Help needed(football guys) - Training for football/size & power routines

Training Bodybuilding
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Do you have any idea what position you’d like to play? At 220lbs you may well be made to play on the Line, nothing wrong with that, but if you want to play somewhere else make sure you let the coaches know. As a 220lb mag10 beast you’d scare the shit out of me if you lined up as fullback.

I’m pretty lucky speed wise, its pretty much a genetic thing. I was the fastest player in the team, straight ahead speed tho, I have to slow down to cut. I made such a good middle linebacker because I could get outside quickly as I worked on lateral speed preseason.

My routine was pretty basic, not really a football specific routine. Monday:weighted pullups, DB rows, shrugs, curls, wednesday:Bench, incline bench, shoulder press, dips, thursday:Squats/Deadlift, lunges, calf raises, abs. I kept the reps around 6-8 for most stuff. I did some plyometric stuff, lateral box jumps mainly.

The coaches at my team were pleased that I trained in my own time and its something they encouraged others to do. Basically in the UK as most players have never played the game before all the time the coaches have is devoted to teaching the game. Obviously the kind of training routine you do once you’re playing is determined by how you recover and how many scheduled practices you have. I found that there was no way I could do any pressing before wednesday as I could hardly raise my arms before then! I definately noticed a lot of upperback,neck,trap development from throwing blockers around! Have fun whatever you do, I miss playing now!

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Olympic lifts and power explosive plyo… What is explosive plyo (do you have access to a olypmic strength training faclity?) bench press with cables attach to them and a partner dropping the bar and you chatching it in mid air and the you throwing it back to him… Explosive movement. Unless you have that type of equipment I wouldn’t suggest you doing that type of exercise. You can do the same type of movement with a medicane ball. Also box jumps boxs jump with a run and tackle the heavybag would be good to… Veritcal Jump squats w/ weights. Split Squat jumps ect… they will all give you power and explosiveness.

now as for training I would train weights 2-3times a week and focus on drills and more sports specific training the rest of the week.

Also focus on the trunk muscles "abs and lower back thet are important also.

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How’s it going guys. Three UK football players on one thread! I remember writing to you before Andy trying to get you to come to the Sundevils in senior football. Where did you opt for? How is your back/knees now? If you’re at the Suns I hope to see you later this year but am presently recovering from a broken wrist.

To Danny - Andy is right - college football is a joke although I’d recommend playing there first still before trying out senior football. Where are you based right now?

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One last comment I forgot to make. I forgot to agree with the comment “BigC” (I think) made about learning proper football technique. Although ‘running around cones’ as BigC called it may not lead to proper technique, it will give your body a general idea of what it needs to do on the field. However, to truly be successful, a general idea will not be good enough. It sounds like you are anxious to play defense (good choice) and have the hard hitting mentality that you need for it. Each position on defense has it’s own specific footwork, pass drops and ‘reads’ that you will have to learn. See if you can find somebody on the team that plays the position that you want to play and can put in an hour or so a week to help teach you all of these skills. Combine this with Coach Davies workouts and you will be ready to go.
At your present size, you could be a safety or a small linebacker. If you can get up to 225 as you hope, linebacker, or fullback on offense would be the perfect fit.

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Reggie - I am currently in Bristol, I’ll be off to Leeds Uni come October - their team is the Celtics so I guess thats who Im heading for.

Svass - I understand fully what you are saying - I cant be expected to be good without proper hard core game and specific application training. You are right that I am aiming for defence, when I first looked into playing a year or so ago, i was put off by the size. However I didnt think I would get to the size I am(still going!) and the guy was semi-pro. I really appreciate your insight, its got me seriously fired up - thanks.

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I was gonna play for the aztecs this year as I have quite a few mates who I have played with before up there. I’ve decided to take a year out from football, I’m just one walking injury at the moment, neck, rotator cuff, back, elbow tendonitis, blah blah blah. I have to admit that the neck injury came from spearing the QB tho!

I wouldn’t say college football is a joke, just that most players haven’t played before so the skill and experience level isnt that high, theres still great coaching in the BCAFL. Plus if it wasn’t for college ball where would BSL be?

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Dan, if you’re living in Bristol go along to the Bristol Aztecs training, even if its just to watch. Theres a lot of good defensive guys there. Where on D do you want to play?

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Danny - Which semi-pro did you speak to? Just curious since I might know him. Where did he say he played semi-pro (it sure wasn’t in England).

Andy - Shame about the injuries. Have you received any medical attention? Spearing the QB:) Been there, done that, but after reading that I might not. Was he a big QB? As far as college goes and bearing in mind I played from 94-97 I would say that by my third year I was able to pretty much have my own way with the opposition just because I was bigger, stronger, and faster. At BSL level though it takes a lot more than that. BTW, is your man Saro Kenny playing this year? I met him at the Claymores trials and he said he was from the Aztecs.

