I have a 15yr. old son playing H.S. football.
He’s 6’6" 280 lbs and still growing. His positions are defensive and offensive tackle.
He plays primarily defense, but they want him to learn the offense as well. My question is
what type of extra training can I do with him
during the season and not be overtraing him?
He has lot’s of natural strength and power,
but with size 18 feet is in need of agility,
and of course more endurance. I do have the
Renegade Training for Football book, just need some ideas.
What the hell?! So, I’m thinking that all the guys in your family are HYOOOOGE? Geez. Beeg Boys. Your son sounds like he will certainly be drafted into the NFL, if he keeps the football up!
As for your question on ways to improve his agility: jump rope (try the Renegade Rope Training by Coach Davies), martial arts, boxing. The martial arts and boxing you could certainly train with him! A nice addition to your weight training and his football training (during his off season).
Footwork, footwork and more footwork. Seriously, size and strength are obviously neccessary for an offensive lineman, but what seperates the the good ones from the average ones is feet. It’s getting to the point now where 300lb college offensive lineman are the norm. To be successfull though you gotta have great feet. Relative to their size, offensive lineman should have the best feet on the team. Most important is quickness out of the 3 point stance, lateral movement and quick movement backwards at a 45%angle. Balance and an explosive, well timed punch (pass blocking) are also crucial.The types of drills for these skills are fairly specific. The best way to train lateral movement and movement backwards at a 45% angle is with kick slide drills. Basically, this is the movement used by the lineman. You kick with the leg in the direction you wish to go and slide the rear leg with it. You always want to stay in a balanced position of stability. In addition this drill should be done with the butt as low as possible. The athlete needs to become comfortable moving about with his legs bent in a coiled position. I like to do this one with a broom stick held behind their head whick keeps the back straight. Do this drill with a lot of change in direction. Quick hand drills are also important. Hand fighting and quick punch drills are very useful. These are just a couple of the many drills that will facilitate the learning of these skills. I would consider going to John Davies for a personalized offensive or defensive line program for your son. For d-line footwork, speed, power and technique are also the key. Both o-line and d-line are highly skilled positions which have a large learning curve. Repetition, repetition, repetition is the only way to become good. As a college offensive line coach, the biggest problem I often see with young lineman is, the lack of adaptation to simple work under load. I believe this is what John Davies would refer to as GPP. It’s why farm kids and kids we recruit from the local steel town are often further ahead than those from upper middle class families. Even though they are often not as strong in the weight room initially, they are almost always more explosive and have better recovery (last 4 quarters ) on the field. No weight room can compare to the summers spent bailing hay or working in the steel mills. Lastly, to put the importance of footwork into perspective, I would rather have 5 kids at 250lbs., decent strength and great feet starting for me, than 5 kids at 300lbs., great strength and o.k. feet.
Have him do high a volume of ballistic lifting. For example, lots olympic lifts (probably their “power” variations) , with barbells, dumbells, or kettlebells. Include both one and two arm versions. Use moderately heavy weight, but prioritize explosiveness over weight. Also some explosive push-ups would be beneficial.
A good way to set this program up could be 5X5 @60-70%1RM c&j or snatch everyday, alternating one or the other every day. Also 5x3 pushups every day.
If a game is approaching keep the volume the same, but drop the weight down to 50 % 1RM.
This is more for the offseason, then during the season… but practice with keeping him low coming out of the stance. His first step should be forward when he’s on defense, or run blocking. Make sure he doesn’t stand right up.
His coaches should be doing this, but if they’re not you should help him with firing off the ball using different snap counts. If a 280pound manchild in HS football gets the first step into a gap, and stays low… there’s no way another HS guy can stop him.
If you watch the smaller Linemen in HS, and the NFL they rely on quickness and technique… if you can get a hyyooooge player to follow those same tactics he can be somethin special. 
BTW… Magnus are you a football coach? You already posted most of the stuff I was going to suggest.
Jump Rope big time!!! one minute interavls and then build to two minutes at a pop with one minute rest. Lean him out a bit to make him quick - high high protein and straches before noon/post workout. Get him a punching bag and make him beat the crap out of it - build a box out of wood about 16 inches high and learn about plyometrics. Build a 75-100 lb sled and have him run 60 yard sprints with it harnassed to his waist.
