Training for Football (15 Years Old)

Bigger Stronger Leaner Jim Wendler 5/3/1 Coaching
1

Hello Jim, I am a 15 year old freshman in high school. I played on the

freshman football team and I was a defensive end. I am currently training

for next years football season and will be playing on the Junior Varsity

Team. I am emailing you because I want you to take a look at my

weightlifting program and tell me if it is alright or if there are any

changes that I should make. I am using your 5/3/1 program and I have pulled

some things out of the Beyond 5/3/1 book and incorporated them into my

routine. My current program looks like this.

Press: Monday
Actual Max: 105
Training Max: 95

Warmup
1x5@40%:bar
1x5@50%: 50 lbs
1x3@60%: 55 lbs

Worksets

75%x5: 70 lbs
80%x5: 75 lbs
85%x5: 80 lbs
Joker Sets
5x10@65%: 60
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 5x10
Iso Lateral Row: 5x10
Barbell Curl: 3x10
Preacher Curl: 3x10
Dumbbell Curl: 3x10
Hammer Curl: 3x10
Reverse Curl: 3x10
Walk 2 miles

Deadlift: Wednesday

Actual Max: 315
Training Max: 285

Warmup
1x5@40%: 135 lbs
1x5@50%: 145 lbs
1x3@60%: 170 lbs

Worksets

75%x5: 215 lbs
80%x5: 230 lbs
85%x5: 240 lbs
Joker Sets
5x10@65%: 185 lbs
Leg Press: 5x10
Hanging Leg Raises: 5x10
Walk 2 miles

Bench Press: Friday

Actual Max: 145 lbs
Training Max: 130 lbs

Warmup

1x5@40%: 50 lbs
1x5@50%: 65 lbs
1x3@60%: 80

Worksets

75%x5: 100 lbs
80%x5: 105 lbs
85%x5: 110 lbs
Joker Sets
5x10@65%: 85 lbs
Dumbbell Bench Press: 5x10
Lat Pulldowns: 5x10
Rope Pushdowns: 3x10
Dips: 3x10
Tricep Extension: 3x10
Closegrip Bench Press: 3x10
Straightbar Pushdown: 3x10

Power Squat: Saturday
Actual Max: 300 lbs
Training Max: 270 lbs

Warmup

1x5@40%:110lbs
1x5@50%:135 lbs
1x3@60%:160 lbs

Worksets

75%x5: 205 lbs
80%x5: 215 lbs
85%x5:230 lbs
Joker Sets
5x10@65%: 175 lbs
Back Raises 5x10
Hanging Leg Raises: 5x10

So that is my training for each week. Of course the reps change on the work

sets to higher weights and lower reps but this is an example with my 5, 5,

5, rep week. My BBB sets also change to 5x8@70% on week 2 and to 5x5@75% on

week 3. Another thing I wanted to note is that the Deadlifts seem unusually

heavy even though I calculated my 1rm to be 315 lbs with the 1rm calculation

of weight x reps x .0333 + weight

I am going to continue with this until the end of April. When May comes I

am going to start your Singles, Speed, and Size program to help prepare me

for football practice in August. I currently have been lifting for 8 months

now. When I first started lifting I did bodybuilding for 3 months. Then I switched to 5/3/1 and did it for 3 months. Now football season has ended and I have been back on 5/3/1 for 2 months. I am also trying to gain weight. I am 170 lbs right now and 6 foot 1

inch. I need to gain about 20 lbs and get up to 190 lbs but still maintain

my athleticism. Please help me out and tell me what I need to do and if

there are any changes I should make to my training. Thank you!

2

There’s a 5/3/1 for football

3

Never heard of that before…

4

I would simplify it if I were you, pick only a few assistance exercises and do those. Also I would add conditioning and/or sprints. Start easy and work up.

Here is a 5/3/1 template I’ve used with great success

5

Thank you for that but it is only a three day per week program. I can barely get by with four days a week because I have become so obsessed with weightlifting ever since I started bodybuilding spring of last year. I would like to go back to six days per week when I have more time when schools ends. The assistance work really is not that complicated. On upper body days I add in Dumbbell Press on OH Press days and Dumbbell Bench Press on Bench press day for extra hypertrophy this also helped me to break my upper body plateau. On upper body days I will also do 5 sets of 10 reps of lat work, on OH press day I will do bicep work and on Bench Press day I will also do tricep work. On lower body days I will do 5 sets of 10 reps of leg hypertrophy on deadlift day and 5 sets of 10 reps of lower back hypertrophy on squat day. I will also do 5 sets of 10 reps of ab work on both lower body days.

6

You are only 15, you lucky bastard, this is the best time you can possibly be lifting. Just keep concentrating on what you are doing now and you will get stronger as fast as most of us wish we could. If I would change anything I might drop some of the curls, but that’s just me thinking 5 varieties are a bit much.
Just make sure you eat as much as you can and drink lots of whole milk. Your parents won’t believe how much you eat anyway so just keep going.

7

[quote]BangkokHustle wrote:
Barbell Curl: 3x10
Preacher Curl: 3x10
Dumbbell Curl: 3x10
Hammer Curl: 3x10
Reverse Curl: 3x10
[/quote]

I think this may very well be a classic case of majoring in the minors.

What benefit do you think you’ll get from doing so many (in both type and quantity) curls?

