Football training tangent

[Russ Smith]

My ex girlfriend's 14 year old son will be a freshman in highschool in september and wants to play football. he's 5'7" about 130-140 and he's gotten into much better shape in the last year by changing his diet and working out on his own with some weights in his garage. Can anybody recommend some exercises or drills to get him ready for his first practice?

He hasn't played football in junior high(flag) apparently due to cutbacks they eliminated it. He wants to play safety.

I had figured apart from helping him with his weight training(which I have limited training in) I was going to recommend running both endurance and sprints, jumprope, and a lot of lateral movement and backpedal drills. The thing I've been stressing to him is my experience with highschool sports was that everyone shows up for practice out of shape and the first few weeks there's a ton of conditioning drills, so if you are already IN shape you're at a huge advantage.

And no I don't plan on going Marv Marinovich on him.

 

[GreenCard]

Russ,buy his Coach a new car and the kid is in like Flynn.

 

[BACH]

Specific drills by position
http://www.footballdrills.com/main.php
http://www.y-coach.com/CD/Football_Drills.htm

Weight training program from Miami's program
http://hurricanesports.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/weight-training.html

 

[Russ Smith]

Specific drills by position
http://www.footballdrills.com/main.php
http://www.y-coach.com/CD/Football_Drills.htm

Weight training program from Miami's program
http://hurricanesports.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/weight-training.html

awesome thanks I have em all bookmarked now.

 

[Lex]

Leg raisers Russ, it's all about the leg raisers.

He lays on his back, arms to sides, feet 6 inches off the ground, and hold it there, while you stand on his stomach.

That's how we did it in the 70's.

 

[EndZone]

Leg raisers Russ, it's all about the leg raisers.

He lays on his back, arms to sides, feet 6 inches off the ground, and hold it there, while you stand on his stomach.

That's how we did it in the 70's.

Or as they would say in Basic Training..."Flutter Kicks 1.2.3.4.5.6.7...."

 

[earthsci]

Stairs Russ. Have him run stairs. Every other stair going up, every one coming down.

For entertainment, go play racquetball with him.

 

[Matt L]

back pedal drills. back pedal drills, and more back pedal drills. u dont have to be the fastest to have the best footwork, and at defensive back, footwork is most important.

 

[abomb]

Russ,

I have been doing the workout below, now in my fourth week. That is the most consecutive amount of time I have worked out, btw. I feel great and am seeing quick results (I am 6 foot, 168 lbs, with a small frame).

http://www.leehayward.com/workout_programs/

I would imagine a coach would want him to alternate between strength training and agility workouts, but I am no coach.

A-Bomb

 

[Russ Smith]

Stairs Russ. Have him run stairs. Every other stair going up, every one coming down.

For entertainment, go play racquetball with him.

Ooh I'm hesitant on that one. I ran stairs in highschool for basketball and my knee surgeon told me that likely had a lot to do with my tearing my patellar tendon, he said it's REALLY bad on the knees.

That said I took him snowboarding last Saturday and that's not exactly good for you.

 

[brettman82]

Get him a gold card at GNC and put him on some weight gainer.

 

[earthsci]

Ooh I'm hesitant on that one. I ran stairs in highschool for basketball and my knee surgeon told me that likely had a lot to do with my tearing my patellar tendon, he said it's REALLY bad on the knees.

That said I took him snowboarding last Saturday and that's not exactly good for you.

Before my sophmore year in HS I ran a 5.3 40. I ran a 4.8 before my junior year.

 

[NMCard]

Get someone to teach him how to do a few olympic lifts properly. Squat, deadlift and the power clean. They will help him with his explosiveness.

 

[Toro]

Core exercises. Your abs and trunk are very important to success. It also helps cut down on injuries.

This is the fundamental approach that many trainers are using for professional athletes. Lifting heavy weights means very little. Core strength is very important.

Call Fischer Sports in Phoenix. They have kids training programs.

www.fischer-sports.com

 

[cards 24-7-365]

Russ,
Be careful of programs used by DI schools and professional athletes many athletes succeed despite their strength and conditioning programs. The Miami program is great for Miami kids but they are also the best arguably the best athletes in the country before getting to Miami. So the difference in their success is likey not because of their strength program. (I'm not flaming BACH, just trying to help out).

