Hey Everyone,
Here is a review I did of the Westside Barbell Book of Methodsfor Westsidebarbell.com. While the book is mostly about Powerlifting, it’s applications to football and training for football are without question. It is a must read for any football player or coach. Remember, any good football training program will have some of its roots in powerlifting! In fact, many a football workout has resembled a powerlifting session…
Several weeks back, during one of my many forays into the vast info-packed landscape known as Westside-Barbell.com, I came across a new item. Now, for those of us who love Westside gear and videos, whenever “New Item” appears, it’s kinda’ like Christmas morning.
When I first looked at the Westside Barbell Book of Methods (WBBM), I was apprehensive to buy. I figured it was just a collection of the articles already listed on the website. But, since Louie has given away a mega-ton of free info over the years, I decided to buy anyway.
A few days later, the book arrived. I will admit that not only was I wrong about the book just being a rehash of old articles, but, I was completely blown away by the amount of right-now-useful info packed into this beast.
The layout of the book is excellent. It’s organized in an easy to follow format and the attention to detail is exquisite. Not only does it have the entire system laid out in great detail, but I believe the book will put to rest some of the tired old arguments that the haters have been spewing for years. Such as:
Well, there are several (over 30) sample training days laid out. And, as Louie points out, this is nowhere near the limit. These samples give you a great foundation to build on so that you can easily put together a template for you or your athletes.
The bottom line is that this system has produced countless super strong athletes. It works both in theory and in practice…for both the raw and geared lifter.
This book should be required reading for every Exercise Science program. Forgot all those worthless western-texts, the Westside Barbell Book of Methods is the king of the hill when it comes to learning how to be the best strength coach possible. Read it and put the methods into practice if you want to have the strongest athletes in your sport.
-Steve Morris of Explosive Football Training.com
This is it though, after Saturday, the Deadlift manual goes on sale for $34.99
Hey everyone. As I talked about in part 1, the “Quick Football Workout” series is intended to give you a glimpse into what I’m doing in the gym right now. Remember that these are short because they are part of the “Chop Wave” system and are followed up with a very specific workout the next day. These all contribute to the Explosive Football Training Program as a whole.
Here’s what I did on Thursday as part of my Max Effort Upper Body Day.
The Reverse Band Bench is done with the boards to simulate the feel of a bench shirt (they are very similar) and also to give my very beat-up shoulders a rest while still going heavy. The focus of the session is to build strength in the pressing muscles and then to add a bit of volume for the triceps and back.
Sometimes some of my former team mates will see me write about a training session like this and scoff. They think there’s not enough work! Well, these sessions are deceiving. If you are putting the right amount of intensity into the session, you’ll feel it! If you half ass it, then it’ll seem like a waste of time…because it is.
We all see guys who do 20 exercises and a million sets per session and think they are outworking everyone. But, upon closer inspection, we find that the weights they’re using are laughable and they have all the intensity of an Oprah Book Club meeting.
Want to learn more? Check out the NEW Explosive Football Training Program page. The site is brand new so head on over and check it out!
Hey everyone…I’ve been getting emails asking what my current training looks like so I’ve decided to give a few glimpses into my daily training.
This is what I did today – you’ll notice that it’s a pretty short session. This is part of the plan; part of the new Chop-Wave Method that you guys will be learning about in the next few weeks. I started Chop-Wave for muscle building but I’m finding it’s extremely good for football training as well!
Anyway, here’s what today looked like:
Now, this is basically half the workout. The second half will take place tuesday…very specific accessory exercises designed to support strength, speed, and power for football.
Note that abs are trained about 5 days a week now, and the body is in a constant state of cycling between stress and recovery – which is exactly what is needed if you want to get bigger, faster, more explosive and stronger for football.
Some of you know from talking to me that we are adding a members-only section of the site. So, we’ll now have the free section that you’re used to plus a members page where you’ll have access to in-depth video, articles, audio interviews, custom-made workouts of the month, mini-DVD’s of the month, and more…
Here is a quick peek at the 4-Part Series on Plyometrics for Football. It started off as a simple article that I was going to send out to a magazine…but then it turned into a full-length manual (over 70-pages) and I decided to keep it right here with my own readers.
