Baseball Opinion

Planning your high school football workouts can be very difficult. There are literally thousands of exercises to choose from, so, how do you know which to use? Aside from the basics like Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press, how do you choose?

Well, you need to select the exercises that are best for making your stronger and faster on the football field. Your football workouts should ALWAYS strive to make you stronger, which, in turn, makes you faster.
The Power Clean

I realize that not including the Power Clean in an article about football training of any kind is a right bit of sacrilege, but, they simply weren’t in the top 9. I am not, however, anti-Power Clean. In fact, if used correctly, they can add a few slabs of muscle on the upper back and traps and increase explosiveness.
However, two things need to be taken into account:

1. Can the Coach actually teach them?

2. Where and how will you place the exercise?

Now, the Power Clean is NOT that complicated. It’s just not. Anyone with half decent athletic abilities will be able to pick it up quickly. The bigger problem is, many guys just have no idea how to teach them. I suggest either taking the USAW Club Coach or Sports Certification course (you’ll learn a lot, even if you’re pretty experienced), finding an Olympic Lifter to teach you, or, getting Jim Schmits’ Olympic Lifting Manual and DVD.

Once you know how to teach it, it will only take a session, max, to have an athlete learn how to do them.

Second, where and how do you use the Power Clean to help increase speed and explosiveness.

Building a program that helps maximize your performance on the football field is a lot like building the house of your dreams. In both cases, a solid foundation must be the base in which all other aspects are built upon. Follow this simple rule and you will have laid the groundwork for optimal performance that can be built and improved upon for your entire career. Get ahead of yourself, and you can plan on dealing with frustrating plateaus and sub-optimal performances.

Lets take a closer look at the building blocks that have proven to develop speed, explosive power, and athletic performance. Focus on mastering the following foundational exercises and you will be rewarded come game day.

Level 1: These should not be a surprise to anyone. They are staples in most football programs

for good reason. If you have been stuck on any of the following exercises for a while, I would strongly suggest that you review your technique. It is very common for a first time client at our facility to make a couple technical adjustments and add 10 lbs to these lifts on day one.

All level one goals are based on body weight. Relative body strength is truly the foundation in which all other athletic qualities are built.

Squat / deadlift variations: A good starting goal is a 1RM in the squat or deadlift at a load that represents 2x the athletes body weight. We have seen steady improvements in speed at our facility as athletes approach these numbers.

Power clean: A 1RM in this lift at 1.3 – 1.5 x the athletes body weight is a great foundational start. This ensures that our strength is being transferred to power.

Bench press: 1.5 x body weight in this lift is our first foundational goal.