This link is an excellent weight training program for your young football player as I suppose he would like to gain a little lean muscle mass. Despite some of the intimidating terminology and unique exercises (use the basic exercises listed before moving to the more difficult and untraditional exercises) this is a great plan for those who are new to "real" weight training.

http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/archive/articles_westside.htm

Just remember stick to the basic lifts that involve multiple joints and muscle groups. These would be: bench press, pull up / chin up, squat, deadlift, rows, and shoulder / military press.

I would encourage you to remove any kind of endurance training that is slow and repetitive in nature from the program (i.e. jogging). Train a football player the same way he plays football. There is no need for him to run long distance.
Check out myth #7 in the link below for a better explanation

http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/archive/articles_training-myths.htm

Short sprints with complete recovery for speed development. All working sprints should have a total distance of under 300 yards. For example 2 sets of 6x20yd sprints w/ 1 minute between reps and 3 minutes between sets is a good example of speed work. However 10x100 yd sprints is to much distance to work on the attribute of speed.

Longer sprints or agility drills with incomplete recovery are best for conditioning. These sprints should be done at about 75% - 80% of top speed and the athlete should be able to hit the same time for each rep. For example if he runs a 16 second 100 on rep #1 he should be at 16 seconds on rep #10. This is called tempo training. Here is a good link to this type of training. (I think you have to register to read the forums but it is free and there are a lot of intelligent people in the area of conditioning and especially speed development)
http://www.charliefrancis.com/

Also have him incorporate some core / ab work into his plan here are some names for you to google. Many of these people have books / DVD's available:
Mark Verstegan - Core Performance
Vern Gambetta - speed, conditioning, works with lots of adolescent kids - find his "leg circuit" for beginning / basic leg strenght with minimal equipment
Joe DeFranco
Parisi School

That should keep you plenty busy, good luck!

 

[cards 24-7-365]

Core exercises. Your abs and trunk are very important to success. It also helps cut down on injuries.

This is the fundamental approach that many trainers are using for professional athletes. Lifting heavy weights means very little. Core strength is very important.

Call Fischer Sports in Phoenix. They have kids training programs.

www.fischer-sports.com

Excellent advice. Russ I believe you are in the Bay Area. Look up Donald Chu. I think he owns several clinics like Fischer Sports and I'm guessing he does some sports performance programs as he is the "Father of Plyometrics"

 

[BIGDADDY_REDBIRD]

You can always have him do the ole' Tire & rim drag from a harness. Help's develope explosiveness. Ideal for establishing leverage & lower body strength. Push ups, sit up's, & agility drills. He's only a freshman so he's got 4 yrs for weight training. Tell him good luck!!

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ooh I'm hesitant on that one. I ran stairs in highschool for basketball and my knee surgeon told me that likely had a lot to do with my tearing my patellar tendon, he said it's REALLY bad on the knees.

That said I took him snowboarding last Saturday and that's not exactly good for you.

AHA! congrats on the boarding! stoked to hear about that!

hand-eye work too. you want him to have eyes out the back of his head. at 14 these drills are difficult because the kids are still somewhat awkward, but they are great.

throw to him fairly fast at close range. start with a football and work your way down to smaller and smaller balls with different shapes. football, then volleyball, then softball, baseball, golfball, tennis ball, softball, football. the differences in the weights and sizes will help to soften his hands b/c he'll have to monitor how to catch each of the items. and like i said, close and fast. eventually have him turn on a whistle and catch. mix up the balls again so he has to react.

finally - i know kids have less fear than adults, but it's the kid that has less fear than the other kids who eventually stands out at that level. he's got to be fearless. the smallest kids out there usually end up the toughest SOBs and fly around the field knocking the crap outta their opponents. instill that fearlessness however you can. and if he's gonna be a DB better work on getting him cocky too . . .

 

[Rocco]

Core exercises. Your abs and trunk are very important to success. It also helps cut down on injuries.

This is the fundamental approach that many trainers are using for professional athletes. Lifting heavy weights means very little. Core strength is very important.


Call Fischer Sports in Phoenix. They have kids training programs.

www.fischer-sports.com

I was going to say the same thing. Abs and lower body conditioning work (lots of running). Strength work around the shoulders/neck, back and joints (ankle, knee, elbow, shoulder). That's where he's most likely to get injured.

