Strength and Conditioning Program

            Since the profession of strength and conditioning has come about there has been several changes to these programs. With the combination of kinesiology specialist, biomechanics experts, exercise physiologist, and actual coaches of the sport; there has been an emergence of science based strength and conditioning programs. With this evidence of how the body truly works; it’s safe to say that there is a right and wrong way to design a strength program. There are several factors to take into consideration in designing the proper strength and conditioning program; such as what sport is the athlete competing in and the coaches’ ability to layout a periodized training program around it, what external forces the athlete will come into contact with and the energy requirements needed for the sports.

             “Strength and Conditioning coaches should emphasize the development of sport-specific, explosive rotational and linear power, which includes exercises that mimic the sport played” (Coop DeRenne and David J. Szymanski, 2009 p. 30). With the knowledge of what specific movements the athlete will go through on the field will allow the strength and conditioning coach to design the best possible program that will help the athlete become more successful on the field. A successful program will enhance the athlete’s ability to perform at an elite level as well as prevent the possibilities of future injuries.  The “2 main training principles: specificity of training and periodization” (Coop DeRenne and David J. Szymanski, 2009 p. 30). Specificity of training is as stated before; the coaches ability to mimic game movements and incorporate them into a specific training program. Having a specific training program that will take the athletes joints through the full Range of Motion (ROM) that they will face on the field will do a number of things; two of which are, performance enhancement and injury prevention. Obviously it is important to enhance the athlete’s ability to perform at a high intensity, but injury prevention is also extremely important. The strength coach’s ability to prolong an athlete’s career is more important than anything.

Periodization is a comprehensive training plan that is divided into various phases and cycles (Coop DeRenne and David J. Szymanski, 2009). An annual periodized training program includes three training phases: prepatory (preseason), competitive (season), and transition. Each phase focuses on different specific physiological adaptations in order to ready the athlete for his upcoming season. These are several demands a strength and conditioning coach needs to be aware of and prepare the athlete for. Without the coach having knowledge of this the athlete’s performance will suffer. Some of these include the physical demands; such as rest intervals involved in the sport and physical contact, and emotional demands.

The transition phase is the phase that immediately follows the season. This is a phase that is short in duration (6-8 weeks) and usually involves recovering from the long season that the athletes just went through. This phase will also consist of building a base of strength endurance as well as aerobic conditioning. The strength coach would be working toward overall muscle endurance, not worried about sport specific movements. Each position would be different, but all would have the overall goal of muscle endurance. This would be accomplished by performing high repetitions involving weight of approximately between 65-75% of the athlete’s one repetition maximum (1RM). In the conditioning aspect of this phase the strength and conditioning coach would work on building an aerobic base for the athlete. This involves longer bouts of moderate intense cardiovascular conditioning.  

Following this phase the strength and conditioning coach will progress his athletes to the prepatory phase. This phase will start out as an overall strength phase. The reason for this is because the strength coach is beginning to get the athlete ready for what he will face during competition; he is no longer trying to lay out a foundation like in the transition phase. The conditioning phase will move into more sprint and change of direction work in order to get each of your players ready for game time situations. This also involves do speed training linear work that will help the athletes top end speed as well as acceleration ability.  About 8 to 12 weeks out before the season in this phase the strength coach will start implementing nothing but sport specific movements both in the weight room and during the conditioning aspect of the training program. This will involve doing a lot of power movements such as power cleans and plyometric work (all power/ explosive movements). The reason this is done is to get the athletes ready for movement patterns they will face during competition.

Following the prepatory phase is the competitive phase. This phase takes place during the season. During this phase, as strength coach we are not looking to make gains with the athletes in the weight room. It is our responsibility to help keep our athletes healthy and help them recover from competition. The strength coach would do this through flexibility programs along with strength and conditioning programs. The goal here is to not take any steps backwards in strength as well as speed. If the strength coach has done his job throughout the other two phases it will make this phase easier for the coaches.

Example Off-season Football Program

All Workouts begin with a 15 minute Dynamic Warmup

Transition Phase (Weight Training) 6-8weeks

Monday (Lower Body)

Back Squats                                      3x15                70% of max

Single Leg Step Ups                         3x30               Body Weight

Hamstring Curls                              3x15

Single Leg Squats                            3x15                Body Weight

ABS- Toe Touches                           3x30

ABS- ALT “V” ups                            3x20

Conditioning

2x 400m run

3x 300m run

4x 200m run

Tuesday (Upper Body)

Bench Press                                      3x15                70% of max

DB Incline Press                              3x15

Pull Ups                                             3x max           Body Weight

Cable Rows                                       3x15               

DB shoulder Press                          3x15

Triceps Extensions                          3x15

Conditioning

110 x 12 reps (45 second rest between reps)

Wednesday (OFF)

Thursday (Lower/ Power)

Power Cleans                                    3x10                70% of max

Overhead Squats                             3x12

Push Jerks                                        3x12

Front Squats                                    3x15

Hamstring Decelerations              3x8

Floor Planks                                     1 minute

Lateral Planks                                  30 seconds

Conditioning

6 x400 yard runs

Friday (Upper)

Single Arm DB Bench                    3x15

Pull Ups (Neutral Grip)                  3x max

Barbell Incline                                 3x15                70% of max

DB Rows

St. Bar Shoulder Press                   3x15

Conditioning

OFF

Prepatory Phase *Cores training done at the end of each workout

Monday (Lower)

Back Squats                                      3x5-12            75-90%

Front Squats                                    3x8-12

Single Leg Explosion Step ups       3x12

Hamstring Curls                              3x10-15

Single Leg Squats                            3x12

Conditioning (Agility) 4x each station/ competitive

“W” Drill

“L” Drill

5-10-5 sprints

Box Drill

“T” Drill

Tuesday (Conditioning) *We run first on Tuesday so our body can work on our speed training at max capacity.

First 1o minutes- Form Running (A’s, B’s, High Knees ext.)

4x 60 yard bungee runs

4x 10 yard Sled Starts

4 x 40 yard sprints

Weights

Bench Press                                      3x6-12            75-90% of max

Cable Rows                                       3x8

Incline                                               3x6-12            75-90% of max

Pull ups w/ Tempo                          3x 8               

Back Extensions                              3x15

Wednesday (OFF)

Thursday (Lower/Explosive)

Power/Hang Cleans                        4x4-8              75-90% of max

Push Jerks/Push Press                  3x3-6             

Explosive Step Ups                           3x12

Jammers                                           3x12

Power Shrugs

Conditioning (Plyometrics)

Speed ladder (1ins 2 ins ikey shuffle lateral ext)

Box Jumps

Depth Jumps

Variation of Jumps with resistance bungees    

Friday (upper)

DB chest press                                  3x6-12

Pull Ups                                             3x max reps

Incline                                               3x 6-12

DB Alt Arm Sh. Press                     3x12

Skull Crushers                                 3x8-12

Conditioning

Sport specific conditioning based on position (receiver=route running,   DB=variations of back paddling and turn and running, OL= Short sprint ext.)

Competitive Phase- The competitive phase is very similar to the transitional phase in regards to weight training with the exception of lower reps. On the conditioning side it is similar to the beginning phase of prepatory.

Work Cited

Coop DeRenne and David J. Szymanski. Effects of Baseball Weighted Implemented Training: A Brief Review The professional Journal of the National Strength and conditioning association pg. 30

National Academy of Sports Medicine: Performance Enhancement Specialist

Roger W. Earle and Thomas R. Baechle. National Strength and Conditioning Association: Essentials of Personal Training pg. 332