Guys, I have been adding mass and cutting bf really well lately - but I have been offered place on a sports course here in the UK. Now I had played rugby, and they have a football team I want to get on. Ive gotten up to 6ft, 207lbs at about 10/11% and I need size power and strength(who doesnt). I have got until sept to pack on as much as I can whilst maintaining my speed and not getting too lardy. I have surmised that heavy weights are in order, also olympic lifts and sprint agility work. I am having a real nightmare finding/designing a routine - but have found this: www.huskerpower.com/workout.html - what does everyone think? I know there are some big guys out on the forum, and Coach D’s workouts I cant seem to fit togeather as well with. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hello,
When you say football what exactly do you mean? OUr uk football (soccer) or US football as the two should be trained for diferently although there is a degree of similarity also in certain aspects of the training. Anyway if you answer this i’ll get back to you ASAP! And no doubt other ppl will jump in!
Happy training and productive workouts
Coach B.
Coach, thanks for the speedy reply! I meant US football. Basically in the UK at UNI/Colledge level there arent as many beasts as there are in the US game. My size is good for what they need, but I dont particularly want to be average if you understand. Primarly I started as a BB’er, but have incorporated more and more strength/OL/PPl principles into my routine. I am currently in an office job, so evenings are my free time. Im really grateful for the help, and the more info from anyone(sites, books, etc) the better!
I’ve just finished my university football career in Canada and am currently prepping for a shot at the pros. I ordered Coach Davies football specific workout with a couple of my fellow teammates and can flat out say that it is the best designed football workout program for the combination of speed, power, strength and agility that you need in football that I’ve ever come across. At the ‘ripe old’ age of 28 (yeah I’m taking my sweet ass time in school), I’ve tried numerous types of football specific wokout programs such as U of Nebraska’s Husker Power, Bigger Stronger Faster, (and many others). I found each of them to be lacking in one thing or another - many focus on strength and power, but tend to ignore speed and agility. As a 5’10 215 lb. strong safety I need both the strength and power to take on the fullback against the run, and the speed and agility to play man coverage. Coach Davies’ program addresses each of theses issues, and lays out an entire years worth of workouts, day by day, in an easy to read format. To top it all off, Coach Davies has been incredibly helpful with any questions that I have had for him, and very speedy with his replies.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes with my football training over the years - mostly spending too much time in the weight room doing non-specific “body-builder” type workouts, and not enough time out on the field and the track. Playing in Canada, we don’t get the same coaching and guidance that they do in the US, so you’re often left to fend for yourself in the off-season. However, I’ve learned from my mistakes and try to help other football players avoid going through the same trial and error process that I had to undergo.
I would highly recommend scrounging up some cash and picking up the program - it will pay for itself many times over. I wish I would have had this type of guidance when I started my football career. Just be prepared to work your ass off - his workouts are not for pussies.
svass
Lots of stimulation + lots of food + lots of rest = lots of size and strength.
Eat everything you see, lift heavy weights, run, practice football specific drills. Remember that running around cones though does not make you a better football player, playing football does. If you never have before work on your technique. This is the most important thing.
Svass, you sound like you have achieved the exactly the type (size, weight, speed, goals etc) that I am looking for - are the Coach Davies workouts you are talking about from Infinity fitness - which one did you purchase. I have an excellent Coach D workout from Nate Dogg which is more orientated towards fatloss - I tried to cobble togeather one from the older T-mag forum archives, but it looks pants. Strength is a concern( i think there is a minimum squat/bench test) and overall bulk/size - whilst being fast enough to generate enough power to bring down the big guys. How long is the programme btw?
I am deeply humbled by your comments and it really is a pleasure being a part of your development. I look forward to the time when we can train together. For other’s reference, this is the football specific program through my web-site, Renegade Training and has not been published before. If I can be of any assistance, feel free to ask. In faith, Coach Davies
Training for US football… Focus on power, expolsive movements such as cleans,jerk, snatch Deadlifts, Bench press, Squats. Movents that give you Explosiveness focus on Olympic movements. As for core training aka Abs and lower back I suggest more Medicane Ball training…
Also looking to Poylmetric Training Great author for Poylmetric is Dr.Chu. Wrote books such as Jumping in to Poylmetric Read some of his books.
LA Levar Arrington Defensive Linebacker for the Washington Redskins. Uses A lot of Poylmetrics and HIT in his training and he is one of the NFL’s top devensive lineman weighs 246 @ 6’3"
Dannyboy,
The football specific program is not offerred at Infinity. Email Coach Davies directly to inquire (at least that is what I did). I think his email is coachdavies@renegadetraining.com - but check this month’s article by the coach to be sure.
As for the workout, it has a running portion and a weight room portion. How long it takes depends on how hard you are willing to push yourself, and what phase of the program you are in. The running portion involves a warm-up/GPP, agility work and then your speed work - 5 days per week. To generalize (vaguely) the weightroom work, it is divided into legs/back/bis (mon/thurs), chest/shoulders/tris (tues/thurs) - however, this also depends on what phase you are. If you are pushing yourself, each section (speed/weights) can be finished easily in under an hour. I do the running first thing in the morning before class, and the weightroom work when I am finished class.
