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Strength Report – A Year Round Strength and Conditioning Program, Part II

by: James Frazier
Strength and Conditioning Coach, Harvard University
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Last month’s Strength Report included a training program for the post-season, the off-season and the spring season. As part of a year round program, this article will include a strength and conditioning program for both the pre-season as well as an in-season schedule.

PRE-SEASON

This is the phase that is probably the most important part of all the training phases we use. During this time, we must build a conditioning foundation that will allow our athletes to make it through practices during camp. During this time, we also need to peak speed, agility, power, and specific skills for football. This is not to say that strength still doesn’t need to be developed during this time, but getting our athletes prepared for the upcoming season should be the focal point.

The pre-season, or summer portion of training’s main objective should be sport specific skill and conditioning preparation. We must ensure that our athletes are ready for the rigorous demands of pre-season camp. Therefore, during this phase there will be more of an emphasis on overall volume of running. In the summer, we will typically train four times a week. Each workout will begin with speed work, followed by lifting, then finished with conditioning. Each workout will be roughly two hours in length (about the standard length of a practice). The speed sessions will have a linear focus on day one and three, and a lateral focus on days two and four. It will also be important to monitor the overall volume of running at the end of each workout session. The large quantities of running and physical preparation can make overtraining a real possibility. The objective is to progress the running throughout the course of the summer with the total volume of running peaking just before camp. Typically, we will rotate our days of high volume running, high intensity running, and recovery running to ensure that our athletes aren’t overtraining.

The speed portion of the workout should be the next focal point. Since we are trying to get our athletes to peak in speed, agility, and power, we must also use this time for quality speed sessions. During the first couple of weeks during this phase, we will typically use some traditional acceleration and agility drills, but as the summer progresses, all of our drills will become much more competitive. We will pit one athlete against another, and have them chase each other in linear and change of direction drills. This will prepare the athlete for game situations that requires them to play fast and react to the things they see.  It will also generate a level of competitiveness that will help in games. 

The lifting portion of the workouts will be designed around the idea that our athletes peak in power output by the end of summer. This will ensure that our athletes have the highest ceiling on explosiveness that can take them throughout the season. The total lifting volume will decrease as the summer moves along, but the intensity of the lifts will increase. This means that we will be seeking quality sessions where the athletes are generating high bar speeds throughout the workouts.

Our goal for the end of summer is to have all of our athletes healthy, in shape, and ready to play football. We believe that by putting them in competitive situations daily and having two running sessions a day, most of our athletes will be ready for the demands of practice and pre-season camp.

IN-SEASON TRAINING

The in-season training phase is where all the hard work of the past year should show. The overall objective of this training should be to improve position-specific conditioning through practice, and maintaining power, speed, and agility.

Most colleges and high schools will practice seven days a week during the pre-season period, and four days a week once games begin (with one day as more of a walk-through). Athletes will typically get one day off a week, each week, as the season progresses. This means that for 12-18 consecutive weeks, the athletes will have one in seven days off. This ratio lends to athletes breaking down and a decrease in performance throughout the season. But, with proper training throughout the year, and a smart in-season training plan, we will be able to maintain our power output, speed and agility. With all of the days of practice and games, it is a natural occurrence for an athlete’s performance to decline during the season.

Therefore, our programming is designed to keep them performing at a high level for the entire season. As the year progresses, the time spent in the weight room lowers. The focus in the weight room will be on moving the bar as fast as possible as well as working to get as much out of our time in the weight room as possible. But emphasis is also focused on recovery from game to game. It is our goal to peak at the end of the season. This goal allows us to improve throughout the year, with, hopefully, our best efforts coming at the end of the season.

As we look at the year and the movement from the off-season – spring season – pre-season – in-season program, we see a program that should wave in intensity and volume through the year, but also as a program that should build on itself. It is not a good idea to have an athlete get stronger only to have them not improve in football. Spring is the time for the gains of the winter to be put to use which should carry over into summer training, and finally, the fall.  Mobility and stability should be a part of all these programs, as they will be the most important aspects in athletic movement. Here are the goals for each phase:

•  Off-Season = strength, lean body mass, work capacity, acceleration gains.

•  Spring season = strength gains, utilization of gains from the off-season.

•  Pre-Season = peak specific conditioning, power, and acceleration.

•  In-Season = increase specific conditioning and maintain power output.

•  Post-Season = Recover from the in-season physically and mentally and begin preparation for winter. 


About the Author: James Frazier became Harvard’s Strength and Conditioning Coach in February of 2009. He previously served with the Iowa football program for two years. A 2006 graduate of Brown, Frazier was a four-year letterman playing defensive end and linebacker.






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