I’m looking for a little bit of advice on a few topics, and i figured this is the best place to do it. So here’s my situation; I am a 20 year old football player at a D-3 college. I am an offensive guard at 5’11", 240lbs (I know that’s too light, which is why i’m here). My numbers are as follows;
Squat- 420
Bench- 335
Incline- 280
Clean- 255
Snatch- 160
Deadlift- 400
At 240 my shot at playing on the O-line is dismal, so i was wondering if anyone could help me bulk up, and increase my core lifts at the same time. I’m open to suggestions on lifts, eating regiments, supplements, etc. Any advice anyone can give will be much appreciated. Also, at this young age is TRIBEX even worth a shot? Or is there already enough T in my body? Thanks to anyone who answers.
Dude, you gotta bring up your legs. My bet is your posterior chain is weak, you shouldn’t be squatting less than you deadlift. (I’m 6’0 190 and I deadlift more than that) Are you sure you’re breaking parallel when you squat? (have someone watch you and make sure your the place where your hip meets your leg goes below the top of your knee) I can’t stress enough how badly you need to work your legs, at 240 you should be squatting way more than that and deadlifting WAY more than that. I recommend glute ham raises, DEEP squats, pull throughs, deadlifts, good mornings, lunges, etc.
I would really pound your posterier chain, maybe you might want to add some strongman GPP stuff into your training for conditioning and jumping rope is really good too (check out renegade rope training by John Davies on this site). Also there is an artical at elitefts.com about westside and training football.
Good luck
Will42
First of all you are short for a lineman too! But dont take that the wrong way not everyone gets to be 6’4" and 320lbs! Enough with what you don’t have on to what you do have! You have a good base of strenght Your clean was good! And shows you you can be explosive! Which is what you want coming out of a 3-point stance. Not only speed kills but quickness too! Your squat is below where you should have it. If I was you I would adopt a power lifting type program and get your bench/squat/deads up! You have time to do that now before spring ball. I would go back to the cleans and snaches during the summer to gain the explosivness to go with the strength you built up. As far as weight goes EAT!!! But not just anything. Eat good foods. I know what you are saying right now “no shit” give me some good advice! But what I mean is its hard to eat right in college. Aside from the lack of time (classes,training,women,friends,and women) its hard to eat good dormfood. If you have read any of the diet articals on this site then you allready know what to eat if not Read! Get some Grow! protien powder and take it and some fruit along with you to your classes. Dont ever be without food!!! Never go hungry!!! I wish you all the luck in the world I hope I helped!
As far as being 5’11" & 240, thats fine for D3. I was in a similar position. I was the same size when I was an OG in college. Work that clean & the snatch. powerlifting is probably not the best way to acheive the goal. Elite has a ton of brutally strong guys but a good portion couldn’t pass block, trap, or pull if their life depended on it.
I’m wondering what your bodyfat percentage is? There’s a big difference between being 240 at 10-12% and 240 at 22-25%. I’m guessing that if you were at 10-12 your lifts would be better–not that they’re terrible now.
If you’re carrying high bodyfat you might want to think about losing it and making a switch to the other side of the ball. 5-11, 240 is really small for even a d-3 starting lineman these days. 5-11, 225 is a perfectly good size for a starting d-3 linebacker.
If you’re 240 now with low bodyfat first of all congratulations, that’s not easy to do. I agree with the above–squat hard and deep and do various types of deadlfts–especially standard standing on a block and snatch-grips.
It’s really worth your while to get the most accurate bodyfat reading you can right now even if it costs you a few bucks. Report back with the findings and we’ll take it from there.
[quote]scott67 wrote:
As far as being 5’11" & 240, thats fine for D3. I was in a similar position. I was the same size when I was an OG in college. Work that clean & the snatch. powerlifting is probably not the best way to acheive the goal. Elite has a ton of brutally strong guys but a good portion couldn’t pass block, trap, or pull if their life depended on it. [/quote]
They have Coaches 62, X, and H to answer questions and post their workouts on how they use “Westside” (conjugate periodization) for football. And several strength coaches have written articles for them.
I meant no disrespect to those cats over at Elite/Westside…I should have qualified that better. Chains, bands & boards have their place in training. As a true student/athlete at the D3 level, taining like that can be very time consuming (planning, implementing, & the actual training). Joe Kenn has a great program that he’s brought w/him from BSU to ASU. Lots of powerlifting (i.e. bench, squat, DL) type stuff w/some O lifts mixed in. Benching is great, but overhead pressing is very important, too. Big numbers are great but if you’re 240, you’ll need to rely on quick first step to win alot of your battles.
[quote]scott67 wrote:
I meant no disrespect to those cats over at Elite/Westside…I should have qualified that better. Chains, bands & boards have their place in training. As a true student/athlete at the D3 level, taining like that can be very time consuming (planning, implementing, & the actual training). Joe Kenn has a great program that he’s brought w/him from BSU to ASU. Lots of powerlifting (i.e. bench, squat, DL) type stuff w/some O lifts mixed in. Benching is great, but overhead pressing is very important, too. Big numbers are great but if you’re 240, you’ll need to rely on quick first step to win alot of your battles. [/quote]
It’s all good bro. I was not trying to imply you were disrespecting anybody. Sometimes that is hard to get across when you can only read the words somebody is thinking instead of hearing them. Just wanted to point out that they are there in case anybody did not know.
