Alumni of very successful programs. How would you describe your team's offseason workout routine?

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drew2732

Active member
Our school worked very hard, but I can't help but feel like we were training in the wrong direction - Too much like a soccer team and not enough like a football team. From my recent years of weighted hill sprints, deadlifts and agility training my gut feeling says I could of very easily been 10-20 pounds heavier and a lot more explosive. Seems like one of the keys is getting enough rest in between your sets which just isn't possible when you constantly have coaches and teammates in your face.

I grew up watching Centerville's powerful, explosive O-lines of the 90's and 00's and I just don't understand how they did it outside of the explanation above (training quality over quantity)
 
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If you don't evolve, in sports and life, you get left behind.

Our program generally is not bigger than our playoff opponents but typically are quicker as a team and very well disciplined and conditioned.

The program tries to work smarter, not harder in season with the amount of in season contact dwindling by the week to stay fresh for game day since a number of kids go both ways.

Gone we the days when you are just a big muscle bound slow immovable piece of real estate
 
We do power lifts and agility training and work on proper running technique (more important than you think). Like voice said, we're not always bigger than our opponent, but we definitely tend to outwork our opponents. In the summer we do a very strenuous conditioning program. You name a form of conditioning, we've probably done it. You can do all the workouts you want but it's all about buying in and good attendance.
 
Lima Senior never really had a "program" as far as strength and conditioning were concerned. At least not 20-25 years ago. I mean at least not in the sense that anyone kept any data on us, no speed work whatsoever. No philosophy was ever expressed to us is what I'm getting at. Things were certainly structured but not like what I witness 20 years later in 2019.

My 9th grade year (1995) I think our conditioning was simply playing pick up games of bball in the gym after lifting. People laugh now but I'll tell ya what, after running up and down the court for an hour you've done something.

Basic routine was Monday through Thursday from January to well late July, if you weren't doing a winter and or spring sport. Probably no more than an hour / 90 minutes tops each day. Monday / Wednesday were upper body (bench, both traditional and incline.....LOTS of incline for some reason, military press and some bi's and tri's). Tuesday and Thursday were leg days (squat, dead lift....not sure why and power cleans. work some calf raises in here and there). As much as box jumping is focused on in weight rooms these days we did NONE of that when I was in high school back in the 90s. The term plyometric was being toss around here and there but yea our lifting philosophy looking back was Olympic lifting and not much else. We did have this neck machine that everybody had to do EVERY day.

The 1996 state championship season instead of doing leg days the coaching staff hired an aerobics instructor to come in and teach an hour long class to the entire team. 300 lb. guys doing aerobics was something to be seen. BUT it helped? I guess.

As state champ mentioned however, regardless of what you do, kids have to show up. That's the one thing I do remember is kids showed up virtually EVERY day. It may not have been the most scientific workout regiment ever but kids bought in / showed up and in the mid 90s Lima had a pretty good run.
 
Debating the merits of 1 training program over another is out of my league, but I would say there are many different paths to the top of the mountain. Each of those paths require consistency, a.k.a. kids need to show up, give effort, and do whatever the coaches are asking them to do.

In college, if you were struggling with a class and wanted to discuss your situation with the instructor, the first question you would be asked is, "have you been coming to class regularly?" If your answer was "no," the discussion was over.
 
There are basically two groups of players. Group 1 goes to the high school weight training sessions and calls it a day.
Group 2 goes to the high school weight training sessions but mostly just there to be visible. Then they go lift with their personal trainer, after that they go work with their speed & agility trainer, then go to a field to work on routes, throwing mechanics and timing. They do this 4-5 days per week during the summer and go to college camps on Sat and/or Sun. Many of them work with position specific instructors to perfect their technique.
 
Pickeringtonsports said:
There are basically two groups of players. Group 1 goes to the high school weight training sessions and calls it a day.
Group 2 goes to the high school weight training sessions but mostly just there to be visible. Then they go lift with their personal trainer, after that they go work with their speed & agility trainer, then go to a field to work on routes, throwing mechanics and timing. They do this 4-5 days per week during the summer and go to college camps on Sat and/or Sun. Many of them work with position specific instructors to perfect their technique.
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group one is more important to come together as a team...… group two is for players that are more into themselves...…
 
Pickeringtonsports said:
There are basically two groups of players. Group 1 goes to the high school weight training sessions and calls it a day.
Group 2 goes to the high school weight training sessions but mostly just there to be visible. Then they go lift with their personal trainer, after that they go work with their speed & agility trainer, then go to a field to work on routes, throwing mechanics and timing. They do this 4-5 days per week during the summer and go to college camps on Sat and/or Sun. Many of them work with position specific instructors to perfect their technique.
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If an athlete needs that much individual training for strength,conditioning, speed, and agility I would say their football teams strength and conditioning program is seriously lacking or mommy and daddy have a whole lot of money to waste trying to get Jr a football scholarship.
 
sportfan97 said:
If an athlete needs that much individual training for strength,conditioning, speed, and agility I would say their football teams strength and conditioning program is seriously lacking or mommy and daddy have a whole lot of money to waste trying to get Jr a football scholarship.
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Some people focus on the team, others on the tEaM.
 
Pickeringtonsports said:
There are basically two groups of players. Group 1 goes to the high school weight training sessions and calls it a day.
Group 2 goes to the high school weight training sessions but mostly just there to be visible. Then they go lift with their personal trainer, after that they go work with their speed & agility trainer, then go to a field to work on routes, throwing mechanics and timing. They do this 4-5 days per week during the summer and go to college camps on Sat and/or Sun. Many of them work with position specific instructors to perfect their technique.
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Group two sound selfish and not team players. Glad we don't have that in our programs. Those who do attend camps still have the team workouts FIRST.
 
When you have 75-100 players going to a weight room that is about the size of a standard classroom, you just don’t get that much work in. Most of the time there is little to no supervision so nobody is focusing on proper lifting techniques. At Pickerington, if you don’t put in extra work, you don’t see the field. Group 1 are those players that are standing on the sideline.
 
thavoice said:
Group two sound selfish and not team players. Glad we don't have that in our programs. Those who do attend camps still have the team workouts FIRST.
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Disagree. All our guys who did this were studs and very productive on the field. Anyone just strictly following the HS program was average at best, but then again our coaches weren't the smartest trainers.

Also, I'd like to point out that 6AM workouts are dumb and should be avoided if you can. Your body just isn't ready to put in that kind of work that early in the morning. You'll always be able to perform better after you're up for at least a few hours. Teenagers being forced to get out of bed at 5AM...you're losing a lot of gains there. I know why this happens- Kids have lives after school and everything but it really leaves a lot on the table
 
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Pickeringtonsports said:
When you have 75-100 players going to a weight room that is about the size of a standard classroom, you just don’t get that much work in. Most of the time there is little to no supervision so nobody is focusing on proper lifting techniques. At Pickerington, if you don’t put in extra work, you don’t see the field. Group 1 are those players that are standing on the sideline.
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How does Pickerington with all those taxes you pay up there not have nicer facilities and a better supervised weight training program than poor little old Lancaster?
 
drew2732 said:
Disagree. All our guys who did this were studs and very productive on the field. Anyone just strictly following the HS program was average at best, but then again our coaches weren't the smartest trainers.

Also, I'd like to point out that 6AM workouts are dumb and should be avoided if you can. Your body just isn't ready to put in that kind of work that early in the morning. You'll always be able to perform better after you're up for at least a few hours. Teenagers being forced to get out of bed at 5AM...you're losing a lot of gains there. I know why this happens- Kids have lives after school and everything but it really leaves a lot on the table
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Maybe you are right. We just rarely get anyone who is considered a stud that warrants those special workouts but still to not actively participate in the team training seems shady
 
thavoice said:
Maybe you are right. We just rarely get anyone who is considered a stud that warrants those special workouts but still to not actively participate in the team training seems shady
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Probably because they don't want to kill their gains. I don't blame them. Those kids are the work horses during the season and a lot of the time they literally help the team win more games. Not sure why they wouldn't be seen as team player.

The whole, puke until you die and then get back mindset has got to stop (if it hasn't already?). Teams with a lot of talent can probably come out alright, but it really doesn't help anyone in the long run.
 
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