As others have said, simplify…

8

That’s what everyone at the gym tells me how I am so young and I have a lot of testosterone. As for the bicep and tricep work that is that only thing that I do a body building style workout on because my arms are kinda small and I need to bring them up.

I do not really like doing curls either because this is what “bros” do and I don’t wanna be a “bro”. Oh and I try to drink a gallon of whole milk everyday I am drinking a protein shake as I write this. I am going to change to chocolate milk though.

9

Let’s start out by looking at your goals. Which will be more important for football: gaining 20 lb (given your height I think you should be aiming for more than 20 lb), or get bigger arms? I assume it’s the former.

At this stage I think you’d be much more productive if you swapped most of the curls for chin-ups and rows. Chins and rows will both work your biceps to some extent and also help your back (and size in general). AIso, I note that you’ve got lat pulldowns on bench press day. If you can’t do chins for a few sets of 10 then work on it until you can.

Your triceps work isn’t as bad since the dips and close grip bench press will still work your chest and shoulders, but doing both straight bar and rope pushdowns seems to be inefficient for a football player, like the curls.

Personally, I’d rearrange your accessory work as well. Trying to keep to exercises similar to what you’ve already posted about, your upper body days might look something like this:

Press day:
3 x 10 Dumbbell press superset with 3 x ?* wide grip pull-ups
3 x 10 Dips superset with 3 x 10 iso lateral rows
3 x 10 Rope pushdowns superset with 3 x 10 face pulls
3 x 10 Curls (your choice of type)

Bench press day:
3 x 10 Dumbbell bench press superset with 3 x ?* neutral grip chin-ups
3 x 10 Close grip bench press superset with 3 x 10 dumbbell rows
3 x 10 Tricep extensions superset with 3 x 10 face pulls
3 x 10 Straight bar pushdowns

  • ? is whatever you can do now, keep working to increase it until ? = 10

Key notes:

  • Every pushing exercise is paired with a pulling exercise for reasons of balance. The way I’ve done it is a bit simplistic, but should work.
  • Big compound movements dominate here for reasons of efficiency. This will help you put on muscle more efficiently
  • Last exercise is an isolation exercise for biceps or triceps. They should already be hit pretty hard by all the previous compound movements. If you want you can superset these as well.
  • You have no conditioning beyond the 2 mile walks that I can see. Add hill sprints, regular sprints, prowler pushes or other “hard” cardio. I don’t know what you have access to so I can’t make any suggestions there. Keep the breaks between sets short as well, around 1 minute, 2 at max.

Then once you’ve gained the 20 lb you want you can focus more on your arms. Attack one goal at a time and you’ll get there.

Or for a much shorter and simpler version of things, just do BBB.

10

5/3/1 is great, but this kid could still be making a lot of linear progress. Needs to be doing Stronglifts, Starting Strength, or any other 5x5 variation in the offseason with conditioning 1-2 a week.

11

[quote]amayakyrol wrote:
5/3/1 is great, but this kid could still be making a lot of linear progress. Needs to be doing Stronglifts, Starting Strength, or any other 5x5 variation in the offseason with conditioning 1-2 a week.[/quote]

I know this is the standard internet advice these days, but I really think it’s total bs. This canned advice conflates a program’s progression scheme and a person’s progression in strength. They are not the same thing.

12

That’s what everyone at the gym tells me how I am so young and I have a lot of testosterone. As for the bicep and tricep work that is that only thing that I do a body building style workout on because my arms are kinda small and I need to bring them up. I do not really like doing curls either because this is what “bros” do and I don’t wanna be a “bro”. Oh and I try to drink a gallon of whole milk everyday I am drinking a protein shake as I write this. I am going to change to chocolate milk though.

13

At 15 you’ll get the most from going on a basic template like periodization bible or triumvirate and working the hell out of it.

14

[quote]BangkokHustle wrote:
That’s what everyone at the gym tells me how I am so young and I have a lot of testosterone. As for the bicep and tricep work that is that only thing that I do a body building style workout on because my arms are kinda small and I need to bring them up.

I do not really like doing curls either because this is what “bros” do and I don’t wanna be a “bro”. Oh and I try to drink a gallon of whole milk everyday I am drinking a protein shake as I write this. I am going to change to chocolate milk though.[/quote]

Lol at this. Are you lifting to improve your football game or do you want to be a bodybuilder? I’m no Jim Wendler but 1,500 reps of curls isn’t go to do shit for you on the field. Just get strong at the main lifts. Your arms get plenty of work from pressing and chin ups. If you can hit a big rep number with a big weight on that final set consider your workout a success.

I would just do Boring but Big in your case.

15

Is this template working for you right now? Are you making some measurable progress without getting burned out?

If the answer is yes, then keep doing what you are doing.

If the answer is no, then reevaluate and make some changes. Maybe try one of the tested and planned out 5/3/1 & assistance templates by the book.

If the answer is “I don’t know” then keep going until you have an answer.

The bottom line is that this forum can’t really know what to tell you because we don’t know you. The general consensus is that you are doing too much assistance work for your arms. OK, fine. But, if for some reason it works for you, then keep doing it until it doesn’t work anymore. Whatever you do, give a program 6-8 weeks of dedicated use before you evaluate progress.

Good luck.