Olympic Lifting + Football Training

kudos04 · November 30, 2005, 12:19pm

I’ve been searching on this site for a few weeks now here and there looking for a program that successfully meshes olympic style lifting with football training. Something that incorporates snatches, push jerks, split jerks, power cleans, full cleans, etc. along with the usual squats, front squats, bench presses, etc.

Also, I’m not satisfied with my speed, but more importantly, I don’t feel I have the quickness, agility, or just overall foot speed that I want.

One of my limiting factors is…I’m just not that strong. I only squat around 1.8x my bodyweight and my bench is probably around 1.2-1.3x my bodyweight. Power Snatch is around…155 though, which I’m a little disappointed with and my clean is only at around 230, though mostly because I’ve yet to master catching the bar low enough to add more weight.

I’ve been olympic lifting for about 2 years now and my coach actually has competed in some olympic lifting competitions, so my form is probably better than most high school football players.

Basically what I’m looking for is a program that incorporates all of these into one periodized program.

Can anyone recommmend a program that progressively incorporates all these aspects?

Also, anyone with a program for pre-hab of the shoulder girdle, ankles, and any other major joints.

And…maybe an agility/speed program as well that’s tied INTO the lifting portion of the program?

Sorry, I know this is a lot to ask, I’m just kinda frustrated and I want to get started.

IL_Cazzo · November 30, 2005, 1:31pm

Your approach should be intergrated. Keep on with the O-lifts, but don’t be afraid to do regular Deadlifts, or Incline Bench…really, well ideally, a program would include OL, PL, Strongman, and a touch of BB, if you needed to gain weight.

Let me know if you need further help.

poolcook · November 30, 2005, 1:56pm

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=487636

That should help you out, is a pretty good off-season program.

kudos04 · November 30, 2005, 2:10pm

Designer Athletes might be ok…but there’s no olympic lifting at all…

jtrinsey · November 30, 2005, 7:28pm

If your problem is maximal strength, Oly lifts might not be the answer. Oly lifts are general considered to be the lifts which create maximal POWER (with dynamic squats coming in second, I believe), however maximal force is created by lifting maximal weights. I think the key to power development is to constantly address your weakpoints.

Hypertrophy begets strength, which begets power begets speed. If you have very good form and have been doing olympic lifting for 2 years, you may be close to maxing out your power output for how much force you can produce. Therefore, if you spent a little time increasing you max strength, you might see a nice increase when you go back to olympic lifts.

There are three programs that I would consider to be fantastic programs on this site that specifically deal with athletes:

1.) Designer Athletes- Mike Robertson
2.) Pendulum Training for Athletes- CT
3.) Westside for Skinny Bastards pts 1 and 2- Joe DeFranco

You might want to check out Westside pt 2 by Joe DeFranco (go to author’s and click “view all” to find him). He does a lot of work with football players all the way up to the professional level. That program as it is does not contain any olympic lifting, but on his website he says that is because he feels like it takes too long too teach most athletes good form in these lifts. Obviously, if that is not a problem for you, you can easily insert them into your program.

I would suggest a sample week like this:

Monday AM- Energy Systems Work

Monday PM- Max Effort Upper Body
A. Heavy Push
Bench Press- Work up to a 3 or 5RM
B. Heavy Pull
Weighted Chins- 3 x 5
C. Unilateral Push
DB Incline Press- 3 x 8
D. Upper Back
Face Pulls- 3 x 12
E. Weighted Abs
Cable Crunch- 3 x 10

Tuesday- Max Effort Lower Body
A. Heavy Squat
Front Squats- Work up to a 5RM
B. Heavy Posterior Chain
Romanian Deadlifts- 3 x 5
C. Unilateral
Reverse Lunges- 3 x 8
D. Grip Work
Hex Dumbell Holds- 3 timed sets

Thursday- Energy Systems Work

Friday- Repetition Effort Upper Body
A. Repetition Push
Bodyweight Dips- Do as many as possible in 3 sets
B. Repetition Pull
Bodyweight Chins- Do as many as possible in 3 sets
C. Medial Delts
Bradford Presses- 3 x 8
D. Upper Arm Supersets
Tricep Extensions/Hammer Curls- 3 x 8
E. Ab Circuit
Pick 3 ab exercises and perform them for high reps

Saturday- Whole Body Dynamic Day
Pick either a clean or snatch emphasis

Clean Emphasis
A. Power Clean from Floor
5 x 3
B. Dynamic Front Squats
8 x 2
C Split Jerk
5 x 3

Snatch Emphasis
A. Power Snatch from Floor
5 x 3
B. Drop Snatch
8 x 2
C. Push Jerk
5 x 3

kudos04 · November 30, 2005, 9:05pm

[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
If your problem is maximal strength, Oly lifts might not be the answer. Oly lifts are general considered to be the lifts which create maximal POWER (with dynamic squats coming in second, I believe), however maximal force is created by lifting maximal weights. I think the key to power development is to constantly address your weakpoints.