By Vern Gambetta
Vern Gambetta, MA, is the President of Gambetta Sports Training Systems, in Sarasota, Fla., and the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox. He can be reached through his Web site, at www.gambetta.com.
Coaching Management, 9.4, May 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0904/callshots.htm
Few football coaches today question the need for strength training. Many coaches, however, do wonder about the best way to set up a strength-training program, especially when there are so many other things to do. While big-time college programs like Nebraska and Florida State have staffs of strength coaches dedicated to making bigger, stronger, and faster football players, most high school and smaller college programs have to make do with whatever knowledge the coaching staff has picked up along the way.
So, just as a strength coach would struggle with designing a defense to stop a spread offense, many football coaches feel a little uncomfortable when trying to design a strength program for their players. Compounding the difficulties, much of the information available on the topic is littered with a confusing barrage of fads, myths, misconceptions, half truths, and lies.
While simply copying a program you used in college 20 years ago may be the quickest solution, it' s far from the best. In this article, I hope to cut through some of this confusion by providing practical pointers that will lead you step-by-step through the development of an effective strength-training program.
The Principles
To get off on the right foot with your program, you need to understand and embrace those principles of strength training that are sound. They can be summed up in the following six points:
Develop Sport-Specific Strength. This is the most important principle, and is also usually the goal of any strength-training program. Except for competitive weight lifters, the goal is NOT to increase the athlete's ability to lift heavier weights. The goal is to develop strength that the athlete can use in his sport; in this case, football.
Strength training is a spectrum of activities. Under my umbrella of strength training, I include body-weight exercise, core training, plyometric training, free-weight training, machine training, Olympic lifting, and power lifting.
Train movements, not muscles. The central nervous system (CNS) is the command station that controls and directs all movement. The CNS calls for preprogrammed patterns of movement that can be modified in countless ways to react appropriately to outside forces such as gravity, ground reaction, and momentum. Each activity is subjected to further refinements and adjustments by feedback from the body.
For this reason, it's critical that we think of movement not as an isolated event, but rather as a complex event that involves multiple factors working together. Movement does not occur in a preset anatomical position, and choosing exercises that isolate specific muscles does not appropriately address multi-dimensional strength development. Movement occurs in reaction to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum, and must be trained as such.
Train core strength before extremity strength. A strong, stable core consisting of the hip, abdomen, and low back is the cornerstone of a good strength-training program. Without a strong, stable core, loading the extremities will be very risky and limited by the lack of core strength. The core works as a transmitter, transferring force from the lower extremities to the upper extremities and vice versa.
Train body weight before external resistance. This entails being able to overcome gravity in traditional body-weight exercises like the push-up, pull-up, and body-weight squat before adding weights. This type of work will help to strengthen the tendons and ligaments as well as the muscles in preparation for external loading. It will also ensure good joint stability.
Train strength before strength endurance. Traditionally, strength-training programs have started with circuit training in order to build a foundation of strength endurance. But, in order to build strength endurance, it is first necessary to build strength. Only when a base of strength has been established can you work to add an endurance component.
Asking Questions
Using these principles as a guide, the next step in designing a program requires asking lots of questions of yourself, your fellow coaches, and your athletes. The first group of questions includes the following: What do you hope to achieve with a strength-training program? What are the team's goals? What are the individual's goals? How can strength training help realize these goals?
The answers to these questions should be based on three factors: the position, the athlete, and the environment.
The Position. Most people recognize that a golfer should not have the same strength-training program as a football player. But don't overlook the fact that a quarterback should have a different program than a defensive tackle. To figure out how to make the strength-training program best match the position, consider these next questions:
What are the strength requirements of the position?
What muscle groups are used?
What are the movement requirements?
What is the direction of the application of force?
What is the range of movement?
What kind of resistance does the athlete have to overcome?
Is added muscle mass needed for protection?
What are the common injuries?
The Athlete. In looking at the individual athlete, carefully consider growth and development factors as well as previous injuries. Questions here include the following:
Has the athlete gone through puberty? While there is no doubt that the pre-pubescent athlete can weight train (research and practical experience have shown no ill effects from weight training), I tend to modify programs for younger athletes. My rule is to avoid any heavy loading of the spine until after puberty. Thus, I limit the amount of overhead work that a young athlete does, and I put the emphasis on body-weight exercises. This will serve as excellent preparation to safely move forward on the strength continuum after puberty.
