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


Strength Report - CITADEL’S OFF-SEASON STRENGTH & CONDITIONING PROGRAM

by: Donnell Boucher
S&C Coach, The Citadel
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

The winter off-season is the first of two primary development phases in the annual layout of a collegiate football player. The second is the summer. These are the only two periods of the year where no football is being played and training sessions are directed by the strength and conditioning staff. For us at The Citadel, the winter differs slightly from the summer, in terms of our priorities and where they rank. We believe that the better we keep the team physically prepared over the course of the training year, the better our athletes will retain training residuals from season to season, and arrive at camp in a more capable athletic state. However, due to the amount of time before the upcoming season, we reposition our immediate priorities:

A Shift in Priorities

WINTER SUMMER
1. Become more durable 1. Become more durable
2. Increase strength & size 2. Increase conditioning
3. Increase speed & agility 3. Increase speed & agility
4. Increase conditioning 4. Increase strength & size

 

While these are the general, physical priorities we set out to achieve, there is a set of goals that supersede these goals all year long, no matter where we are in the training year. These are perhaps more important to us as a strength and conditioning staff than the physical goals, and are coached in various methods during every training session:

1. Learn to live with urgency: Between the start whistle and the final horn, there is NO down time. Every minute of the training session is a race against the clock to see who can learn more, gain more, or gain one more step in the fourth and fifth quarter.

2. Understand your responsibility to your teammates: You are accountable to do YOUR job, as well as assisting where you can to better allow your teammates to do theirs. Sometimes, one person needs a small push to get going in the same direction as everyone else. The more this comes from an athlete instead of the staff, the better.

3. Embrace and effectively deal with conflict, coaching, and competition: Only through constant critiquing and instructing will our athletes improve in training. This is not as simple as getting them to properly squat or run the 40. They need to be notified when their effort is insufficient. Through constantly challenging them, and upholding our standard of performance, we cultivate a competitive atmosphere in which no one can feel comfortable when they are shown up. Everyone looks to out-perform the next guy, even during warm ups, or while sprinting to the next drill.
That underlying framework of our program will serve as the base of our program throughout the year and we will utilize many different vehicles to get closer to each of those goals. Our preferred training style, or method, is the Tier System. We utilize three, total-body lift sessions each week, and have found this to be the optimal way to train our athletes at The Citadel.
Each session is comprised of both traditional and non-traditional means of loading, as well as a multitude of different methods of attaining muscle contraction (maximal effort, repeated effort, and dynamic effort). During each day of training, every major body region is trained and trained under a different type of muscular tension. Because of the constantly revolving demands imposed on the body and accompanying flexibility in rotating new movements in and out of the training plan, we have found that the Tier System yields the highest amount of physiological adaptation and inherently defends athletes against succumbing to plateaus. Since we are a Total Body Split program, we fell the need to implement another means of recovery that could double as flexibility training – yoga. We will be implementing two, 45 minute yoga sessions for five weeks this winter to aid in those aforementioned areas (See Sample Training Week Chart below).


We have also seen marked improvements in our on-field speed, agility, and conditioning training with the implementation of this three-lift-per-week system. During the winter, our focus on the field is on movement mechanics and sustained power development. We must prepare the team to be able to sufficiently withstand the demands of spring practice, but we do not devote nearly as much time to conditioning as in the summer program. In fact, while the first phase of the winter (2 weeks) has specific periods of our run sessions reserved for Gycolitic/Phospho-Creatine pathway conditioning, the second phase (4 weeks) does not. During the second phase of the winter, our field sessions are administered at what we have termed “game speed.” All agility/speed development drills are progressively intensified to eventually reach time durations that are similar to those found during games (:04-:07 seconds of all-out effort followed by anywhere from :10-:40 of rest). During these drills, competition is always stressed, and athletes are constantly being evaluated on their effort to win the rep. Another change to the second phase of the winter is the involvement of a chaos aspect that has proven effective at keeping our team on constant alert. That is, very subtle changes are made to every training session that are completely unannounced and unexpected (changing the direction of rotation from station to station, changing the sequence of the session, varying implements used, etc.). Some of these changes are not so subtle, but rather quite lively and exciting. Random mini-competitions are mixed into the sessions at various times in which individuals must compete in either one-on-one or team vs. team scenarios. The losing side of the ball will have to serve a consequence, so there is an amount of pressure placed on those athletes competing. We feel that the best way to develop a winning and competitive attitude is to train by placing the athletes into scenarios where there is a winner and a loser, and a reward or consequence multiple times, every day.
This year, our academic calendar called for spring practice to start on the last weekend of February, which in turn gave us six weeks to train and a half week to evaluate our players. We split our winter program up into 2 phases (See Winter I / Winter II Chart).

We will conclude our winter off-season program with a “combine-style” testing period that will be broken up over two days on the week of our first practice. We hold this type of evaluation twice per year – at the conclusion of the winter program, and at the conclusion of the summer program in late July. These evaluations are important to me as a strength coach so I can see where I may be falling short from a programming standpoint and monitor any glaring weaknesses our team may have. By evaluating twice per year, changes can be made from season to season and from position group to position group and help eliminate any shortcomings in development. While these results are critical to the person writing the programs, they are a double-edged sword to the athletes. Yes, they’re important because they show an athlete whether they are or are not progressing, but at the same time they’re dangerous because they can falsely lead a team member to believe his job is done. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. We encourage our players to leave their numbers on the field, and divulge all of their attention to performing well at the REAL test that approaches: tomorrow’s practice.
While the great majority of strength coaches are utilizing the same principles and techniques, I believe it is the differences in delivery and implementation that separates us. These are the areas that I observe closely when visiting another program, or reading someone’s book. I make it my personal mission to find out what others are having success with and see if these things might work for our team (usually through experimentation on the staff and myself). Our program will continue, to evolve, and I encourage yours to do the same. I will summarize our winter program, as well as our program in general, with a few points that are native to our way at The Citadel:

1. You will accomplish more as a program by training, developing, and enabling your staff members. The five coaches that work for us have the green light to modify the training programs on the fly, should they see fit. We all operate under the same principles and spend plenty of time coordinating and planning for each training session. This has led to a lot of ground getting covered on an individual basis.

2. As a strength coach (or any coach/teacher/leader), the environment is the only thing you really control. So, make sure it is one that promotes urgency, reliability, trust, preparedness, focus, energy, alertness, teamwork, and whatever else you find important. Don’t expect those things to manifest themselves; they need to be cultivated.

3. Extrinsic motivation WORKS. Use it.

4. Breed competitiveness every single day. It is one of the few things, if not the only thing, you can rest assured will transfer onto the field 100%. u






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