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Reggie, the semi-pro was stateside. He trains personally trains a friend of mine over there. He was about 6"5’ and 270, hence I was a little put off! Andy, Im hoping to get in as a linebacker - I have an urge to run into people and speed and send em flying, been like it since a child

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DannyBoy,
Below is an email I sent to Don Alessi. I think meltdown traing exercises are the way to go. Stay away from using sisy machines (except leg extensions and a few others) and get in the gym and bust your balls. If you can find a small gym stuffed with free weights and loud music, go there! Eat tons of protein and do not worry about farting in public. Get sick! That is it. I am now 32 years old and I am back to old school hardcore training and feeling great. Do plenty of cleans, behind the neck jerks, deads, and squats. Do plenty of quad sets rest about three minutes and then go at it again. 9 out of 10 people would say that sort of routine would cause you to overtrain - bullshit! bust your ass… you will look good, feel good, and you will be standing up in the huddle while all the other guys are bending over to puke and/or catch their breaths. Also, do serious spring work and plyometrics 5 days a week either AM or PM (I did running stuff AM and lifting PM) Eat your ass off and do not get bogged down in counting anyting but Protein and making sure you are getting plenty of calories - you will need it. Bust ass and bitch slap the pussy who warns you of overtaining!

"I was extremely inspired to read about your MeltDown Training. I actually did a similar routine back in 1988 and had wonderful success! I was off to play college football and an old strength coach asked me to come by his gym. The guy was about 55 years old and looked like he could kill a bear with a wet noodle. His gym was rank, hot, and loaded with free weights. I was out of shape and needed to beef up and get strong really fast. He would never let me write down his training routine and it switched so often, that I could never remember it in fullest detail. He had me doing very slow reps sometimes and had me doing a lot of things that (back then) flew in the face of wisdom and screamed of over training. I did the behind the neck jerks you talked about, and did massive (throw your guts up literally) sets for legs, one set being squats, lunges, leg lifts, straight leg deads – then resting about 2 minutes only to repeat the gruelling process over and over until I puked! We also sprinted with a homemade 100 lb sled in the AM while doing our lifting at night. I went from a sloppy 235lbs to 265lbs of hard beef in three super dedicated months – oh, by the end of the three months I was pressing 335 lbs behind my head standing! Best shape I was ever in! I was HUGE and everyone thought I was on the juice – the juicers said there was no way to train like that and not overtrain without steroids. I originally thought that training in this way gave me tremendous gains only because of my young age – I am now rethinking this and I am actually fired up to begin your MeltDown Training.

Anyway, your articles in T-Mag have inspired my tired old 32 year old self to get back to basics so to say – after reading your article, many of the things this old coach took me through seemed to coincide with your meltdown training. He was years ahead of his time and I wish to this day he still had that HOT, HUMID, rank old gym full of free weights! THANKS A MILLION -

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6’5 and 250lbs? And he lives in Bristol? What is his name,age,nationality, etc? I’m trying to guess who it could be:)

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Reggie - the guy I was talking about was in the states, I used to train at David LLyod on Bristol and there were some huge guys there, but they used to play for Bristol Rugby club.

JD - Thats the kind of posting that gets me so fired up. I am so zoned into this at the moment(until recently I thought I was never going to UNI, and would never get a chance to play football). Im lucky in one respect that my Gym is my own, my entire garage is full of speakers - just a power rack, a bench and concrete - minimalist to say the least! I have never tried this type of training ever and for the first week I have been completely toast. If you can could you outline some of the workouts that you have been using lately - meltdown seems great, the intensity is definitely there and aftre the 30 mins are up I have to lie down - but Im worried the weights are just too light, and my strength is going to go down. Where you lifting heavy/low reps or lighter higher reps. Also those lifts I usually ‘explode on’ but on meltdown the positive portion is 3/4 seconds. One thing is that these workouts make me feel I want to tear up the world, I cant sleep sometimes as Im too fired up - I want at it! Any more insight into your current/past training would be a goldmine.

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JD - can you give any info on your old routines?

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Danny
Good to hear you have the Fire in you, most important thing. I am so damn sore and my appetite is through the roof from training like I did in the late 80"s early 90’s. Here was my routine for training back in the day. NOTE: after training with that old man, the college strength coach (big fat ass) got hold of me and convinced me I was training wrong. Being young and naive, I believed him and never reached the conditioning I reached when I tore it up balls to the wall.

