May/June 2019 - 24

SPORT SPECIFIC
BLOCK TWO
Below is a sample block two in-season workout
for the " Advanced " group of Syracuse University
football players.
Box squat
x 3 at 55% one-rep maximum
(1RM)
x 3 at 65% 1RM
x 3 at 70% 1RM
x 3, player decides load
x 3, player decides load
Dumbbell military
press (standing)
Reverse hyper
Inverted row
Incline Cuban
press
x 10
x 8
x 6
3 x 10
x 45 (skills)
x 36 (mids)
x 30 (bigs)
2 x 10
to 40 athletes in each one.
In order to minimize confusion and create a flow to the
workouts, we simplify as much as possible. All players have
individual numbers that they are expected to perform on our
core lifts, and all of these are seen by a coach and " signed
out " or recorded.
Once signed out, the players can perform the remaining
auxiliary exercises for the day in any order they choose.
These exercises are the same for all three groups. This
minimizes waiting for equipment and allows the athletes to
move at their own pace, even super-setting exercises to save
time if they so choose. It also keeps our setup consistent and
makes it easier to monitor players.
Besides enhancing effort and enthusiasm, lifting in large
groups enables us to be mindful of our players' schedules.
Although we prioritize our weight room sessions, players have
tremendous time constraints in-season, and it's important to
give them time to meet all of their other obligations. We
try to optimize their time spent in our facility, so while our
offense lifts, our defense holds meetings, and then they swap.
Our use of large training groups requires a lot of
coordination among our coaching staff. We hold a meeting
before every session to ensure that all full-time coaches and
interns understand what each lifting level is doing and to
cover any adjustments or exceptions (in the case of restricted
or injured players). The payoff is having players that are much
more energetic and accountable - well worth the effort.
Despite our overall foundation for in-season training, we
keep in mind that everything we plan and put on paper is just
that - a plan. Things happen, and plans change, so the devil
lies in the details.
24 T&C MAY/JUNE 2019
Training a football team is a huge logistical undertaking. We
have upwards of 90 players on our team, all with individual
needs, and we must take into account injuries, bye weeks,
games that aren't played on Saturdays, travel plans, depth
chart changes, positional switches, sickness, and outside
obligations. This is where coaching and experience show
their worth. It is imperative to be proactive and realize when
a plan or program needs to be adjusted - or even scrapped
- before potential conflicts or complications arise.
TRAVEL AND INTERMEDIATE LEVELS
Within our large lifting groups, we have multiple levels that
categorize where a player is in his development. There are four
distinct levels in the offseason and summer, but we trim it down
to three in-season because of the unique demands and priorities
of this phase. (This does not include our redshirt program,
which will not be covered in this article). We designate the
in-season groups as: Travel, Intermediate and Advanced. The
number of players in each group depends on the year, and each
level handles our core lift progression a different way.
Our Travel and Intermediate groups make up the majority
of our team - in 2018, we had 19 Intermediate and 38 Travel.
The difference between the two is that our Intermediate
players are either very young (i.e., true freshmen) or don't get
much playing time (i.e., less than 20 snaps per game).
The Intermediate players can tolerate and benefit
from
more volume, so their reps are a little higher on bench press
and hang clean during the season. For bench press, the
comparison looks like this:
* Travel bench press: 4x3, up to five reps on the last set.
* Intermediate bench press: 4x5, up to seven reps on the last set.
TRAINING-CONDITIONING.COM
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May/June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2019