Remember, this is only the intro to the Plyo manual. Just wanted to let you guys see what I have in store for you in the very near future!
In Part I we talked about how not to use Plyometrics and what benefits they provide for your football skills if done properly. To recap, the Plyos work because:
The muscle contracts faster during the stretch-shortening cycle (think of the spring) than in any other type of contraction. If you had to actually think about doing it, it’d be too late for jumping or running – the contraction would be too slow.
When this happens, you can produce a more forceful movement, or simply, you can hit harder, run faster, jump higher…you’ll be more explosive.
Plyos, when done properly, can have you running faster, jumping higher, hitting harder and being as explosive as possible. When done incorrectly, they can leave you injured, over trained and wasting your time.
In Part I, I gave you several basic exercises to get you started on the road to more advanced Plyo movements. These movements were to be done as a warm up or as a potentiation exercise. If you’ve spent a few weeks doing them and getting more comfortable, then you are ready to get into some of the basics of box jumping and other various forms of intermediate Plyos.
P.S., Don’t forget to check out the whole program over at Explosive Football Manual.com
Since we are moving the program site, this will be the last time you can get the manual at the old price. The new price goes in effect on Tuesday, June 16, 2009.
Plyos – Football Training Gold or All Glitter?
They say sex sells. They also say sexy sells. Well, we don’t see much sexual stuff in the football training world, but we sure do see “sexy” training programs. These are programs and exercises that rely way too much on the cool-factor rather than, ya know, like, results. We see it all the time when it comes to agility training. Just last night I saw an EAS commercial featuring Matt Hassleback where he’s zig-zagging through cones and doing all kinds of odd movements against a nice TV background. It’s visually impressive.
But, it’s a waste of time. Think about when you watch a college football game. They almost always show video clips of guys training – sometimes lifting weights, but more typically it’s them doing something exotic looking; wearing vests, towing people, running with parachutes.
It’s excellent promotion for those products and makes coaches feel smart. And, the unsuspecting player believes he’s busing his ass to improve while in reality he’s doing nothing more than running through obstacles like a dog in a dog show.
Agility training is by far the most impacted football training facet affected by this. However, Plyometrics are a very, very close second.
What are Plyometrics
Plyometrics, or Plyos, grew out of what was simply known as “jump training” in Eastern Europe. Because the Eastern Europeans and Soviet were just dominating damn-near every sport, the West began to obsess over what they were doing that was setting them apart. Drug, of course, were the first explanation, but that fell flat when we realized that western athletes were probably on better drugs.
Eventually some of the “secrets” of the Soviets made their way over to the West and Plyos caught fire. Soon just about every sport was incorporating Plyos into their training. And, as we Westerners are so apt to do, we went overboard. If one day of jumping was good, 7 would be awesome. This, coupled with lack of overall knowledge of how and why Plyos worked led to injured athletes, reduced performance, and wasted time.
Donald Chu, one of the world’s leading Plyometric training experts sums it up nicely, “If there was any drawback to this enthusiasm, it lay with the lack of expertise that American coaches and athletes had in administering Plyometric programs and a faulty belief that more must be better.” Chu’s books are great, and recommended reading for all football training coaches.
Things eventually got better in with Olympic Athletes but when it came to football training, it only got worse. In the 1990’s, the use of Plyos became super popular and most of the coaches using them had no idea how to properly use them, when to use them, or why they should use them. But, this did not stop them one bit.
Despite the lack of knowledge (of which there should be none because there are literally huge volumes of literature on Plyometric training – which should tell you that they are not to be taken lightly), there is hope for those wishing to take their football training programs to the next level by adding Plyos.
Plyometrics, by definition are exercises that allow the muscle to reach maximum strength in as short a period of time as possible.1 Re-read that and think of it’s applications to football training! That’s what it’s all about. Producing as much force as possible, as fast as possible.