Monday - Friday (6AM)
100lb sled sprints/plometrics with a box and jump ropes (I started on day one runnning from endzone to endzone (200 yeards) and that was it - I puked - you will be surprised how hard it is. By the end od that summer, I was running 4x200yards and then sprinting with the sled 12x60yards. Then hit the rope and the plyometrics. Ate my ass off all day and visited many buffets, clearing out their meats! Some days I would not do the sled and do sprint work on a hill or run 400’s

Monday - Friday (6PM)
I would do my power movements or legs (switch it up) on Monday after a weekend rest. Behind the neck jerks (be careful lowering the bar back down as the weight you use will quickly climb) then on to upright cleans (some days full power cleans), then what we called power-pulls - heavy upright rows but not slow, we were putting on 315lbs after a while and pulling up to the nipples in a fast motion and then back down (the weight will slam your upper thighs, so werar sweats). My shoulders and traps were HUGE slabs of meat.

Ball busting leg work out: giant set all 10 reps (squats, straight leg deads, walking llunges, leg extensions, leg curls) rest two - three minutes and back at it again. Every third week, we would just work on leg strength but always did 10 reps for legs. We may do squats and then move on and do some heavey deads. we would do about 8 or 10 sets of bis and tris a week (barbell curls heavy, dips, close grip bench). Do full squats. Never do less then 10 reps. YOU WILL NEED A BELT! I have not had the need for a belt since those times and do not believe the average Joe needs to use one, but when you are burying 550lbs for ten reps at a pop, you need it!

My bench soared during this time and I thought I wasn’t training my chest enough (I was worng) For Bench, we did heavey negatives with two spotters to get used to heavey weights. Sometimes we would do lock-outs in a rack. I concentrated more on inclines than flat bench not using a super wide grip. Keep the reps at 10 for a while, long slow reps. then move down to soing sets of 6.

Back - bent rows and pull downs… Supersets or giant sets less often than legs.

This is it in a nut shell. I do not have enough space to explain it all in detail, but you seem to have the desire to get huge and strong. The only supplements I used back then were liquid aminos and Protein shakes (supplementation was not what is today - Biotest didn’;t exist and Muscle Media was just a newsletter). If the protein shakes were causing me not to get enough solid food, I would cut back - there is no substitute for solid protein IMHO. This is somewhat different than bodybuilding. I didn’t count each calorie, I just ate all the time and trained until I could barely move. Flying in the face of modern bodybuilding, I looked good at 265 and eventually 275. I am back at it again at 32. No more sissy sessions using machines. I am back to heavey traing and lots of free weights/power movements. this summer I plan on making a 100lb sled and getting after it again on that end. I am a business exec currently but have a desire to feel and look the way I once did when I trained heavey for football - I am back at it now and fired up.

Hope this helps somewhat - Good luck to you!

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JD youre a legend! Like i said I thought I was getting too old and that I would never have acrack at it, so yes - the fire is definitely there. I am currently a suit too, and nearly got sucked into the crowd of the fitness centre, all rows of machines, and cardio. Mind you the upstairs was all free weights - but one of the guys was an arse as I was doing power cleans and I could have hurt someone. Dick. I love my garage and the state im in aftewrards - endorphin city! I appreciate your help, as there is nothing like this around where I live in the UK, yet alone when i was in colledge(16-18). As i am a little limited heres my plan.

weekends off weights, cardio work only

Each morning plenty of 3 minute rounds of skipping, weighted vest hill sprints and high rep kettlebell work (db snatches, cleans and swings). Also some medicine ball ab work(Ive got 1/2 hour max)

evenings im thinking 3/4 workouts a week( Im trying to use the info you gave me to cobble a logical split)

2 sessions a week legs/shoulders, 2 sessions a week chest/back/arms.

For the legs/shoulders a mixture of meltdown/fat to fire style leg work(for me will be squats, trap bar deads, dumbell stiff legs, extensions, curls) for 3/4 sets; then a mixture of push presses, snatches, power cleans/rows and bar holds(for grip strength) again for 3/4 giant sets

For chest/back/arms all superset with antagonist - heavy(4/6 reps) incline bench/heavy bent row - 3/4 sets, then higher rep(10)dumbell bench and pull up; then onto arms skullcrushers and bar curls for 3/4 sets.

It seems like a mix of good principles, and then cane the food as much as I can with the supps: creatine, loads of glutamine, protein; fish oil and thats about it. I didnt expect the reply you gave to be so comprehensive, so thanks - appreciated - if you or anyone else see’s this and give it a nod - than that would be cool. Good luck with everything at your end, theres nothing better than being stuck in some office with lazy, unhealthy fools - while being built as it looks so outta place! Good on ya!