I did the above - played OLINE major college - on my way to the pros and injured seriously before the combines. In my opinion, the only workout worth a damn for your son is Alessi-style training. cleans, cleans, cleans… behind the neck jerks, deep squats (I never had a knee injury) More incline presses vs. bench press. get him moving and coordinated… He needs to be nasty on the field, the biggest and strongest guy in the world will get his panties handed to him by a nasty-as-hell SOB on the field. Bitch slap the coach and tell him your son is the man (OK, lol - maybe leave the last part out)
M.A. and boxing! to THIS idiot “CUBuffsRKC 2002-08-27 18:17:04
Have him do high a volume of ballistic lifting. For example, lots olympic lifts (probably their “power” variations) , with barbells, dumbells, or kettlebells. Include both one and two arm versions. Use moderately heavy weight, but prioritize explosiveness over weight. Also some explosive push-ups would be beneficial. A good way to set this program up could be 5X5 @60-70%1RM c&j or snatch everyday, alternating one or the other every day. Also 5x3 pushups every day. If a game is approaching keep the volume the same, but drop the weight down to 50 % 1RM” are YOU gonna pay the med. bills? thought NOT!
To renegadedragon: Up until this year I coached offensive line at a Canadian university. Taking a year or two off to enjoy the fall.
I personally would not use any plyometrics or ballistic training during the season. If he’s practicing every night and playing once a week, he’s getting lots of ballistic work every day. For football, power training is best left to the off season. Strength wise, I would utilize a basic strength program during the season. The focus should be on football techniques and skills during the season. I’ve never been a huge believer in skipping for improving footwork for football. While it won’t hurt (great warm-up) a good selection of cone drills would be much more football specific. For conditioning, skipping is great, but be careful with a 280lb. kid. It might be too high an impact activity for him.
I put the disclaimer my post was more for the offseason. The coach SHOULD be handling the conditioning during the season.
I feel my chances to play at a big college after HS were diminished by the poor advice I got on weight training and nutrition, I couldn’t get over 200 lbs. Right now, I’m hoping to get my carreer under me, make a lil money then move on to coach Football at a HS level. Hopefully keep some kids from making the poor training choices/advice that I was given.
“rev. I”, way to be real mature and just call me an idiot without posting any real argument. Anyway, I assumed that qualified instruction would be available to teach olympic style lifting. I guess you implied that injury would be likely to occur–i’m not sure why given the light weights…
I’d also like to add that most of the posts seemed to offer good advice, so you can gain something from all of them. The final bit of advice i’d like to throw in is that very few know the benefits that lineman can get from sticky hands training.
Thanks alot for all the great info. Your knowledge and advice is appreciated. I’ll
concentrate on increasing my son’s footwork
thru skill drills and some jump rope work,
renegade style of course. Ballistic training
twice a week to maintain his power and strength. Plus throw in some heavy bag work
as well. I would be interested in certain
drills he can use on the heavy bag. Thanks again for everything
" “rev. I”, way to be real mature and just call me an idiot without posting any real argument. Anyway, I assumed that qualified instruction would be available to teach olympic style lifting. I guess you implied that injury would be likely to occur–i’m not sure why given the light weights… I’d also like to add that most of the posts seemed to offer good advice, so you can gain something from all of them. The final bit of advice i’d like to throw in is that very few know the benefits that lineman can get from sticky hands training." give me one VALID reason why this kid should do ANY o-lifts??? they ARE NOT safe! they ARE DUMB!! they WILL NOT help you get faster, quicker, better, etc…!! slow and controled lifting will increase these “objectives” quicker then o-lifting ever could. you recomend them because that is what you are told, THINK!!! not an insult, but please THINK!! what could make them better then lifting slow?? which one is safer?? think my man, THINK!
You know, even though you’ve changed your name to “rev. i.” you’re still an asshole who doesn’t know how to have a conversation. Just a tip: You can state your opinion without insulting someone. You may also want to actually read T-mag and learn something before posting on this board. Tip #2: When changing your name to get by the mods (who banned your ass last time) try not to type in the exact same manner - “THINK!!!”. And don’t give us that “Hetyey225 is my friend” nonsense. You know you don’t have any friends.
Sorry if that’s harsh, everyone else, but this guy has a bad rep and does nothing but bring down the board IQ and cause trouble. I never could figure out if he was a troll or just a really dumb guy with a personality disorder.
Yeah, I can see how lifting real slow will help with a sport that is played at a fast explosive pace. I do agree that oly lifts and explosive lifting should be reserved for experienced players, probably most seniors in highschool but by no means should collegiate or professional players lift slow b/c it is safe. Which by the way, is entirely false if the person trains smart and correctly.