Squat or Deadlift for Football?

I am doing the 40 day program by Dan John starting this monday to get my strength levels up for football. The program has you choose a very select amount of lifts, and to do them every day ect.

For carryover for football, which lift do you think would help more? I am also considering Bulgarian split squats. The same monday I start the new lifting program

I start summer training, which will consist of mostly polymetric drills if I understand correctly.

If I had to choose one exercise from them all to utilize for the rest of my life: it would be the Squat. You’re strengthening your legs with a full range of motion, maintaining hip flexibility, and strengthening your knees. To top it all off, it’s a full body exercise: legs move the weight, abs & lower back stabilize, upper back stays tight, arms squeeze the bar, etc. You really can’t go wrong with the Squat.

If I really had to choose it would depend on my position.
Anything on the line, I would go with squats for blocking, pulling, etc carryover.
If you’re in a running position deadlifts might help to strengthen your posterior chain better than the squat and improve your sprinting.
Do you have a strength coach for the team? You might talk to him if you do.

I will probably end up playing linebacker, or at least that is my goal. That is about where I fit as far as size and speed for the conference I’ll be playing in.

I would also have to say the squat. The power clean is very usefull to.

If you’re doing OLAD the foodball triad should be included IMO clean/squat/bench.

well, you said something about doing the lifts every day? if so, definitely squat… don’t want to deadlift every day, as it is much more taxing.

but, squat regardless… make it a pure hip lift… it’ll transfer directly to VJ/broad jump/acceleration, and it’s what football schools test so regardless of how much results you get deadlifting, your squat won’t look to good unless you practice it.

peace

A large posterior chain movement (the deadlift is the right answer)

â?¢ Upper body push (bench press, incline bench press, military press)

â?¢ Upper body pull (pull-ups, rows, or, if you’ve ignored them like me, heavy bicep curls)

â?¢ A simple full-body explosive move (kettlebell swings or snatches)

â?¢ And something for what I call an “anterior chain” move (an abdominal exercise). I think the ab wheel is king here, but you can also do some movements best suited for lower reps.

Is the structure of the program, so to suit my needs I was thinking maybe

Squat (as for recommendations)
Single Arm DB OHP Press (serious weak area)
Pull ups (haven’t prioritized this in a while)
Explosive move
Ab wheel

For the explosive move I am kind of confused… I don’t have access to kettleballs, would medicine ball slams do the trick? Or should I try some Dumbell snatches… maybe a clean?

Shit why don’t I just do a trap bar deadlift to get the best of both worlds? Edit: squash that some posts are saying that it has little to no carryover to sports

Both. I’m also doing the 40-day program (while V-Dieting no less) and I chose front squats and SLDL for the best of both worlds without burnout. In fact, I often work with what I consider my bread-and-butter exercises in between DC training. Front Squats, SLDL, Chins, Bench Press, a DB shoulder movement, and Standing Calve Raises. Hits everything and gives you strength in all your basics.

Do not do this program. It will make you feel tired and slow. Do WSFSB 2 or 3. You only need to lift 3-4 times a week if that.

[quote]BIGBOSSTRON wrote:
Do not do this program. It will make you feel tired and slow. Do WSFSB 2 or 3. You only need to lift 3-4 times a week if that. [/quote]

I dont care if i am tired and slow right now, especially if it puts 50 pounds on my squat for the season.

Linebacker, very nice :wink:

I personally would go with deadlift if you have enough sprinting speed, but squat is also good

Both right??

If you had to choose I would say squat. It has too much carryover for football!

Next I would make sure I am doing cleans and pressing.

I am assuming you are getting ready for college as you said conference. Which one/school?

I like a SDL too to strenth the hamstrings if you don’t want to do deadlifts.

Recovery diet is key as camps will be starting as soon as a month.

My vote would be to use both squat and dl. If you are built for one lift over the other you may favor that one. For a “power” movement you may want to explore clean grip high pulls or low pulls either from the floor or from a hang. I’ve never had issues with speed or VJ when focusing on dl, however that is what best suits my frame. Just try to figure out what works for you…but if you are going to be tested on the squat you’d better do it.

Do them both, BENCH/SQUAT/DEAD LIFT are all vital for football man, also chuck in Power Clean and Jerks if you can, you need to utilize any power workout you can dude.

Do the one you suck at the most.

I think this says it all.

Both are GPP for football, so it likely doesn’t matter much.