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The Strength Report - How to Prepare Your Athletes for Collegiate and NFL Weight Programs

by: Joe Kenn MA, CSCS, SCCC
Director of Athlete Development – Football, University of Louisville
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Preparing Your Athletes for Collegiate Strength Programs

By Joe Kenn MA, CSCS, SCCC
Director of Athlete Development – Football,
University of Louisville

In an era where physical fitness is at an all time low, it is imperative that coaches at the high school level understand they are not getting the same type of athletes coaches worked with decades before. With the de-emphasis of general physical education at the elementary and middle school levels we are seeing an alarming rate of youth obesity and lack of general “play”. The roles of unorganized after school play or pickup games where the kids are active are rarely seen in most communities. Almost all sport is played in some type of organized fashion and specialization of sport has become commonplace.
With that being said, I believe the following issues must be addressed to secure the overall health of the athlete throughout his sport career regardless of longevity. These four bullet points are the foundation of our incoming athletes program – BLOCK ZERO.

1. Don’t Assume the Athletic Position!
We use the term athletic position as it relates to the basic fundamental “stance” in competitive sports. In football it is referred to as the linebacker stance. Coaches beware, since many of the athletes we see cannot get into this position naturally. It must be taught even to the most gifted players. Generally we see three positions when we train the athletic position, A. knee bender (knees pushed forward, heels off the ground, hips still in full extension), B. waist bender (bent over at the waist, chest down, knees extended), and C. hip and knee bender (athlete naturally can assume a basic quarter squat position). Obviously “C” is the goal for each athlete.

2. Mobility and Stability
As we build off the athletic position, our athletes go through a series of mobility drills, similar to a basic running session prep work, and stability drills (isometric and quasi-isometric holds, planks) to increase dynamic flexibility as well as kinesthetic awareness, balance, coordination, and core strength.

3. Internal Resistance Over External Resistance
We consistently are seeing more shoulder and low back injuries from our incoming athletes. We feel this is because most of these athletes are being asked to perform movements with external loads with a disregard of their ability to handle internal loading or “relative/ gymnastics” strength. This is the ability to perform movements with efficient technique with their own bodyweight. How can we expect a 300-pound high school lineman to squat 500 pounds when he cannot perform a bodyweight squat to parallel? How can we expect him to bench press 400 when he cannot perform a quality push up or dead hang chin up? Creating a relative strength circuit to develop proper movement qualities, full range of motion, and overall strength are critical abilities in establishing future technique success.

4. Exercise Technique
The more efficiently an athlete can move a resistance the greater the transfer ability to athleticism. It is extremely important to “slow cook” your athletes. Take the time to establish your teaching progressions for your foundation lifts and cycle these movements through a carefully organized plan. We must also teach them proper running, jumping, and landing mechanics, realizing that most of these athletes have not experienced “jumping out of trees”. We are constantly talking to our athletes about applying force into the ground, but we must also teach them how to absorb force (landing). Ask yourself this question. “How important is it really for a 9th or 10th grader to post weight room numbers in their overall development?” You will have these athletes for four years.


In closing, as performance coaches we must remember that our athletes are football players first and foremost and that we are here to service them and give them the tools to become successful athletes and improve the general physical fitness and athletic attributes. Their coaches, in particular their position coaches, will give them the specific skills required to achieve success on the playing field.

Preparing Your Athletes
for NFL Strength Programs

By Mike Clark,
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach,
Seattle Seahawks

Mental and emotional maturity is demanded from almost all players in the NFL, both in and out of football. Maturity is a quality that is emphasized by college programs, but once a player is in the NFL he will have more time, money and temptations to deal with than he has had to deal with at any other time in his life. How the player handles his free time will have a large impact on his adaptation to strength training in the NFL. The player must be disciplined enough to give a consistent effort each and every day over a much longer season in order to develop and maintain his physical abilities. If he succumbs to outside temptations then his training and preparation will suffer greatly because of the level of competition and the length of the season.


In most college programs, performance testing is an important part of the program. It helps to motivate players and keeps them accountable to their coaches and teammates. No one wants to be embarrassed in the weight room in front of their peers and coaches. In the NFL, very few if any organizations perform max testing on their players in the weight room or on the field, at least not with barbells and stop watches. They do get tested every day at practice and during games and that is the test they must pass. It does not matter if you perform 33 reps on the bench press at the combine if you can not use your strength on the field and move with power and speed. At the same time, if you only did 11 reps at the combine it is a good sign that you are either weak or lazy and neither is a quality that will be embraced in the NFL.


So what I am saying here is simply this, you train to play better and stay healthier longer. Everything you do is designed to either help you generate force or to reduce force and increase joint stability. Training to set records can be and is a good thing in a well planned program; it will lay a great foundation that can propel you throughout an NFL carrier. But if you squat 550 lbs., do you need to put forth the effort and go through the wear and tear on your body to squat 600 lbs.? I am not saying that you should get weaker, or even that you should not try to get stronger. But rather than putting all of your extra effort into an area of strength, your time would be better served by puttingmuch of that effort into an area of weakness. Come to the league ready to work on things that you are not good at, not ignoring the things you are good at but putting more effort into your Achilles’ heel.


In general, to prepare for the NFL, build as much work capacity into your training as you can handle, increase your strength endurance and power endurance as much as possible. Work capacity is the foundation that you will be building on once you are in the NFL. If you do not have a good level of work capacity, then you will be spending too much time just getting used to the tempo of the game. Then work on your max strength and max power, because if you come to the NFL lacking in these areas you are most certainly going to be behind the vast majority of the players in the league. In short, most college programs do a great job preparing their players for the next level if the athlete takes his training and development seriously. If he does not, it most likely will be an opportunity lost.






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