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Georgia’s In-Season and Bowl Game Strength Training

by: Keith Gray
Associate Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of Georgia
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Every year, college football players across the country engage in strength and conditioning programs from January until the beginning of training camp in August. Those workouts lay the conditioning foundation and strength base for the upcoming season. And while those workouts are important, many strength coaches would argue that workouts held during the season are just as important, if not more so, than workouts held during the rest of the year. This simple question must be asked: When would you rather have your athlete be his strongest? March, July or November? The answer is simple: November. What difference does it make if your athlete can back squat 600 lbs. in July if he is not able to maintain that strength during the competitive season, when he actually needs to be that strong? This is why in-season training is so important to the success of any football program.

The weight training schedule during the season is limited by two factors: The NCAA’s 20- hour rule and the amount of time allowed to the strength program to train the athletes by the football program. Their task is to balance appropriate time for meetings, practice, film work, walk-throughs and weight training. We will use any and all time given to us for the physical development of our players. Our goal is not to use the in-season workouts as just a maintenance program, but to make the players as physically strong as they can be each and every week.

This training program will also aid in the physical recovery from one week to the next, as we work out the soreness from the previous week’s game. In-season workouts can also aid in injury prevention. The better physically prepared the players are, the less likely they are to succumb to fatigue and become injury prone. In football, injuries do happen, but if we are in top physical form, recovery from injuries can also be expedited. Players can return from injury quicker if they are stronger and in better physical condition. This is why in-season workouts are so crucial to the success of any athletic program. The better conditioned the athletes are, the more durable they can be, and that makes them better prepared to handle the rigors of a competitive season.

The model we follow is a two-day-a-week program, with a third day being left up to the players to complete if/when they volunteer to do it. The two training days are designed to be on the least intensive practice days, thereby getting the most out of each workout without fatiguing the players for their practice. The two days that we monitor are both total body training days, each day having a different emphasis. The table shows how the workouts are split in chart 1.

We begin each workout with core exercises and neck strengthening exercises. These workouts take approximately 45 minutes. The sets and reps will change throughout the season, depending on what week of the season we are training. Intensities will vary depending on the athletes’ level of preparedness and ability to perform on a day-to-day basis. We will also vary the assistance exercises throughout the season to make sure that adaptation does not set in. The third training day, which is optional, consists mainly of dumbbell exercises designed to work on joint stabilization and balance. This is the workout plan that we follow until after our last regular season game. At that time, we take on a different approach for our training.

Bowl Preparation

At the completion of each season, college football players across the country wait and see when and where they will spend part of their holidays at a bowl game. And each year, the bowl game date and destination determines how much time you have to prepare for the event. Bowl preparation takes on many different forms from school to school, and each school has a philosophy regarding how they approach this particular part of the season.

This is a very crucial time in the physical preparation of our players. Because there is such a long delay between the final game of the season and the bowl game, many gains can be made in the strength program. This time can be used to get back any of the strength that may be lost during the rigors of the regular season. Injured players are able to rehab more efficiently and get their bodies healthy.

During this time we try to treat our training program as another mini-meso cycle. We treat the workouts, including all lifting and conditioning exercises, as if they are mid-summer workouts. The workouts are very advanced and the work being done is very intense. We try to squeeze as much work as possible into the three weeks before bowl practices begin, and we feel this gives us an advantage over our bowl game opponents. An example of how a week of the training program would look is indicated in chart 2.

Additionally, and most importantly, this time can also be used to help bridge the gap to the transitional period at the beginning of the next off-season. We feel that if we get a great month of training in during December, the time between the bowl game and the beginning of the next off-season training program will not be as long; therefore decreasing the amount of time we have to lend to acclimation the next year. We believe that we gain a huge advantage in this area during this time period and that has led to our 11-2 record in bowl games over the past 13 seasons.

About the Author: Keith Gray joined the University of Georgia strength and conditioning staff as a full time assistant in September, 1999. He was promoted to Associate Head Strength Coach in 2003. Gray previously coached at both Auburn and Southern Illinois. He was a football letter winner at Virginia Tech, playing linebacker from 1991-1994.








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