Coleman Feeley
On the line
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- Dec 21, 2013
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submitted Today, 12:50 PM in Texas Longhorns Football By Coleman Feeley
College football is now almost as reliant on off-season training as it is intelligent game planning. In many sports, aside from the game plan, the outcome depends on an athlete’s ability to manipulate an object or tool – baseball players can’t excel if they’re not coordinated with a bat and glove, just as tennis players can’t be accurate if they’re clumsy with their racket. In sports such as basketball or volleyball players don’t use a tool but they must constantly manipulate an object (the ball).
In football, however, there is only one position that consistently manipulates an object, and really only a few others that interact with said object at all. Like wrestlers and swimmers, the majority of football players have only their bodies as tools. This means the weight room and off-season conditioning become more important to the success of the athlete and, in turn, the team.
Football’s off-season training essentially revolves around three exercises most often referred to as “The Big Threeâ€: Bench Press, Back Squat, and Power Clean. Each of these exercises uniquely develops skills that are needed for the game.
Before taking a closer look at those three lifts, it is first necessary to note the importance of muscle mass in football. While it’s not usually the first thought when discussing the intricacies of off-season training, muscle mass is actually extremely important for athletes, especially those in contact sports. Muscle mass is critical because it is the number one injury prevention method.
The American College of Sports Medicine goes so far as to say that “…resistance training has also been suggested to reduce the risk for musculoskeletal injuries, or… reduce the severity of such injuryâ€. If a joint or tendon is surrounded by thick, strong muscle it is less likely to hyperextend or sustain a trauma caused by impact.
Bench Press
In short, Bench Press develops upper body strength as well as muscle mass. While it is essential that every position develops significant upper body strength, it is most crucial for positions that block or take on blocks regularly.
To successfully control a defender while blocking, it’s imperative to extend your arms and hinder the defender’s ability to touch you. Conversely, if a defender wants to shed a block, it’s important he extends his arms so that the blocker cannot reach him (basically, if you can grab him and he can’t grab you, you’re in control). The Bench Press very closely simulates the action of pushing a defender or blocker away from your body. The only difference being the angle of the exercises.
Back Squat
The Back Squat is vital to every position. It not only develops muscle mass, it strengthens the largest muscle grouping in the human body, the hips, quads, glutes, and hamstrings. These muscles are used on virtually every play in football due to the simple fact that they are the strongest muscle group in the body. Players are taught to use their legs when they hit, block, or tackle because that is the best way to deliver the most force.
Almost half of the players on the field begin each play in the high-tension position for the back squat (bottom of the movement). When coiled in a ‘three point stance’ an athlete’s lower body is flexed just as it is at the bottom of a back squat. On the snap of the ball and the beginning of the upward motion of a squat, the athlete’s lower body extends with force. The only change, again, is in the angle of the movement.
Additional to increasing the potential force you can use on an opponent, strengthening an athlete’s lower body also increases their speed. Speed is like an equation in that it is a result of stride length and stride frequency. Therefore, by increasing the strength of each stride, you can increase the length of the stride (frequency is another discussion).
The Power Clean (FF to 0:40 for demo)
One of the most complicated exercises that football players use, the Power Clean is associated with explosion and muscle control. The Power Clean focuses on explosion by having the athlete begin in a flexed position. (With back squat and bench press, the athlete enters the flexed position with the weight and sometimes the added help of momentum.)
The Power Clean begins in a static position and forces athletes to accelerate from a stationary point. Similar to the back squat, the Power Clean focuses on the lower body; however, where it differs from the previous two exercises is in its use of the entire body. As the athlete extends from the floor, the lower body is utilized. At the second phase (after the athlete’s lower body reaches full extension), the upper body takes control of the movement and brings the bar to a resting place. Throughout this entire process it is important to keep the back straight and the abdominal muscles tight to avoid movements that increase the risk of injury.
The ‘whole body transfer of power’ that the Power Clean teaches is one of the most crucial lessons a football player, especially a lineman, can learn. If a football player hits someone using exclusively upper or lower body strength, he is not maximizing deliverable force. That transfer of power is what blocking is all about: transitioning from a stationary position with tension, to a fully extended point and moving as fast as possible. While not a football movement, this video is a great example of a ‘transfer of power’ and is constantly shown by coaches.
Almost every time a young High School athlete arrives on campus to make the transition to Division 1 it isn’t his footwork that first needs improvement – any discussion of initial development is almost exclusively reserved for the weight room. It’s not unusual to see football players have ridiculous weight room numbers and produce a poor on-field product. Conversely, it is unusual to see superstars have little weight room ability.
From the looks of the Texas offseason, strength and conditioning shouldn’t be an issue.
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