HAVING BEEN A line and strength coach for many years, I suddenly found myself in position as the head coach of a struggling football program. I quickly realized that all the times I had tried to persuade head coaches to implement a weight-training program as a vital part of the in-season conditioning regiment was now fully my  responsibility.

Once classes start, time for practice and how it is spent becomes the dominant issue in a football program. When practice plans and schedules ultimately became my concern, I wanted to divide weight training into segments of 3 to 4 sessions per week. You can’t continuously preach the importance of strength conditioning to your athletes in the off-season without have them “pump iron” during the season.

Getting Started
Our school district is small and the varsity football team ranges from 20 to 25 players. Our auxiliary gym, which was painstakingly carved out of the high school cellar, was limited to older equipment such as an old incline bench-press machine, a leg press, two flat benches, two squat racks and an assortment of plates and dumbbells. In the first year we implemented the in-season weight-training program, the athletic director helped us tremendously by securing additional bars, weight plates, benches, squat racks and rubberized flooring. The coaching staff all volunteered to pitch in and help build and install the equipment for this “new” weight room.

How It Works
Our in-season strength training focuses on four types of power lifts:

1. Squats. 2. Dead Lifts. 3. Bench Presses. 4. Power Cleans. 

If we perform these exercises once or twice a week, we’ll increase our overall team strength and make the sport safer for our players. The request for more equipment was motivated by getting the entire team through a lifting session in the shortest period of time.

All the players are required to wear weight belts and we take about 5 minutes to warm up with squat thrusts or running in place. With approximately 24 athletes, we set up 3 squat and 3 dead-lift stations and have the players do the workout at the beginning of practice.  These 6 stations place 4 participants at each station. One player performs the exercise, one serves as the spotter, and the remaining two players stretch between sets.

While performing squats, each athlete performs 3 sets of 6-8 repetitions. Players are reminded that proper form shouldn’t be sacrificed for lifting more weight. Groups should be arranged so that the members of each group have similar ability. After 3 sets, the squat groups switch places with the dead-lift groups so that — in all — each athlete performs 2 power lifts a day. With these numbers of groups and repetitions, these in-season lifts only take 20-30 minutes of practice time. The following day, 3 bench press and 3 power-clean stations are set up and performed by the team. In a 4-day cycle, these lifts can be repeated or interspersed with weight circuit training.

Sets The Tone
These weight-training sessions set the tone for a good practice. Coaches call out commands to start and stop each set. Players reply with catchy chants about our team or the upcoming opponent. The atmosphere often becomes spirited and intense. Other coaches and medical professionals have commented about our strength and conditioning and complimented the physical shape and limited injuries our team has suffered.
Due to this in-season weight-lifting program, our athletes are stronger in the fourth quarter, they recover more quickly after a tough game and stay healthier throughout the duration of the season. This program has increased our  team’s confidence on the field and has led to increased interest and participation in the off-season weight training program.