SUMMER FOOTBALL TRAINING 2016

In this episode Coach Joe shares the mic with his partner in crime Coach Dan Goodman to discuss their upcoming summer football training program. Something they and team VH have become synonymous for creating one of the most badass summer training programs in the country. Athletes from all over the Tri-State area and beyond come to test the physical abilities each week at Varsity House. Coach Joe will lay out their pan for making 2016 their best training program yet. If you're a coach or athlete who's training for football you won't want to miss this VALUE packed episode!

Start:

Core Values: Hard work, Commitment, Consistency. Coach Joe and Coach Dan explain how your "core values" set the stage for a badass summer training program. You must live the code and preach it home every day.

Basic Key Areas of Focus for this Year. Here Coach Joe and Coach Dan discuss the key areas they want to focus on tis year. As always their program is ever evolving and improving year to year. Although Strength, Speed and Explosive Power are always at the top of the list that goes without saying. Coach Joe believes it's the little details that make their program uniquely great. For personal stretch session to mobility workshops and nutrition seminars TeamVH is all about over delivery.

Key Areas 2016:

• Posterior Chain – The most important group of muscles for football speed and power
• Shoulder Mobility & Injury Proofing – The shoulder girdle takes a pounding for any football player so it's really important to address any preexisting injuries and work to prevent one form occurring.
• Eccentric / Isometric Single Leg Strength – This is a hugely overlooked aspect of most college S&C programs and plays a great role in the ability to change direction and prevent Knee/Hip injuries.
• Neck/Grip/Traps – A strong neck and traps help prevent head injuries and reduce the incident of concussion.
• Hip Mobility – Most football athletes are big and tight. If you want to play better, you need to move better.
• Aerobic Conditioning – Another largely overlooked aspect of football training. One's aerobic capacity determines their ability to recover between plays and or during training.
• Nutrition – Each athlete must be given a full nutrition packet and hand in their food logs throughout the summer.

HOW TO CREATE AN AWESOME SUMMER TRAINING PLAN

Exercise Selection:

Choose the exercises you want to make sure are the biggest part of your program and best represent the key areas you want to cover.

1. Posterior Chain - Box Squat, RDLs, BB Glute Bridge, Banded GMs, Rev Hyper. Shoulder Mobility – SHL DLC, 30/30 Holds, Rear Delt Fly's, Band Pull Aparts, Horizontal Rows, Thoracic Mobility Drills. Eccentric/Isometric SL – Pause Bulgarian Split Squat, Pause lateral lunges. Neck – Farmer Carry/Holds, Shrugs, 4-way partner Neck, Iso Neck Holds. Hip Mobility – Hip Series, Depth Squats, Bar Under/Overs, ROM Lunges. Aerobic Conditioning – Tempo Runs, Row/Ski Repeats, Sled Pulling, jump rope.

Basic Layout:

Depending on the number of days you can train depends on the structure of the plan. The more days you have to train the more you can separate aspects of training and get more detailed.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Jailhouse Friday

Max Effort Upper

Hip Extension

Accessory Upper

Aerobic Locomotive

Sprints & Jumps

Speed Strength

Posterior Chain

Neck / Grip / Core

Max Effort Lower

SL Strength

Posterior Chain

"Gun Show"

Sprints & Jumps

Agilities

Speed Strength

Posterior Chain

Neck / Grip / Core

OH Work

Volume Upper

Accessory Upper

Neck / Grip / Core Strongman & Friday Finisher

Running Plan:

The running plan should coincide with the lifting plan. Since the most important aspect of football is running around the filed this should be of utmost importance. Construct your lifting plan first. As you progress through the summer and the volume of lifting decreases conversely the volume of running should increase. Our program starts off the first 4-weeks with basic strength development as the key focus as most college athletes are not "up to speed" with their strength training. Our secondary focus is a return to consistent running. Here the running focus is on technique and starting speed. Low volumes of short intense 5-10y sprints and form drills

Jailhouse Fridays:

Each training week needs a great finisher and reminder of why training should be the athletes favorite part of the football experience other than playing the game. We like to create a TEAM atmosphere on Fridays and have athlete compete against each other as well as hit their favorite "Meat Head" body parts. First we give them a serious "Beach Pump" then we crush them with some fun strongman circuits and conditioning.

Conclusion:

The key to the success of your summer football plan is consistency. Not only form the athletes but the coach. Make sure you are well planned, prepared and ready to go! Practice extreme ownership in everything that happens in your gym and the athletes will respect you. Above all have fun, after all we are just working out!

In this episode Coach Joe takes some time to answer a few questions that viewers have sent in on nutrition, supplements, weight loss and more...

Be sure to check out our short documentary from last years combine class HERE

In this episode Coach Joe Riggio discusses how to prepare an athlete for combines, pro-days and team workouts. Our philosophy is to develop the most explosive athlete possible with the best bodyweight to strength ratio for their position.

