So, I'm back to where I left off as far as the training regimen of a football player (a defensive lineman to be exact). As a refresher, I chose defensive lineman in particular because of the amazing capabilities that a d-lineman must depend upon. Not only must they be big, they must also be strong, explosive, and just about as quick as anyone else on the field. The characteristic of the defensive lineman is truly a culmination of all positions into one.
Obviously, the most important thing for any athlete to do is be highly proficient in their skills and to bring a lot of heart and passion to what they are doing. In my efforts to illustrate my own views of training, I am exploring ways to expand the dimensions of an athlete away from the practice field in order for them to truly feel a sense of never ending development in their game.
When I last wrote on this particular subject, I parted after stating the essential elements of a defensive lineman. They include:
-possessing very strong core strength
-outstanding amounts of athletic explosion
-high amounts of strength and the balance of body
-light, and quick feet
And here is my proposed training regimen for these types of results. In just about any sport, your training will find you in many different venues and scenarios as you would fail to maximize your potential with just strictly staying on the field or court. In this case, I will divide the training between work in the weight room, work out on the field, and work with boxes and medicine balls.
First,
The Weight Room:
It is imperative that a defensive lineman possess super-human strength. Now this isn't achieved by simply lifting a routine 10-12 reps, breaking a little sweat and going home feeling like you've worked out. Strength building, muscle stacking workouts should make you leave the work out feeling like you've just repeatedly run into a brick wall. Trauma is how it should be summed up.
The typical semi-heavy lifting routine does have it's benefits however but that is more towards the off-season. For the sake of this blog, I would like to focus more on the preparation phases through mid-late season.
The lifting should be heavy, and it should require a good grunt and some serious sweat. Your muscles, your body, your mind must get acclimated to the fact that you need to have the capability of running through a wall. What lifts? Big, compound lifts! Not some light weight biceps work that some whimp at the gym is doing trying to look good for the ladies. We're talking about big barbells stacked with plates of weight! '
Bench Press: multiple sets of no more than 4-6 reps.
Squats: stack the weight, the bar should bend around your back
Power cleans: the weight room's best choice for working on explosion
Barbell rows: build a huge back
Deadlifts: build huge hamstrings...ones that will help you blow through your opponent
That can pretty much be it. Of course, there are more lifts that might benefit you but these are the lifts that must take a very high priority.
next is,
Field Work
So now you have a body that is extremely strong...assuming you did some real work with the weights and didn't lift like a little wiener. But with great strength comes great responsibility to be able to translate your newly found power into your athletic movements. Building a lot of strength doesn't mean that you will have automatic gains in your athleticism...the two can be very closely correlated but it cannot be assumed. More muscle, more weight, and in some cases, worsened flexibility can really bog you down. Time to go out the the field and reconnect your brain to your body.
Sprints: focus on light yet powerful strides. really work on the ability to move your body and jolt into high speeds.
Shuttle Drill: a drill that helps your lateral quickness. You're heavier now, your brain might tell you that you are heavier but you've got to clench your fist and accept no excuses...you must be lightning quick...go!
Leap Frogs: a great heart bursting exercise that helps you strengthen and quicken your horizontal leaping ability. More leaping ability means more power. More power means you will be doin the hurting instead of the opponent.
Plyometrics: again, your body is more bulky. Retrain your twitch fibers and leaping muscles to handle more weight and more usage of power
and lastly,
Box Jumps and Medicine Ball Work
Box Jumps: doing this increase your vertical leap. Working on your vertical leap is an undoubted way of improving your athletic ability
Medicine ball work outs (various): do these to truly strengthen the core and develop muscles to help operate your body in the most optimal manner. Doing a million crunches may be good for the next star of the Twilight Saga but it shouldn't be of prime importance to an elite athlete. Being able to be strong and sturdy is the priority in the core muscle chain.
there you go.
next up? How to train a volleyball player
until then,
James