Is the athlete an early or late developer? Biological and chronological age are often quite different, so it's important to take into account an athlete's maturity as well as his age. Cognitive and emotional development should also be considered, as they are quite important to the athlete's ability to accept coaching and learn exercises and routines.
What is the athlete's medical history? Along with addressing any past injuries, carefully consider any postural defects. Problems with posture must be addressed before moving any further into a training program.
What are the athlete's unique, individual qualities? Does he or she need to develop in an area that is slowing him or her down? If the athlete cannot do a certain exercise, substitute a simpler, more remedial exercise.
The Environment. From a coaching and teaching perspective, it is important to take into consideration outside factors that will affect the strength-training program. Answering these questions will put you on the right track:
Can you teach the exercises and supervise them properly to ensure safety as well as proper training? If your staffing does not allow you to implement a full-blown program, then don't try to. Itζs better to scale the program back to meet the resources available than to risk injury.
Is lack of time a factor? If so, consider the "weight room without walls" concept, where strength training is integrated within the location and time frame of the actual practice session. This is accomplished using the natural environment, body-weight exercises, medicine balls, and stretch cords. This may seem like a compromise, but it's better than nothing.
What facilities and equipment are available? Do not let facilities or equipment be a limiting factor in beginning a program. A few quality exercises done consistently can yield terrific results. This is especially true when beginning a program.
Design Rules
Now that you understand the important principles and have answered the pertinent questions about the athletes, you can start designing a program. Here are some guidelines:
Time of year. The greatest emphasis on strength training should be during the offseason and the preseason. But it is important to also develop a manageable program that can be continued throughout the season.
Progression. Progress from body-weight exercises to external resistance exercises both within the workout and through the training year. Also, within each workout, perform balance/stability work and core work first. Start with simple, easy-to-perform exercises, then progress to more complex movements. The key to progression is mastery. If you allow the athlete to proceed further into the program before the exercises have been mastered, there is a higher risk of injury.
Frequency. There are basically two alternatives, both of which work quite well. The first option is to train the entire body on alternate days three days a week. The second option uses a split routine; for example, you might train the legs and total body on Monday and Thursday and train the upper body on Tuesday and Friday.
Number of exercises. It is best to carefully choose and limit the number of exercises. I have found that too many exercises dilute the training effect. Determine a few essential "need to do" exercises so athletes can focus on the workout and not on learning new exercises.
Duration: Generally, it is best to keep the entire strength-training session in the range of 60 to 90 minutes. The closer to one hour, the better the results.
Evaluating Results: The traditional evaluation of a strength-training program has been the ability to lift more during weight-training exercises or perform more repetitions on body-weight exercises. In an absolute sense, that is still valid, but I think we need to go beyond that and carefully observe the carryover to the actual sport movement. While this is much more subjective, it is the ultimate goal of any strength-training program. Closely observe if the athlete\rquote s ability to start and stop has improved or if there has been a reduction in injuries.
Selecting Exercises
The types of exercises you use are limited only by your imagination. However, it is important to consider the qualities of the exercises. Here are some tips:
Make them multi-joint. Use as many joints as possible to produce - and reduce - force.
Avoid isolation exercises. Skip exercises that put unusual stress on one joint. They cause confusion because the muscle is asked to do something different in strength training than it must do in movement. Consequently, exercises like leg extensions, leg curls, concentration curls, and pec deck flys have no place in a functional strength-training program.
Control speed. Incorporate speed of movement that is safe and that the athlete can control.\par
Work proprioceptive demand. The proprioceptors assist the system in generating movement in a form appropriate to the demands placed upon the system. Thus, it's important to challenge the joint and muscle receptors to provide feedback regarding joint and limb position and then reposition accordingly. This ensures that the strength will transfer to performance.
Minimize machines. Considering the above criteria, machine training should play a minor role in strength-training programs. There is a mistaken notion that it is best to begin a strength-training program by using machines. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because machines provide so much stabilization, they give a false sense of security and stability that does not transfer to a free, gravitationally enriched environment. Various rowing and pulley machines are acceptable, but even those should only be a small part of the program.
As you can see, the variables are endless. The key is to take a proactive approach by paying attention to all the factors, both big and small. Know the goals, understand the principles, and pay attention to the individual athlete and sport. Then, choose your timing and exercises consciously and carefully.