Jim- I am signed up for tryouts for the arena football league later in the year. Just want a quick opinion on my week in training if you wouldn’t mind.
WEEK 1-
Day 1:OH 75% 5x3+ 1 PR set
Deadlift 75% 3x3
2 x kroc rows
Leg curls
Prowler
Neck
Calf work
Abs
Day 2: long distance jogging
Day 3: Ladder drills
Hurdles
Drag sled
Stairs
1 mile jog etc…
Day4: Bench 75% 5x3+ 225xfail
Yolk bar Squat 75% 3x3
tricep push downs
leg extensions
Prowler
Neck
Calf work
Abs
Reserve judgement until JW replies but I have a problem with the conditioning. Jogging for active recovery purposes is fine – I do it once per week and always have. But you are doing too much of it, and apparently to the exclusion of sprinting. Sled dragging and prowler pushing is great, but it is not a substitute for sprint-based interval training in a football workout.
For example: When I was 18 years old I was headed off to play D1-AA football at a great program. At the end of my senior year of HS I pulled a hamstring sprinting. Not wanting to risk my health showing up at college football camp I decided to focus on “getting in shape” and did a lot of long distance running/ jogging. 5 days/ week I would run 3-5 miles for time and my times got pretty good. So I showed up at camp thinking I was in “peak shape” and I was dead wrong. About 2 sprints into a conditioning workout I was sucking wind worse than the offensive lineman. (I was an OLB).
Fast-forward to the end of my freshman year of college. I had been doing exclusively interval training for a whole year, seldom running over 100 yards in a single clip. Maximum velocity, minimal rest. A friend of mine on the soccer team invited me to go on a 5-mile trail run with his team. I thought I was in for a world of hurt. Wrong again. The maximum velocity interval training translated very well into a lower-intensity, lower impact, longer duration session. My lungs we used to being on fire, so long-distance running actually felt very pleasant.
Long way of saying, jogging is something to do for active recovery or when you want to do extra work on a day-off. I would not program it into a workout for a football player though. Stick with hill sprints, field sprints, track sprints with minimal rest in between. Prowlers are awesome for conditioning, but they’re not a substitute for sprinting, rather an addition.
I am by no means any kind of expert, but I agree with GraniteJack that there is no use in jogging for football. Day 3 appears to be where you are doing speed and agility work. I would prioritize that. I would either put it Day 1 or rest the day before. Also I would consider adding some jump/throws before lifting (see Beyond Program on T-Nation).
Also do not forget to work on football skills relevant to whatever position you play. Which maybe you already are and have just listed the weight training here. But I feel like a lot of times athletes are looking for a magic weight program to get better at a sport and end up forgetting about the sport.
Finally if you know what kind of conditioning test will be at try outs I would design your conditioning to prepare specifically for that.
I do box jumps, throws etc before i lift I just didn’t include it that’s my fault. Position wise… It’s a different game of football but would like to play linebacker but anything that gets me on the team I’ll do, obviously. So you guys think for day 2 I should just throw out the jogging an have a similar day to day 3? I appreciate your responses
I definitely agree with the comments regarding your conditioning. Football is largely an anerobic based sport and you need to do more anaerobic conditioning in the form of sprints, sprint intervals, etc. Jim has a book specifically for football, so you may want to start with that to be honest. My opinion on a couple items…
Many different options for sprints…
Sets of 10 yard sprints
sets of 20 yard sprints
sets of 40 yard sprints
Hill sprints
6 sec sprints, 30-sec jog, rinse and repeat. Start with 20-min’s straight and build from there
1 min all-out sprint followed by a 3 to 4 min jog, rinse and repeat for 40-min’s
Run a mile broken up into 200meter and / or 400meter runs
Some of this could be done on a bike.
From an aerobic standpoint, running a 1 mile to 1mile 1/2 once or twice a week isn’t a bad idea.
Include Box Jumps or Depth Jumps to help build some power and speed from your stance.
Not sure about the use of extensions / leg curls, perhaps use some unilateral work in the form of walking lunges, step-ups, split squats. One day could be back raises. Hopefully Jim or somebody can give you more perspective there.
I kind of think Dips would be better than pressdowns
Aside from Jumps, find a way to add some kind of medicine ball throws, overhead, or chest, 1-arm rotational, etc…
Possibly swap DL’s for Cleans… less lower back fatigue, also helps focus on power development.
The short answer is that I would do this: A Letter to Young Jim Wendler
Wendler’s “Letter to Younger Self” takes practicing football into account as part of your agility training, so if you’re not doing it you need to find a way to do it. You’ll notice he includes running miles which is fine. All I meant is that it shouldn’t be the cornerstone of your conditioning. Sprinting and interval training are king…
[quote]GraniteJack wrote:
You’ll notice he includes running miles which is fine. All I meant is that it shouldn’t be the cornerstone of your conditioning. Sprinting and interval training are king…
[/quote]
Agreed. I’ve known many people that play amateur and semi-pro soccer in my area and they spend a lot of time running miles with little to know focus on sprinting. Then they’re surprised when they get on the field and can’t hang and I always hear, “I run all the time, I don’t understand…”.
Why don’t you follow any of the hundreds of templates I’ve written?
And there is no point of jogging. There is however a point to running. Anyone who wants to give effort can run a mile. Anyone who doesn’t can jog. And no one worth a shit trains for the game - you train for practice. Anyone who has played a sport knows this is where positions and playing time are won. I always laugh at those that miss that. A litmus test for the pretenders.
Just do this: squat, clean, press, row, chin, dip and do a ton of mid section work. All chins are done with ropes or towels. Jumps and throws are a given. As are hills, Prowler. It takes no talent to be as strong as you can be and be “in shape”. All it takes is commitment and work.
I appreciate it a lot! And no disrespect to your work I just enjoy writing something of my own based off your principles. I’ll make the changes necessary… Best believe I’ll be wearing my NoV shirt to the tryouts.
[quote]Jim Wendler wrote:
Why don’t you follow any of the hundreds of templates I’ve written?
And there is no point of jogging. There is however a point to running. Anyone who wants to give effort can run a mile. Anyone who doesn’t can jog. And no one worth a shit trains for the game - you train for practice. Anyone who has played a sport knows this is where positions and playing time are won. I always laugh at those that miss that. A litmus test for the pretenders.
Just do this: squat, clean, press, row, chin, dip and do a ton of mid section work. All chins are done with ropes or towels. Jumps and throws are a given. As are hills, Prowler. It takes no talent to be as strong as you can be and be “in shape”. All it takes is commitment and work.
[/quote]
Another post that could be the answer to a helluva lot of the inane questions posted here!
[quote]GraniteJack wrote:
The short answer is that I would do this: A Letter to Young Jim Wendler
Wendler’s “Letter to Younger Self” takes practicing football into account as part of your agility training, so if you’re not doing it you need to find a way to do it. You’ll notice he includes running miles which is fine. All I meant is that it shouldn’t be the cornerstone of your conditioning. Sprinting and interval training are king…
[/quote]
Honestly one of the simplest and most effective approaches to training. Also will just make you into a hell raiser in general, strong and well conditioned. Wish I had that when I played ball in high school.