The show notes include example training templates and additional information to help you prepare for the big day.

SHOW NOTES

In the episode Coach Joe explains the importance of managing volume over time as well as the use of special assistance exercises to improve performance. Managing Volume – Over time as an athlete progresses it seems only natural that their work capacity for training stimulus would also increase. Therefore, an increase in training volume is necessary for them to continue to make positive results. We manage the need for increased volume two ways. One by the total poundage lifted in a given workout. Example if an athlete does 10x3 Bench at 100lbs that equals 3000lbs of total weight lifted. If your add up all the accessory work over a specific training period the overall training volume must increase. However, you cannot just keep adding volume to the “Big Lifts” as that would eventually lead to injury. You can use special exercises designed to bring up weak areas that won’t beat up your body and will improve strength and work capacity for specific movements/lifts/sport activities. Special Assistance Work – Special assistance work makes up about 80% of the training at Varsity House. Only 20% of the total training volume come from traditional Bench/Squat/Deadlifts/OH Press as max lifts. These exercises low risk of injury and are designed to improve specific strength. These exercises can be volumized over weeks, months, or even years to an incredibly high volume with very little chance of neuromuscular fatigue. Upper Body Special Assistance Exercises Push Up Variations – Push Ups are about as old school as it gets. They have been around for thousands of years, are still one of the most effective ways to improve pressing strength. Start off with something simple like 50 per day then work your way up. We routinely have athletes who perform as many as 250 per day for weeks at a time. This will greatly improve you overall work capacity and translate to a bigger bench in no time. In one 8-week span I did over 48,000 pushups and did not bench at all. At the end of that 8-week span I hit a 225MR bench PR of 32reps. Proof that you can maintain a high level of strength for a very simple exercise. Work them in as part of your warm up or cool down or just simple do set throughout the day. Horizontal Row – If you want a big bench or any lift for that matter you need a strong back. However, doing tons of pull ups and heavy rows can wreck your elbows and shoulders. Performing the horizontal row will not only improve strength but can be micro-loaded slowly and consistently over time without beating you up. Improve these the same way. Start with a few sets per day as part of your warm up. Then increase over a period of time. I like to perform 5-sets of 20m push up and 5-sets of 20 horizontal pulls as my go to upper body warm up several times per week. This get my joints ready for a heavy bench session but also activates my back muscles for stabilizing as well. Banded Muscle Up – This is a TRUE special exercise specific to performing muscle ups. Do every day until you build the strength to do them or as a way to de-load you joint from doing too many! Banded Triceps/Biceps work – Eccentric loading increases tendon and ligamental strength. If you want to lift big weight you need to train the soft tissue to be strong as well. Perform band push downs and curls as a way to prevent elbow injuries and strength the triceps for all pressing movements. We regularly perform as many as 250 of each of these several times per week. Lower Body Special Assistance Exercises Reverse Hyper – The reverse hyper should be on the top of everyone’s lift for improving their squat and deadlift. It’s the king of the glute/lower back exercises and it also acts to traction the spine to prevent injury. You simply cannot perform this enough. We routinely perform 100reps of this exercise 3-6x/week. Weight depends on the strength of the athlete and how long they have been performing this lift. Start with a light weight and perform 3x/week and work your way up to some real weight. You can do a total number of reps or go for time. Banded Leg Curls – This is another “MUST HAVE” exercise as these will never cause an injury and will greatly increase the strength in your posterior chain. Perform them laying on a bench or sitting up on a box. Again we like around 100reps 3-6x/week. We will perform these along with reverse hyper all the time. Banded Good Mornings – The good morning for a lot of people is a tough exercise. Hard on the lower back and tough to master so people toss it. This variation you can do all the time without the risk of injury. We do them either on the wall or standing. The wall version hit the thoracic spine really well and the standing version hit the lower back hamstring more. Perform both exercises regularly as a finisher to a lower body day or as warm up/cool down. We like them on our off-days as another volume exercise for the posterior chain. Specific Special Assistance Exercises Bosu Banded Pull Over Sit Up – This is an oldie but a goodie. I have been doing these for years but recently brought them back out of the tool box as I was looking for way to improve my specific strength for the SkiErg. Perform this exercise every day until your abs are blown UP! Suspended GHR Hyper Row – Here again I was looking for a special exercise to improve specific strength for rowing. Since rowing is mostly lower back, hamstrings and lats this makes for a great translation. Perform this exercise several times per week to improve muscular insurance for rowing. Rules – There are none! Pick a few special exercises and work the hell out of them for a month. Stick with the ones that you feel give you the most benefit and rotate them regularly. Make it your mission to perform at least 1 special assistance exercise for one of your weak or needed areas every day. Either add more reps over the weeks or add some weight, but remember these should be loaded slowly as muscular failure is not the goal. You don’t want your volume work to take away from your regular training so take it easy! Get to LIFTN’ Coach Joe Strong

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