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AFM Magazine


The Strength Report: Developing the Explosive Athlete - Offensive Linemen

by: Aaron Hillman
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, Bowling Green State University
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Training a football player is a year long endeavor. We have four years to develop the players under our charge. At BGSU we receive tremendous support from Head Coach Gregg Brandon and his staff in emphasizing the program to the players and allotting time for training during the NCAA imposed hour guidelines. The football staff also does a great job in identifying talent. When developing an explosive football player step one is evaluation. Players play certain positions because of body type, skill level and natural ability. Coaches must then train the player to maximize this potential. We refer to this as minimizing the ‘but, as in, he is a good player but…’ (he needs: strength, conditioning, weight gain, weight loss, etc.). This process will not happen quickly and the needs of each player are different each training period.

There are four main training periods during the year, each with its own emphasis:

Winter Conditioning:
We conduct a seven week training program where the emphasis is on gaining strength, building up weaknesses, gaining lean body mass, gaining / losing weight (if necessary), honing position specific footwork and developing our competitive team spirit. We perform speed development and position drills on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Tuesday and Thursday we have a competitive agility circuit where we chart winner and loser of each drill and compete in an eight workout round robin tournament. Strength training is done Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in a total body format. We prescribe higher volume training during the winter, focusing on strength, speed and endurance. Friday is a challenge day where the weight room also becomes a competitive arena.

Spring Training:
During this six week program our players will be engaging in spring ball practices and the volume of training becomes lower. We strength train two to three days each week and emphasize the strength and speed components of training. This period is critical to continue gaining or at least maintaining strength into the next phase.

Summer Training:
The NCAA allows us to set up an eight week summer conditioning program. The players show great commitment during this time of year: getting summer jobs, going to school and living off-campus together to train. The focus of the summer is conditioning and position specific preparation for the season. Strength training will be done three days per week, again in a total body format. Speed, agility, conditioning and position drills will be performed two to three days per week. We also have a Strongteam Challenge day where they compete in teams that they drafted in a variety of events. This is done on the last Saturday in June and is always a raucous affair.

In-Season:
Timing is critical for training during the season. The goal is to maintain and build strength and lean body mass while not negatively effecting recovery for practices and games. Training must also fit inside the 20 hour work week set by the NCAA. Typically we train the day after a game and perform a total body workout. The travel team will lift one to two other days depending upon the number of reps they are getting in the game. We will not perform much heavy lower body strength work as the week goes on. The non-travel or developmental squad will lift Sunday-Wednesday-Friday on a total-upper-total-body format. Speed drills are performed daily as a warm-up and conditioning is developed through fast tempo practices. Rarely is extra conditioning prescribed unless a player is injured or not participating fully.

Position Specific Recommendations for the Offensive Linemen:
Offensive linemen normally take a bit longer to develop than other positions. These athletes tend to be the largest on the team and frequently lack strength and flexibility in the core and hip regions. Once we start strengthening these areas the player’s ability to bend and move improves. Most linemen also will benefit from altering their body composition. It seems that they fall into one of two categories: long and too light or over-fat. We advise the players on proper diet and the discipline necessary to meet their goals. Unfortunately, many players get caught up in a scale number and do not optimize their potential. Strength development is different than skill development. Think of it in terms of NASCAR; build your engine with proper training and train your driver with proper skill development.

Lower Body Strength Training:
We always emphasize training the core muscles with various exercises and bridging moves. This is a highly neglected area for most. The strength and power of the hips and lower body are a high priority and involve plenty of squatting movements. I choose the word movements because we use a variety of tools to squat with, including barbells, barbells with chains, Pendulum Strength Training squat and leg presses, trap-bar squats and single leg exercises. Choose exercises that your athletes can perform safely. Many young players initially lack hip strength and flexibility to perform barbell squats to an appropriate depth. In this case we teach the squat with very light weight and supplement exercises like Pendulum squats or trap-bar squats. I feel that it is also critical to have a variety of tools available for in-season training or players will lose strength rapidly. Many young linemen also have difficulty performing single leg squats because of their size and single leg presses are substituted. We alternate squatting exercises with exercises that focus on the posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, lower back) during their workout. The Falcon Body Shop is prescribed for individual weaknesses.

Upper Body Strength Training:
We focus on strengthening the neck and shoulder capsule for injury minimization. Most have a history of over-bench pressing and benefit from emphasizing the muscles in the upper back. Incidentally, we have found that many players gain muscular body weight their first year in the program by concentrating on the upper back muscles in the upper body. Pressing with a narrow or parallel grip (palms facing one another) emphasizes the muscles used in line play and also takes stress off the shoulder joint. Offensive linemen are susceptible to shoulder injuries and various exercises are done in the body shop to strengthen them. Our linemen really get a kick out of hand strength. We use thick bar wrist rollers, thick bar reverse curls, hand grippers, sandbags, rope pulls and pinch gripping at the end of the workouts to develop hands suitable for a fight in a phone booth. Linemen also like to roll up their sleeves and show their guns for intimidation and aesthetic reasons. We will have them perform one very slow repetition of a negative only chin-up followed by bicep curls and triceps extensions. Players must be strong relative to their body weight; if our linemen cannot perform a chin-up then they know that they are either not yet strong enough or are too fat.

Agility and Speed Development:
We want our linemen to be fast and run well like other positions. We want them to block downfield and we even have had some offensive linemen on our punt team covering kicks. At BGSU we don’t buy into the ‘linemen don’t run’ stuff. We will teach our big men to change directions and run just like any other position. Kim Wood (strength coach for the Cincinnati Bengals) told me that the best part about timing your players in the 40 yard dash is the preparation beforehand.

Position Specific Running:
This is the aspect of training where our O-linemen do not run as much as other positions.

Here they run like linemen and perfect their footwork and timing. Pulling, trapping, stepping, etc. We have the players finish the drill ten to twenty yards downfield to provide a conditioning effect.

Position Skill Development:
The offensive line will work on explosive football movements against a sled as well as playing mirror dodge and pass rush against each other. They strengthen their punch and timing in a specific way. The weight room will build the strength and power but it must be applied specifically. I do not believe that there are skill specific exercises that can be done in the weight room. Remember your motor learning class; if skill A is specific to skill B then the reverse is also true. Presses in the weight room will strengthen muscles used in football but the skill itself is not specific; it must be practiced and perfected.

Conditioning:
The offensive line will condition similarly to other positions. For longer distances we will use time as a variable, not distance. For example, if we were having our players perform interval 200 yard sprints, the skill player may run it in under 30 seconds where our linemen may run it in under 40 seconds. Over the course of the workout your bigger guys will end up training for much longer durations. In this case make the workout 30 seconds and have different distance goals based on speed and size. Our summer conditioning program involves mostly short yardage sprints and instead of changing the distances we may just perform fewer reps with the line.

Conclusion:
Coaches will make a mistake by simply copying programs and attempting to apply it to their situation. As in other aspects of coaching, develop a belief system and philosophy and apply it in the most efficient way. At the Division I level we are fortunate to have full time strength and conditioning coaches. The staff at BGSU (Rick Court, Hayes Galitski, Kelly Howe and Adam Stoyanoff) welcomes you to visit any time to clinic and watch the Falcons train.

Aaron Hillmann is in his fifth year with BGSU, overseeing the strength and conditioning program for the Falcons’ 18 sports. Prior to coming to Bowling Green, Hillmann had been the assistant coordinator of strength and conditioning at Notre Dame from 1998-2001. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri.






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