Well I played high school football for 4 years for a good team. Starting from the summer we graduated 8th grade through Fall of my senior year, we lived in the weightroom. I mention this because most of the kids you will be playing with/against this Fall will have a good 2 years of lifting under their belt already.
You’re not going to prepare yourself or close that gap by just puttering around the garage with dumbbells. You’re also not going to prepare yourself by following what is basically a bodybuilding routine (30 day mass plan). Football is all about functional muscle (you need to also focus on speed, power, and strength in addition to mass). If not, you’re going to get hurt even if you do make the team.
If you’re not going to lift with the team, at least get a gym membership so you can work with barbells and things like leg press machine and squat racks.
–From your photo you look like a Wide Receiver or, depending on speed and athleticism, Cornerback, maybe a Free Safety depending on how athletic you are and whether you can put on weight and get taller. You will never play RB or LB. And you probably shouldn’t.
–From about December through May:
I would focus entirely on gaining mass and strength. Forget the cardio for this period as it’s only going to slow down those gains. If you want to do something on a couple of your off-days, I would practice catching the football with your hands or maybe practice running good patterns, and maybe some agility /footwork drills.
I would change the set/rep scheme every week, going from set/rep schemes aimed at gaining mass (for example 3x12 of 50% of your 1 rep max) to intermediate to set/rep schemes aimed at strength (like 5 x 3 at 85%). I would work up to a max lifting session every month and a half or so. I think a 3 or 4 day a week split is good at your age.
Exercises you want to focus on:
Probably the two most important exercises for football are power cleans and squats. Power cleans will build your explosiveness and power. Deep Squats are just a great all around exercise for the whole body and getting bigger and for speed. You really want to get good at these lifts and become strong at them.
Deadlifts and Bench Press are probably next most important. Deadlifts & Squats will help you with your tackling as most of the force you use in your tackling will come from the lower back and legs and core (abs). Military Press and abwork is next, lots of abwork it’s very important; barbell rows and pull-ups; stiff leg deadlifts and hamstring curls are important (for speed). You should add calf raises, curls, dips, barbell step ups, lunges, incline barbell or dumbbell press, when designing your program. If you lift only using the above exercises you can’t go wrong.
As someone mentioned, don’t forget the neck. There’s a reason why pro football players have huge necks. You don’t want to break your neck and you need to have a strong neck for when you get hit. So add isolation neck work to the list.
–May through August
This is the time you want to focus on speed and conditioning. You also want to continue with the strength training 3 or 4 days a week.
Speed training: The goal is for you to get faster.
There are a few tried and true methods. 1) stadium stairs. involves bounding up stairs 2 or 3 at a time for short bursts. 10-15 seconds max. Do this quickly on the balls of your feet and rest in between. 2) weighted sled training/parachute training.
Example: Speed Training Equipment and Machines for Sale
- plyometrics (google it for examples). Plyometrics are huge. Very important, but I don’t have time to get into it. Look it up and do the exercises. Probably the most important of the 3.
Do speed training on the days you’re not lifting. 2 maybe 3 times a week. Make sure you give yourself at least 1 off-day a week where you do nothing but rest.
Alternatively, you could also look into an offseason program like velocity that will have a more comprehensive approach.
Example: http://www.velocitysp.com
Conditioning: I would just do the conditioning after you lift. 3 days a week beginning in June and ending right before fall practice and camp begins is plenty of time to get into shape. HIIT is probably the best method for you. 100m or 200m at a time is best. I wouldn’t recommend going over that. Football is a game played in short, intense bursts followed by longer periods of rest. So you want your conditioning to mimic that. Running short distances over and over again will also stimulate the fast twitch fibers and get you faster.
Agility drills: If you haven’t already by this point I would incorporate some agility drills into your routine. Jumproping (fast jump roping on the balls of your feet) is a good one and pretty basic. Tires and ropes are the most common. You should look online for suggestions about agility drills to structure your own program. For a receiver footwork and shiftiness (quick changes of directions and bursts) are key. Do the agility drills right before you do your conditioning.
–September thru December
Most football programs have in season lifting programs. How intense your workouts are depend on how much you play. If you play, then your goal will be to maintain muscle during the season and you can lift 2 days a week, one day with heavier weights earlier in the week, and another with lighter weights. You want enough time to recover for gameday.
If you don’t play, then you should be more intense. And hope that that will give you an advantage for next year. It might at the more physical positions; might not at the skill-type positions, but it can’t hurt.
Eating: I haven’t talked about eating, but this is probably as important. I never gained that much weight when I played, I didn’t really need to given my position and what I started at, but I gained a lot of strength. If you want to gain mass as well as strength (and looking at your photo, you do need to gain mass) then you’re going to have to eat alot. There are lots of people on this board that can give you good suggestions about that. Not me though.
I don’t know if you have the dedication or interest in doing all this. But, if not, I hope this helps someone who is in a similar position who does. good luck.