1Chu, Donald. Jumping into Plyometrics
I’m flipping back and forth between an old football game on ESPN Classics and the World’s Strongest Man contest on ESPN. It’s interesting to look at the similarities between the strongmen competitors and football players.
They’re both big, strong, fast, explosive and in excellent condition.
When WSM blew up in America, some people really jumped on the bandwagon, dismissing weight training for Strongman only training. This was a huge mistake. First of all, even the WSM guys don’t train on odd-objects alone; they also hit the weights hard.
So, then the debate became what’s best for athletes? Powerlifting? Olympic Lifting? Strongman?
It’s a rather stupid debate because the answer is yes…to all 3, plus some bodybuilding and various other styles. How can that be?
As a football player, you know that the game moves in all directions, at high speeds, and is incredibly explosive. A player needs to be strong, fast, explosive, flexible, big, and powerful. Hmm..sounds like each of the types of weight lifting I just listed.
But, how do you add Strongman type training to your program without compromising any of the other elements of training?
Strongman is excellent for conditioning. Currently, I’m watching a Medley event. It consists of lifting and carrying a large round stone, running back, picking up a few 231lb kegs, carrying them, running back and picking up a 275lb sandbag and carrying it.
That’s a TON of work. Would that kind of work be useful to a football player? Of course, ya big dummy. A medley like that will condition you in a way that “jogging” never could.
Next up…the Truck Pull. While you may not have access to an 18-Wheeler to pull, you can pull a sled, a weighted tire, or the Prowler
Pulling sleds, cars, tires, or whatever you can move is excellent for football, especially when you do the backward pull (pictured above). While the hamstrings, glutes and calves get the bulk of the attention in football training, we can’t neglect the quads. A lot of the start-stop action and cutting done in football is powered by the quadriceps.
Pulling the sled backward will work the quads in a unique, sport efficient way. Use these on conditioning day or as a quad exercise in the weight room.
Last Friday it was 65 degrees here in South Jersey…on Saturday, it hit 92. A very sweaty reminder that summer is creeping up on all of us; time to get down to business with our football conditioning programs.
The topic of football conditioning programs usually pisses me off (big surprise). Much like most football training programs, they are out-dated, ineffective, and counter productive. In a lot of places, coaches just spew out the same “conditioning” advice they were given as kids: run laps.
Sure, maybe you’ll run some gassers…a short message to the guy who invented this horrid exercise:
Yea, thanks for the gassers.
You might even do some sprinting, but I guarantee that most coaches and players are still jogging in the misguided hope of building the mythical “aerobic base.”
Which guy looks like he's conditioning for football?
If you want to go beyond average – that magical place where you get stronger in the 4th quarter, out-last your opponents, and begin to take great pleasure in beating the crap out of the opposition as they run out of gas – then you need to change the way you view football conditioning.
Here are 3 ways to take your conditioning from average to superior:
1. Kill the Jogging
It has no place in football conditioning programs. Not as a warm-up, not as a cool-down, not as some silly aerobic base. Football is an anaerobic sport, why the hell would we use an aerobic movement to warm up? It’s nonsense. Frankly, most trainers and strength coaches who use jogging as a warm up simply don’t know what to do with their athletes and running laps is a great time waster. Plus, everyone feels like they’re working hard – after all, they’re sweating and breathing fast.
You don’t jog on the field, so don’t do it in practice. Studies have shown that over-emphasis on long-distance running can actually cause some of your medium-twitch muscle fibers to convert to slow-twitch. Does anything about the words “sl0w-twitch” sound appealing to you as a football player? Leave the jogging to the cross country kids.
2. Use Simulated Game ConditioningThis method gets results. Every time, for every one. Why? It’s so football specific that it defies logic that more people don’t use it as the base of their football conditioning programs.
There are a few ways to use Simulated Game Conditioning as a performance indicator.
Use Metabolic Conditioning as your platform.