Thanks for all the help guys. To clear a few things up;
The lifting program i am on (through our strength coach) is based heavily on the Olympic lifts, and the core lifts. Squats are a large part of our program, and yes, I make sure to go down to at least parallel (It won’t count on a max out if it’s not parallel). So i am doing a lot of benching, squatting, deadlifting, Cleaning, and snatching. I know my legs aren’t where they should be, and i’ve been focusing on them for the past year now. Trust me, it was much worse.
As far as the body fat % goes, i don’t even know where to begin looking for a test. However, i would like to say that right now, that does not concern me very much. As an O-lineman (especially being a short bastard), i’m looking to gain some weight. Not 40 lbs or anything, but some. The only advantage i have at the moment (with my small size) is my quickness. So i don’t want to effect that too much. I’m going to concentrate more on the looking good nekid part after football.
The thing that i really need help with is the nutritional part of it. Dontseame hit the nail on the head when he said that it’s hard to eat right from a college cafeteria. However, i am trying more and more to educate myself (thanks to those who have given websites and article names) and also to watch what i eat. I want weight, but i would like the majority of it to be muscle.
One last question; What should i look for in terms of daily intake of protein and calories? I’m going to keep reading, and hopefully be able to answer my own question soon. Thanks to everyone who’s answered.
Hey guys I am also facing a dilemma involving football, but mine is much different.
For the past 3 years I have been wrestling in the NCWA (which is a league including clubs and varsity programs from schools around the country) in their 235 lbs weight class. I am a 2x national champion, going for my 3rd title this year. I have also beaten many notable and ranked wrestlers from the NCAA divisions over the years. And this is the last year I am eligible to wrestle.
However next year I still have 1 year left of NCAA eligibility and was looking into trying to walk on for my school’s football team. I go to the University of Central Florida, where the head coach is George O’Leary however the team went 0-11 last year and was regarded as the worst in D1 by many.
I’m wondering how long you guys think it would take for me to turn my wrestling shape into being successful for football.
I am 6ft , 215 lbs at about 8% bodyfat.
My maxes are
Bench-330
Squat- 500
Deadlift- 500
Clean- 255
I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me. Anything from general advice to specific training would be helpful, thank you very much.
Did you play high school football and how good were you (all-state, all-league, etc.)?
How fast are you?
If you were a great high school player who runs a 4.5 forty, go for it–you could, maybe, be a back-up safety and play on some special teams. If you run a 4.8 and were an average high school player I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much but, if it’s what you want to do, give it a try.
Your lifts are fine for your size. I’d keep lifting hard but really work on skills, speed and agility.
In High School I was an all-area and all conference player in an area that had three playoff teams. Plus it was in the state of Florida, which I’m assuming is at the top of the totem pole. I was heavily recruited by some good D2 and D3 schools (was seconds away from committing to D3 team Bridgewater in VA).
Back then though I had quite a bit more bodyfat on me and was at about 235 lbs. I started both ways on the offensive and defensive lines. My biggest problem I think now would be that I haven’t trained exclusively for sprinting or anything since almost 4 years ago. I’d give myself running a 4.9 right now w/o training for it.
However I’m currently in the best shape of my life, and figure I might as well give it a shot.
[quote]Shooter189 wrote:
In High School I was an all-area and all conference player in an area that had three playoff teams. Plus it was in the state of Florida, which I’m assuming is at the top of the totem pole. I was heavily recruited by some good D2 and D3 schools (was seconds away from committing to D3 team Bridgewater in VA).
Back then though I had quite a bit more bodyfat on me and was at about 235 lbs. I started both ways on the offensive and defensive lines. My biggest problem I think now would be that I haven’t trained exclusively for sprinting or anything since almost 4 years ago. I’d give myself running a 4.9 right now w/o training for it.
However I’m currently in the best shape of my life, and figure I might as well give it a shot.[/quote]
With this info I’d say your best shot is as an undersized nose guard playing at about 240 at maybe 12% bodyfat. You should be able to get to this size easily with lifting and eating. If your squat is legit below parallell 500 is great. I’d like to see your clean at 300+ and bench 375-400. Work on upperbody explosiveness through medicine ball work–just the thing for getting under an O-linemans shoulder pads.
Thanks for the help so far guys. I am going to contact the walk-on coordinator next week and find out some more information so I can hopefully get started on my track after March 15th.
Gaining about 10-15 lbs won’t be that big of a problem, as I’ve been that big both of the past two summers, however during wrestling season it is quite easy to lose the gained weight.
Do you guys have any advice on specific sprinting programs or anything I could use? I would assume incorporating sled dragging would also be beneficial in boosting my speed. Thanks.
I would try to get as much input as you can about what position the team sees you playing before you plan your running program. I’m not sure if you can talk to the head coach or not now (NCAA regulations) but talk to players, asst. coaches, conditioning coaches, etc. If you get into the team’s winter conditioning program and play spring ball you’re far better off than trying to walk-on in August.