A decent starting weight program that's not too strenuous but still challenging for beginners is, in order, squats, calf raises, bench press, shoulder press, lat pull downs, bicep curls, tricep extensions, ab work, lower back extensions. 3 times a week. 4 sets per exercise - first 3 sets ascending weight, last set low weight (same as first set) burnout. Go for high reps, low weight to start. Sets of 12, 10, 8 and 10 work pretty well if he can handle it. He may need a couple of weeks to build up to it. Good luck!

Edited to add:
Oh, no weights on ab/lower back work for beginners.

 

[Russ Smith]

AHA! congrats on the boarding! stoked to hear about that!

hand-eye work too. you want him to have eyes out the back of his head. at 14 these drills are difficult because the kids are still somewhat awkward, but they are great.

.

Yes he proved his no fear bit on the snowboard, first time and he's flying down the hill while me in my 2nd time is still not sure I want to be going that fast. I spent much of the last year rehabbing my broken elbow from rollerblading or else I'd have taken him boarding much earlier, he really had a blast.

The main thing I want to avoid is pushing him, I want to give him good advice
and steer him in the right direction but I don't want to be signing him up for a personal trainer and stuff like that unless he really wants that, and unless I win the lottery.

I played basketball in school but I've given up trying to steer him that way so I figured I should ask for some opinions on what to train him on for football.

Plus the idea of bossing him around sounds kind of fun.

I think the no jogging thing makes a lot of sense, it never made sense in basketball either it's a game of short sprints not mile runs.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

still not sure I want to be going that fast.

I think the no jogging thing makes a lot of sense, it never made sense in basketball either it's a game of short sprints not mile runs.

first - ya gotta remember, though it may be counterintuitive, on a snowboard, speed is your friend. not enough speed and you're more likely to catch an edge.

second, the game is about explosion, but b/c of that, a full game of football can be exhausting which is why endurance is so important. the team that wins the close game is usually the better conditioned team. that said, avoid jogging as it's TERRIBLE for your knees (pops is an orthopod, he always shakes his head when he sees people jogging down the street). he's better served riding a bike or doing the elliptical or swimming (but REALLY swimming . . . HARD) to gain a cardio/endurance workout.

 

[CardLogic]

Leg raisers Russ, it's all about the leg raisers.

He lays on his back, arms to sides, feet 6 inches off the ground, and hold it there, while you stand on his stomach.

That's how we did it in the 70's.

Exactly what I was thinking Lex!!!

That and gassers... 5, 10, 15, 20 yard sprints, then back down 20, 15, 10, 5. Good, Now do it again! Twweeet!!!

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

first - ya gotta remember, though it may be counterintuitive, on a snowboard, speed is your friend. not enough speed and you're more likely to catch an edge.

second, the game is about explosion, but b/c of that, a full game of football can be exhausting which is why endurance is so important. the team that wins the close game is usually the better conditioned team. that said, avoid jogging as it's TERRIBLE for your knees (pops is an orthopod, he always shakes his head when he sees people jogging down the street). he's better served riding a bike or doing the elliptical or swimming (but REALLY swimming . . . HARD) to gain a cardio/endurance workout.

Running on the street is murder on the knees, during Cross Country season in college, I was putting in 75 to 80 miles per week and surpise, my knees now hurt whenever I bend down for too long. (usually in about 10 seconds)

I was always thankful for Track season when I would shift down to running middle distance events--which I was much better at. X-country was for base.

That being said, nothing beats running for building endurance...

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

oh, and let's not forget running "ucla's" - ugh, the bane of august two-a-days. sprint the length of the field, walk the endzone, sprint the length of the field, walk the endzone, until coach remembered we were running . . .

 

[HookemCards]

It probably wouldn't hurt to throw in a couple hours of swimming a week too. Its great for core strength, as well as abdomin, back and shoulders. Its also one of the best endurance and stretching excercises you can do.

Start with a 300 meter warm up or so (depends on his swimming ability I guess)

20 sets of 50 meters on 1 min
10 sets of 100 meters on 2 min
5 sets of 200 meters on 4 min
10 25 meter wind sprints (hold breath for length of swim).
Finally a slow 300 meter warm down.

If he knows how to do the other strokes (back, breast, and fly) have him mix those in with the freestyle. If he can't finish his set in a given time, move it up a bit.....50 meters every 1 min 30 sec, 100 meters every 2 min 30 sec, etc. Just adjust the times to suit is swimming ability. The faster he swims it, the more of a rest he gets.