Metabolic Conditioning comes in many names. I was first exposed to it about 10 years ago when preparing for my first college football camp. They system was supposedly developed at the University of Nebraska (at the time, it was the football version of having a “secret” Russian method of training.)
Basically, instead of just running a bunch of mindless “wind-sprints,” one would run in a position specific way. For example, a Wide Receiver would run a series of 10 sprints. But, instead of the loathsome 40yd, he would vary the length and run them like a pass pattern.
Now, on each pattern, a Quarterback would throw said receiver the ball. See, conditioning and game skill in one!
Football skills and conditioning - all in one exercise.
Involve more players if possible.
Use defensive backs to cover your WRs. If possible, use two WRsand two Corners. This is a great way to both condition and teach football-specific skills.
3. The Dreaded 400’s
*Bonus: Using Games for Conditioning
Games are such an underrated method of conditioning. No one ever said that conditioning had to be boring and tedious!
You could easily use the MET Conditioning outlined earlier and turn it into a friendly 2 v 2 or even 7 v 7 game. No tackling or flags needed…where you catch the ball, you are down. 10 plays to get to the endzone. Those are just suggestions, again, you have to get creative. Keep it fun!
Flag football games offer a great opportunity to both condition and re-enforce football skills. Don’t allow the game to get sloppy…no lunging or outrageous plays. Run around, get low, get into a good hitting position, get in a good stance, block and stay low…but have fun.
Why the emphasis on fun? Well, football is a game. It’s supposed to be fun! If the training sessions are boring no one will want to do them. And, while not every player will always want to train, damn-near everyone will want to quit if the training is just plain dull.
Games can also help with building team-work. It gets the players used to working together, helping each other out and helping each other through the rough patches that will come up in every game. It’s important to build this team “togetherness” early and re-enforce it often. I’m all for motivational speakers and inspiring movies…but nothing can replace hands-on team building and games allow for real-life situations in which to do this.
Also, games will allow the players to work much harder than they ever would during a traditional conditioning session. Think about it, you are told you have to run 10 – 40’s and 5 – 100’s. It’s daunting and you start counting down on each sprint, just wanting it to be over.
Now, contrast that with a flag game or 7 v 7 session. Now, you are running endless sprints, catching, blocking, “tackling,” jumping. The volume of work is tremendous, yet no one complains. Why? Because it’s fun!
Check out the Explosive Football Training Manual for a full explination of our 2-Way Conditioning method
At some point, we’ll all fail.
Maybe it’s a failure in your football training program Maybe it’s on the field. It might even be in the classroom. But, rest assured, no matter how long things have been going well, at some point they will go wrong. If you do not develop the ability to deal with this, you’ll never reach your potential.
If you watch NFL games, you’ve probably heard a million times that a Cornerback’s best asset is a short memory. Not speed or jumping ability. A short memory. Why? Well, everyone, even the Champ Baley’s and the Deon Sanders’ get beat. If they then spend the next 5 plays thinking over what happened, they’ll get beat again.
The same is true for Lineman, linebackers, RB’s, QB’s…everyone is succeptible. We’ll all get beat for a sack, or fumble, or throw a pick. If it can happen to guys named Tom Brady and Emmit Smith, it can happen to you.
Even Tom Brady gets his ass kicked sometimes.
When it comes to football training, the same is true. See, in the beginning, progress comes fast and furious (no, not the horrible movie). What is happening is that your brain is becoming better at telling your muscles what to do. This is good, and, it’s necessary. But, at some point the simple act of adding 5lbs every workout will stop.
And, good news: the faster you progress, the faster you’ll hit a wall.
This is exactly where most guys quit:
One of the reasons Explosive Football Trainingis so effective is that it works on a system of constant progress and the breaking of Personal Records (PRs). We are always striving to improve. Another lb, another rep, doing more work in less time – all are indicators of progress in our football training program.
However, once you pass the beginner stage, you start to hit walls.
