance when sprinting. Reaction training is all about training the bodies reflexes which allows the athletes to react and move quicker in their competition. Resistive training drills allow the athlete to run against the resistance. This resistance could be by pulling or pushing a heavy sled or using band resistance in your sprints. We will then follow that up with a contrast sprint without the band or sled. Since we normally only have 1 day a week solely dedicated to speed and agility, I will work in several sprint drills in our warmups such as band resisted marches or sprints for 10-15 yards or reactive change of direction drills to not only prime their CNS (central nervous system) for the workout.
