Lafayette’s “Fourth Quarter” Off-Season Strength and Conditioning Competition

In strength and conditioning, well thought out plans backed by scientific research have proven effective in real world situations. They usually work best when trying to get our athletes in optimal playing shape. But there are times we need to forget about the science and just see what our team is made of.

At Lafayette College, we want our athletes to be comfortable and calm in stressful situations, so they can proficiently process information. That is our reasoning behind our off-season ‘Fourth Quarter Win Session.’ We are talking about pushing your mind with the confidence that your body will follow.

The following instructions describe the sequence of our off-season 2012 Four Quarter Win Sessions. The sessions start on the fourth Saturday of our eight week off-season phase which is a de-loading week. This is done in hopes of making the first session as safe and successful as possible. We hold four Saturday fourth quarter win sessions leading up to spring break. We find it a great conditioning program in the off-season.

This is an overview of the competition, which includes a Strongman Relay, the Gauntlet, King of the Ring and a Tug of War (See Diagram):

The Strongman Relay - Divide the team up into groups of 6 players, placing one man on each end of the three strongman competitions. Three guys on the start side compete across the field and the three guys on the other side bring it back. Competition includes the prowler (sled), a tire flip and a sled drag. The two players who win are out of the first gauntlet station (grass drills) that the remaining players proceed to.

The Gauntlet - The athletes then proceed directly to “The Gauntlet” where the remaining four who did not win the strongman participate in two-man competitive grass drills. Whoever wins the grass drills is out of the next station. The second station within the Gauntlet is the competitive ladder drills which involve short shuttle runs. The last station is the competitive agility drills. During the Gauntlet competitions, you will NEVER have more than four people in a drill.

King of the Ring - This is the next phase of the competition where the coaches place the players of their choice together to see who is willing to fight when they are completely exhausted. The competitors go one-on-one placed within padded D-Linemen rings. We then place the winners from King of the Ring against the losers in our last station, The Tug of War. The losers of the tug of war carry their teammate 100 yards on their backs to the finish line. Needless to say, it pays to be a winner.

We try to make the entire exercise as competitive as possible and emphasize, to all our athletes, to both start and finish strong.

About the Author: Brad Potts is in his fourth year coaching at Lafayette College and first as Director of Sports Performance. He previously was the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at Wofford College. Potts also spent time at both North Carolina and Georgia as an intern to the head strength and conditioning coaches at both schools. He is a 2005 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and earned Division II All-America honors there as a linebacker.