Football Training

I am a junior defencive end i am a two year starter and i am looking to go D1 for college. Right now I am 6’3 and 214 pounds, I run a 5.00 40 have a 27.5 inch standing vert, i bench 225 squat 350.

that is a little background on myself and I am wondering if anyone out there has any good lifts, or has tryed a lifting or training regieme that they think would be helpfull to me in my all around training for my position. if anyone has any sugestions or have tryed anyhting which has given them succes in the past in trnaing for D end i would realy like to hear about it, thanx alot. -TK-

I would recommend Joe Defranco’s “Westside for Skinny Bastards” (you don’t have to be a skinny guy to use this, trust me) as well as Mike Robertson’s “Designer Athletes”

I’m not trying to be harsh, but if you want to play D1, you need to get a lot bigger and a lot faster.

For a speed-rushing defensive end most D1 teams are probably looking for a guy who’s 240 who’s running a 40 in the area of 4.7. For a run-stopping defensive end they’re probably looking around a 260-pounder running a 4.9. Either way you need to start focusing on packing on some serious muscle. You will be hard-pressed to find a D1 offensive tackle under 280. Think about your diet right now and if it’s going to allow you to get up into that weight range. If it’s not, you need to change something.

As far as programs go, check out “Westside for Skinny Bastards” by Joe DeFranco on this site.

You need speed so do short sprints and oly lifts, snatch, clean, squat, presses etc. Make sure in all of those the you use your hips to push thru and get an explosion out of them. What are your numbers in the other oly lifts cuz thats what they really look at rather than bench, but you will wanna work on a forty time. Hell, i was 255 and ran a 5.0 and i didnt get near the looks i wanted to.

A good book with complete workouts is “Complete Conditioning for Football”, do a search for it and should find it easily…it explains it all, lifting, running, dynamic warm ups, stretch,speed workouts, diet etc based on the traditions at Nebraska…its a complete book, there are others that are great as well, “The Strongest Shall Survive” by Bill Starr, and for alot of pictures of the types of exercises you should be doing “Renegade Training for Football” although it doesnt put all the exercises into integrated workouts in the book for you like the Nebraska one.

Dont be discouraged, I was a tiny 5’10 middle linebacker and running back, but got plenty of D-I schools interested. I think I ran a 4.8 in high school at 235, and despite a broken hand, fractured L2, torn ligs in ankle all in my senior season, I still managed to get offers from some D-IA schools (all the big ones dropped me like hot potato with those injuries), top D-IAA, and athletic appointments to all the service academies. Dont be discouraged by any comments about your size or speed, take it as constructive criticism and work your tail off. I still get made fun of by my old teammates for being so short(but I got after it). Yes in recruiting your size and numbers on some sheet of paper will mean alot for a first look, but if you can ball, and do so balls to the wall with relentless intensity, you can get looks. Also, you will want to let your coach know what types of schools you are interested in and start getting your name out there, get highlight films made, and keep track of your good games as they also want to see full game tapes (a highlight tape can be made misleading if you just show all your standout plays). Send out your tapes and bio to all the schools you are interested in. Ive seen some retards get looks at schools they had no business because their coach talked them up, bugged recruiters, got out tapes, etc.

Start eating like you have a tapeworm. If you still have mom cooking for you, all the better. Huge breakfast, pack snacks for during the day in between classes, lunch, snacks before practice and lifts, post workout shake if you can afford supplements, big dinner at home, and before bed another meal or big protein milkshake weightgainer whatever. You gotta get calories. If you cant afford shakes, just have mom get lots of milk, bananas, eggs, tuna, chicken, peanut butter, and throw it down as often as you can. At a minimum you gotta be squatting, deadlifting, benching, rowing, chinning. It would be nice to do olympic lifts if you can get the coaching, and some plyos and agilities.

Remember, the “eye in the sky doesnt lie”…so dont dog it on any series or play in your games, they will notice.

Good Luck