Pre-Season Football Strength Workout
Here we go with a explosive football strength workout of the pre-season variety.
I realize that most of you guys are in your off-season, but, as a minor league player in a spring league, I’m actually in my pre-season. This session took place on Sunday, the day after a full-contact practice.
I also realize that usually the last thing most of you want to do after getting pounded for hours on the practice field is do your strength training, but, it’s actually the best thing you can do. Yes, you’re sore as hell and as stiff as a board, but, laying around and restricting blood flow is the best path to prolonged soreness.
Getting a strength workout it the day after a practice is an excellent way to:
- Continue getting stronger throughout the pre-season and in-season
- Reduce soreness
If you’re sore, you won’t perform well on the field. Let’s not bullshit here, on most teams, even if you’re the starter, all it takes is a few bad practices or even one bad game to lose your job and find your ass on the bench. Performing at less than your best is a great way to accomplish this.
It seems crazy to think that if you’re sore from football practice, you should lift weights. Wouldn’t a strength workout just make it worse?
No, especially if you do it correctly.
Should you go in and try a personal record in the Deadlift? Of course not. You’d be insanely disapointed.
Here’s how you should approach a pre-season strength workout:
- Do higher reps (if it’s the day after a practice or scrimmage, stick with high reps (8 – 15 reps)
- Warm Up Thoroughly – the surge in blood flow will make you feel better and speed recovery
- Stretch after the session – again, take advantage of the blood flow and help remove the “junk” from inside the muscles
- If it was a light practice, start off with a big exercise (Squats, Deads, Bench) and hit a heavy Single…this isnt usually an all-time best, but what you can do for that day
Now, with all that said, here’s what my workout looked like…
DB Press – 2 x 2-minutes
This is a really cool way to run up the volume without further injuring yourself or causing any joint pain. This can be done for presses, Bench, Incline, etc.
Pick a weight you can do for 12-ish reps. Set a timer. Now, press for 2-minutes.
Obviously, you can’t do it for the entire 2-mins. You do a bunch, say, 6 – 10. Rest with the dumbbells on your shoulders, then do another batch, rest…and so on until the timer goes off.
Two sets of this is more than enough, trust me.
Close Grip Incline – 4 x 8
Trap Bar Shrug Pulls – 3 x 8
- This is like a shrug using a Trap Bar, but, instead of simply shrugging the bar, you shrug and and continuing pulling till your hands reach the bottom of your rib cage
- This is an excellent exercise to strengthen the traps…and make them bigger as well.
Face Pulls – 3 x 8
Lat Pulls - 6 x 6
Normally, I might have also done some bicep work, but it was about -10 degrees in the gym and, frankly, I hate doing bi’s. I typically keep a set of 50’s in my office and do various curls and tricep extensions throught the day, I put an inch on my arms this way… (more on that another day)
Now, if you want to see how we do our Pre-season, In-season, Off-Season and every other type of workout…