What position are your looking at playing? You are concerned about squat/bench testing, but I’ve seen some 450lb.+ benchers and some 700lb.+ squatters what can’t do anything on the field. Use testing simply as a tool to monitor your own progress. Although the closer to the line of scrimmage you position is, the more overall strength you will need - speed is still the name of the game in football. If you want to be a standout, live by the mantra “speed kills” when training. Coach Davies program is excellent for this. His leg workouts focus on Olympic lifting combined with heavy emphasis on hamstring/gluteal/calf work, while his upper body exercises are the most football specific exercises I have found in any workout. Combine this with his speed and agility work, and you will be one of the most prepared people to play the game on your team, not just put on a show in the weight room. svass
Hi Dannyboy, I’ve just finished uni in the UK. I played football in the college league you’re talking about, which uni are you going to?
I also have have found Coach Davies programs to be the best. Even at the line it has greatly improved my speed and especially agility. Strength it helped a little, but it’s based on power development which is what you need in football. Hey Fitone, Lavar is an outside linebacker and except on special teams is never on the line.
Dannyboy, here’s a football workout for you: warm up by doing 100 jumps on rope skipping, then do nothing but bench, squat, and power cleans for the workout (number of sets and reps is what you feel like doing). Do this three times a week.
Believe it or not, this inane workout was the off-season training program used by the football coach used at my old high school. Seriously, spend the money to have Coach Davies make you a training program. Even though I don’t play football anymore and am a thrower, Coach D’s workouts develop sport-specific skills better than any other program I’ve done before. For what I lack in sheer size and strength compared to the other throwers, renegade training is making up in agility and speed, so I’ll be match up with the others in the speed/agility oriented events.
Setting nutritional and flexability issues aside(Olympic lifts are great for these by the way)The best, most time efficient way to increase your overall body mass and ultimately your overall body power/potential is with partial movements. Our bodies have an incredible adaptive response which reacts to whateverkind of stressor or environment is put upon it. You can tell a powerlifter from a swimmer from a boxer from a fencer. That being said the qu8ickest way to get big is with partial movements such as half squats, deadlifts out of the rack and partial bench movements out of the rack…for football players I recommend the incline as it is more specific to the sport.
Svass - the more you write about it the more it seems ideal, as of May i have 4 months off work and have saved enough so i dont have too do any. Essentially this will all kick off about march time onwards(till oct) The split running/weight seems good - was overtraining not a problem? Ive heard people eat like a horse on Coach D’s workout and still get leaner, whats the score on their potential for size, i did one renegage workout/week and the renegade rope training before and they were great. I understand the speed element, in rugby i used to play ‘flanker’ and I can sprint like a mutha and essentially slamming into players, sending them flying even though i dont have the bulk. Svass, I have to say that this type of training is new to me, as I said I started of BB’ing - and have incorporated more functionality. Only recently (6months)I began doing alot more PL/OL work, and am know I need to increase poundage - im not a ‘gym showoff’ but it seems to play an important part, thats my problem.
Fitone - how long have you been involved in training in this field? I was thinking along the same lines as you, but putting them togeather is an issue. How does plyo help - from the experience Ive had it is usually a chaser to the main workout - has it helped much? What kind of HIT have you come into contact with - ken leistner style?
Andy - So far I have an unconditional offer from Leeds Uni(Sports, Nutrtion and Exercise science). And have been checking out the Leeds Celtics website, with an aim to attend their training sessions and get in that way as a rookie. How did you get involved, was it difficult? I remember reading about your football before - was it Plymouth? What kind of size were you playing at/the other guys - ‘rugby’ level?
bump
I did not find Coach Davies’ workouts to lead to overtraining. Granted, I did have a pretty good strength and cardiovascular base before I started the workouts. You’ll be dragging your ass by the end of the first week, but you will be surprised at how quickly your body will adapt to the imposed workload. As you mentioned, you will probably have to increase your daily food intake. I used to eat quite a lot before, but have had to add extra food (especially carbs) to my diet. I’ve lost a lot of bodyfat, however, my strength continues to increase. Good luck. svass
Yeah I played at Plymouth Uni. I played middle linebacker. To be honest the college game I think is pretty easy in the UK, I also played senior football too. I played against a lot of guys that were much bigger than me but to be honest they were just fat! I’ve always been fast so I primarily concentrated on squats and benches to build stength. One thing I would say is to pay more attention to learning the sport specific skills, if you’ve never played that is. No matter how strong you are unless you have good footwork (especailly if you’re a linebacker) you’re not gonna have much impact on the game.
I didn’t really answer your questions did I. Its easy to get involved, the team will be happy to have you. Expect to pay a fair bit in the first year tho. At 6ft and 200lbs you’ll be fine, especially as you train as many players have never picked up a weight before. I’m 5’11 and about 190lbs and I was putting much bigger fullbacks down for negative yards.
Andy, I appreciate your efforts in answering the q’s. Im glad to see that general good overall size like ours fits well in the UK game. Im going to try and do my best to turn into a beast im aiming to get in at around 220/225 after my mag-10 athon later in the year - and with 3 months off which my sole aim is training should really help. You seemed to have a good thing going on, i take it your speed is pretty impressive as well as your strength to get such a good pushback. One other thing - how did you train, if there isnt as much emphasis on weight work as the american game - how did the coaches react to what you did in the gym - did it conflict with what they wanted?
Sorry bud for the spelling, must have forgotten how to read! Dannyboy