AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Developing the Explosive Athlete: Wide Receivers

The Strength Report
by: Eric Kiner
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

Strategy

My strategy when designing a strength and conditioning program for the Georgia Tech football team first starts with the word EFFORT. Over the last eleven years that I have been in this business, I have found that all of the successful teams that I have worked with were not always the most talented but won because of their willingness to put forth the extra effort and intensity needed for us to become successful. I firmly believe that the athlete’s motivation and dedication in the weight room has helped us become successful at Georgia Tech.

As a strength coach I want all of the athletes to make gains in size, strength, speed, agility and overall explosiveness but the most important area must be trying to help prevent injuries. It does not matter what school you are at, depth is always a major concern and can determine the outcome of your season. We were fortunate enough last season to be able to start the same 22 players in the first game as we did in the ACC Championship game and in our bowl game. We firmly believe it was partly due to our new five day training routine.

I have always been a stubborn, old school strength coach who believed that a four day program was the only way to train athletes. This past spring we were planning out our summer program and found out that they were replacing the game field in which we do a majority of our summer running program so we had to change our plans completely. The practice fields are too far from the weight room for us to do our lifting and running on the same days so we had to make a change and I am glad we did. This past summer we had the best workouts we have had here in three years. Our testing numbers were the best they had ever been and we were in the best physical condition since my being at Georgia Tech. Lastly and most importantly we cut out almost all of our muscle strains and pulls during summer training.

Off-Season

During the off-season here at Georgia Tech we break up our team and workouts into three major groups: skill, medium skill, and big skill. The wide receivers are considered skill athletes and must be trained differently than the other two groups. We feel that the receiver position is unique because they have to be fast, quick, explosive, and the most well conditioned athletes on the field. The receivers must also be able to accelerate, decelerate and change direction as well as being strong enough to be physical during the run game. The off season lifting program’s core lifts for receivers are: the power clean, back squat and bench press. We believe in multi-joint exercises that stress the leg and hip area which are the most important exercises for an explosive receiver. If you can become good at these three lifts, you can be successful as a football team. The receivers will do either hang cleans or power cleans and back squats twice a week and bench presses once a week. We use many other lifts and methods to train for speed, explosiveness and strength especially when training the wide receivers. Some of the other methods we use when training for speed and power are plyometrics, medicine ball training and use of all the Olympic lifts. We also use many different forms of squatting and single leg work during Wednesday’s workout.

Our summer off season program runs from May through the end of July. We break our summer training into three different phases. Phase one consists of training five days a week for the first three weeks. The wide receivers lift weights on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and have speed, agility and conditioning sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. The main goal of phase one is to focus on speed, strength, agility and quickness while only conditioning two times per week. Phase two is three weeks long as well. It still consists of training five days a week and the lifting and running schedule are the same as phase one. The major difference between these two phases is that the conditioning and agility training is increased on Tuesday and Thursday and we will also add another conditioning day on Friday after weights are completed. Phase three is the last and most difficult phase of the summer. At this point we are still lifting three days a week but we are now focusing on football specific agility and conditioning. We will have team agility and conditioning sessions on Tuesday and Thursday and conditioning again on Friday after weights using hills, stadiums, or 110’s. This is where we take our conditioning and mental toughness to another level.

In Season

The main goal of in season training is to maintain strength levels throughout the entire season. Our goal is for our receivers to be as strong in the last game as they were in the first game. During the in season the wide receivers will train on Sunday and Wednesday. During the Sunday workout we have the team broken up into three different groups. The three group’s workouts are varied because the demands of each group are very different. During this hour time period we must warm up, lift and condition so we must be very organized and efficient in what we are doing. Sunday’s workout for the starting wide receivers is important because we must work on recovery from the previous day’s game as well as working on maintaining our strength levels throughout the season. Sunday’s warm up for the receivers consists of flexibility work, core work and shoulder pre-habilitation. The Sunday lift consists of three core lifts: hang clean, back squat, and incline bench. The workout is then followed by auxiliary work for the hamstrings, shoulders, back and neck. After the lift is completed, we will run 8 x 120 yard tempo runs. Wednesday’s workout begins with footwork, flexibility work and core work. The workout consists of three major exercises: hammer pulls, bench press and step ups. The workout is then followed by auxiliary exercises for the shoulders, back, hamstrings, biceps and triceps. We change the auxiliary exercises every two weeks to get plenty of variety during the long season.

Conclusion

When designing a strength and conditioning program here at Georgia Tech we try to develop a well rounded athlete. We design our programs to help each athlete maximize their athletic potential. Our main goal is to still help prevent injuries and limit the time missed due to injury. We feel our core lifts of the power clean, back squat, and bench press help us achieve these goals. Another goal of our strength staff is to get the athletes to give championship effort and compete every day. We must motivate the athletes to work hard and become disciplined in the weight room and on the football field. You can be the best workout program in the country but if the athletes do not believe in the program and do not work hard, you will never be successful.

Eric Ciano has been the Director of Player Development at Georgia Tech for the past three years. A graduate of Springfield College in 1996, Ciano was a graduate assistant at Tennessee and then head strength coach at Louisiana Tech. He returned to Knoxville as Associate Head Strength Coach for Football in 2002 before coming to Georgia Tech.





NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved