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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


A Man Among Giants

Jerry Palmieri has helped guide the New York Giants to the top of the NFL
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Many football fans probably consider the New York Giants the surprise team of the year in the NFL. Certainly very few prognosticators felt they would make the playoffs, much less win the Super Bowl. After surrendering 80 points in their first two games, the Giants seemed lost, confused and in complete chaos. But they turned it around. Their offensive line improved dramatically; their defense was relentless; and their physical style and presence would make any coach proud.

“My feeling is that a variety of things came together after the first two games,” said Jerry Palmieri, the Giants Strength and Conditioning Coach and the Samson Equipment NFL Coach of the Year for 2007. “The defense began to feel comfortable under DC Steve Spagnuolo’s system; Coach Tom Coughlin made some coaching adjustments on and off the field; and our team really did get stronger.”

As the season rolled on, the Giants got better and better and in the process, won 10 consecutive road games. “The players really trained for strength and power in the off season and were ready when camp started,” said Palmieri, also named the Professional Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year in 1999. “They handled the loads that I gave them although we didn’t overdo it. They continued to lift during the season and the results certainly were worth it.”

Palmieri is a three-time New Jersey Golden Gloves boxing champion and competed in two international boxing competitions. He has been working with Coughlin now for 13 years. They hooked up at Boston College when Coughlin was Head Coach for the Eagles. He joined Coughlin in Jacksonville when the franchise became an expansion team in the league and stayed with him until 2002. After a brief stint with the New Orleans Saints, Palmieri re-joined Coughlin with the Giants in January of 2004.

The Giants’ Strength and Conditioning Coach has a philosophy and strategy that hasn’t changed since he’s been in the profession. “My philosophy is really twofold,” comments Palmieri. “Tangibly speaking, it’s the development of strength and power. Pro football is an explosive sport and it's also a power sport. It's a combination of speed and strength and it's building those things in the athlete. Our job is to make the players more physical and more powerful, so that their play will be physical in competition. Intangibly speaking, I use a scriptural verse from Ecclesiastes (9-10). ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.' By that, I strive to get the most out of each athlete and help them to be the best they can be. They're very gifted athletes; I just want to help them reach their fullest potential.”

As the season goes on, Palmieri decreases the team’s reps and overall lifting. “We decrease the volume of lifting as the season goes on. For example, we start off with a philosophy of developing strength and power. The volume is far less during the season than it is during the off season. Reps will decrease as we get past the mid-point of the season. We primarily work on the legs and upper body with squats and a dumbbell complex.” The Giants weight room schedule looks like this during the season:

Monday: The entire team trains (emphasis on leg training as well as recovery).

Wednesdays: Training for the O and D-Linemen, Fullbacks, Linebackers and Tight Ends.

Thursdays: The skill players train- running backs, wide receivers, quarterbacks and defensive backs and kickers.

Friday: A light workout for the big players.

As with any NFL team, injuries are a fact of day-to-day life in pro football. “We have to be flexible and adjust to injuries,” Says Palmieri. Although we're a free weight, power-oriented program, we have to be flexible to work around injuries. We have to make adjustments based on a player’s limitations on a week-to-week basis.

“The structure of the off season is completely different, as you can imagine. We’re talking about the first phase being really from the middle of March to the middle of June. During that time we will have phases in which we will concentrate on different things – the first thing being to get back to training and ease them back into the program. Then we get into a strength type phase where we pick up the volume of training, pick up the change of direction running and outside conditioning. Then we'll get into our power phase that leads to early summer where our training becomes more specific. We do specific drills for each position with an emphasis on change of direction and overall conditioning. Because a major part of football is changing direction, a good part of our emphasis is on change of direction drills.

“We send the players home in mid-June with a specific program for them to follow. It's more running, cutting, change of direction drills so they'll be ready for training camp in late July. A lot of specific conditioning is included unique to their position.”

While strength and conditioning were a major part of the Giants’ success in 2007, Palmieri believes the biggest difference was Coughlin. “Coach Coughlin did the best job since I’ve been with him, in terms of leadership and communication with the players. He gained a lot of respect with the adjustments he made. A Leadership Council of players and coaches was also formed that really helped the communication process.”






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