What do you do? Are you tough enough to keep your head down and blast through plateaus? Or, will you quit like most people?
Let’s look at a guy who’s Deadlift is tanking and he’s getting beat to the outside on pass blocks.
He can make two choices:
You and I both know that most choose number 1. Guys hit a snag in their football training program and they panic. They start jumping from program to program, hoping the answer is in some horrible bodybuilding magazine, when really, the answer is to continue to work.
Face it; the first time you put on the pads you knew this game was not easy. The first time you Squatted a max weight, that feeling in your stomach and chest let you know that training for this game won’t be easy.
No one said football would be easy.
But, if you’re reading this site, you’re different. You won’t take failure lightly. You’ll realize that it is bound to happen, but you’ll get off your ass and do something about it!
In part 2, I’ll give you some specific methods to break through training barriers and how to get over mistakes on the field as well.
For anyone who’s every been around me or read my articles and books, it’s pretty much known fact that I despise the football testing that is so popular today. The name of this site is Explosive Football Training, not explosive football testing!
But, I’m not an unreasonable man; I understand that we all have to go through these tests and that our performance can mean a lot: as in playing time, a spot on the team, or moving to the next level of play.
Of course, one of the most popular and talked about tests is the 40-yd dash. I’ve seen some coaches and players devote so much of their football training programs to the 40, that you’d think that was their sport! If “what do ya bench?” is the #1 question of all time, “what’s your 40?” would have to be a close second.
Most of your training for the 40 (and all tests) should be built into your explosive football training workouts– you build strength to build speed.
But, this isn’t what this article is about. See, I’ve gotten a rash of emails over the last few weeks from guys who are crappin their pants because their testing is coming up very soon, and they are panicking.
The following 3 football training tips are meant for the Oh-Shit-My-Test-is-in-a-Week kinda crowd. These are for the days leading up to and the day of the test. Use them and watch your 40-time decrease by .3 – .4 seconds. Remember, an improvement like that can take a lineman from the horrid land of the 5’s into the 4-second promised land.
The Underground Tricks for a Faster 40
Ok, I hate the word tricks…how about illusions?
Illusions, Michael!
Low Box Squat Good Mornings
You’ve got to find ways to dynamically stretch your hip flexors. It’s not always a great idea to do static stretching (the kind where you hold a stretch for 20 – 30 seconds) before testing or heavy lifting. But, your hips are a huge exception. Tight hip flexors have been called “breaks” for their speed-killing abilities.
You can really improve your chances on the 40 by doing Low Box Squat Good Mornings in the days leading up to the test. They can be done at the end of every session and on Test day as part of your warm up. Here’s a video of the LBSGM:
You don’t need to go heavy! Just use enough weight to elicit a stretch in your hip flexors and your entire hip area. Shoot for 3 sets of 6.
Kettlebell Swings
Pre-activation, or potentiation methods as they’re often called, is a way to warm up so that your brain (Central Nervous System) knows it’s time to move some serious weight or get moving quickly. As football players, you’ve all gone through some small form of potentiation training. If you’ve ever done high-knees, butt-kicks, skips, or thrusters, then you’ve been introduced to pre-activation. Most think of pre-activation movements are used only in football training workouts, but, they are key to increasing test day performance as well.
The Kettlbell swing is an excellent pre-activation move for taking time off of your 40. This one is best for when you are testing at your own school, unless you don’t mind carting a heavy kettlebell with you. Its also a great general activation movement, so you can use it before your bench test, vertical, or shuttle.
When swings are done properly, they elicit a tremendous explosive reflex. You need to have your brain firing on all cylinders to get that damn Kettlebell moving with proper force.
Grab a K-bell with both hands, bend the knees, swing the bell between your legs. When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, snap the bell forward again using explosive power from your hamstrings, hips, glutes, back, and abs. This is a great pre-game movement, by the way. Here is a video from our Explosive Football Training Youtube Page demonstrating how to properly do a swing.
For pre-test purposes, go with 3 sets of 5 and make sure you are exploding the weight up.
Seated Jumps
These are super simple to do and you can do them anywhere so they are perfect for test day. As most of you know, Box Squats of all kinds are a favorite movement of Explosive Football Training. Well, now we are going to take all that new-found Box Squatting strength and turn it into a time-melting 40 trick.
All you need is a bench, box or chair. Sit back like you would during a squat but hold that position. Now, without leaning forward or rocking, jump as high as you can from that seated position. Repeat for 5 sets of 3 and the end of your warm-up.
I can’t stress enough that you can’t rock or lean forward (this produces very dangerous bad habits when you box Squat). You want the CNS to get fired up, so relax then explode up.
Do these 3 movements and I guarantee you’ll run the best 40 of your career.
The myth that you need to have fancy equipment or lift in an expensive gym in order to be a great athlete is complete B.S. I’ve heard way too many times that in order to get a real, hard-core football training session in, you need expensive equipment or a fully stocked commercial gym!
History is full of guys who trained in conditions that would be considered damn-near 3rd World who went on to be come champions. Jim Davis and Tommy Kono, two former Olympic Gold Medallists in Olympic Lifting, both trained in basements on bent bars. Tommy used dirt in place of chalk.
John Davis Clean & Jerking Over 350lbs - How many guys at your local gym can even Squat that?
There are teams of Olympic lifter in foreign countries who train in freezing cold training halls, with bent bars, and barely have enough to eat…yet they kick the asses of guys training in state-of-the-art facilities year after year.
Why? Attitude. Balls. Intestinal fortitude. Whatever you wanna call it. Effort is a great word for it.
Can a football player get big and strong lifting at home? Absolutely!
I’ve been lifting in garages, sheds, and basements for over 10 years. I’ve trained people in those same sparse facilities, and guess what? The results are better than those who train in a commercial gym.
Snatch Grip Deadlifting at Home
If you are forced to lift at home, what equipment do you need? Can you get a real hard-core football training workout in at home?
A bar and weights.
If you can get your hands on a squat rack and a bench, great. But, if not, don’t sweat it. With just a cheap 300lb set (you can find these for $50 on Craigstlist or in the newspaper classifieds), you can do a ton of exercises, including:
That’s just a small sample. Look at that list. Do you really think you can’t make progress on just those lifts? If you add some dumbbells you are set! Is there anything missing from that list that would hurt your football training goals? I don’t think so!
If you can’t get a bar and plates, get a sandbag and do every exercise listed above.
Check out any issue of MILO (a strength training journal which I often write for) and you’ll see pictures of guys training on cement weights, with sandbags, barrels, stones and whatever else they can lift.
If you are limited to the above tools, here’s a great workout to get started:
3 days per week do a training session with a Push, a Pull, and a Row of some kind. Throw in ab and arm work as needed.
Deadlifts – 5 x 5 Rows – 3 x 8 Presses – 5 x 5 Curls – 3 x 8 Sit-ups – 3 x 10 The next session try:
Sumo DL – 6 x 4 1-arm Row – 3 x 10 (load one side of the bar and row it) Floor Press – 3 x 8 (just like a bench press, but lying on the floor: Please have a spotter! If you can not find a spot, use dumbbells or substitute Bar Push-ups) Behind the Head Extensions – 3 x 8 Side Deadlifts – 3 x 10 (for the abs)
The third session you can repeat the first, but go a bit lighter. It’s a classic push/pull/squat with a heavy/medium/light loading scheme. Simple and effective.
In my home gym, I’ve trained countless athletes and lifters. On a simple platform, I’ve seen dozens of 500+lb Deadlifts, 300 – 425lb Benches (one 605, by your favorite strength coach), and slabs of muscle have been built. The equipment is basic.
Sure, I add to it when possible, but those add-ons are the sides, not the entree!
Here’s a video from my home facility, me doing some reverse band bench presses. Enjoy!
p.s, don’t forget to check out the Explosive Football Training Programwhich has a full section on home gym training for football.
