5 MUSTS for the Mult - Sport Athlete

This time of year at SOAR, I have a ton of athletes who are participating in winter lifting at school for football, conditioning and practicing for lacrosse or baseball, and trying to train with me. . Below are 5 MUSTS for any athlete who is training for or competing in two sports simultaneously. For the purpose of this article, I am focusing on those who play football and baseball/lacrosse. But, the information can be used for any athlete during any season.

1. Analyze your schedule. Put it on paper, preferably in a calender. This is the important information that someone like myself would need to see. What days do you lift at school? What days are lower body oriented? What days do you have lacrosse conditioning or skill practice? This information will help a good strength and conditioning coach put a weekly plan together for you. Once I see a kid's weekly training schedule, I suggest the best days for higher intensity training at SOAR. I also know what days should be recovery and flexibility oriented. Also, if you work out on your own, keep a log of your workouts.

2.Proper nutrition. Eat a good breakfast with whole grains, fruit and protein. Try to eat the healthiest lunch possible. If you are trying to gain weight, have some easy snacks in your locker such as protein bars or peanut butter crackers. If you are going from training right to another practice, then make sure you have a good small meal option (not fast food). Some athletes do well with a protein shake. Some can not handle the dairy during training. Know your budget and what you can eat. But absolutely do not try to train for 4 hours without eating since lunchtime. . Also, take a good multi- vitamin.

3. Warm - up properly - ALWAYS! If you are doing any form of high intensity practice, training or lifting, you MUST warm up. The warm up should elevate heart rate and body temperature, move all joints in dynamic range of motion, and prepare the central nervous system for full speed movement. Jogging does not accomplish this, neither does sitting down and stretching. If you are not sure how to do a dynamic warm-up, consult a professional such as myself.

4. SLEEP! At least 7 hours a night. Sleeping at study hall doesn't count.

5. Find time for yourself, family and friends. Sounds simple, but it is necessary to avoid burnout.

Football Combine - Bench Press Training

At football combines, the test for upper body strength/endurance is the Rep Maximum Test (225lb for NFL combine/pro days, 135 - 185lb for high school). There are two keys to increasing your reps for the test. You must improve max strength AND you must improve your endurance. Early in the training week we work on max strength and later in the week we do high repetition work. This is the most common set up used by the top strength coaches in the world.


Here is the heavy upper body workout done today at SOAR. This is week 2 of combine training.


Bench press - we worked up to heavy sets of 4 3 2 and 1 based on percentages of their estimated 1 rep max.


Pair 1 Incline DB press 3 x5
Half Kneeling Rotational Throw 2 x 1 0 each side

Triple set - Rear delt fly 2 x 10
Band push down - 2 x 30 sec.
DB zottman curl 2 x 15

Then the athletes performed an ab ciruit of 4 exercises.

Upper body pulling exercises were done yesterday with legs.

On Friday, the athletes will perform their first attempt at the 225 test. Then we will perform sets of max reps weighted push ups.

40 Yard Dash Training

The most important drill at a football combine is the 40 yard dash. In my experience, the best results I have seen have come from improving start stance and the first 10 yards of the sprint. Below is a video that shows one common error I see from a lot of football players when I first watch them run a 10 yard sprint.

What up at SOAR for 2010

Happy New Year. Things are very busy here so I have had little time for the blog. Here are some things that will happen at SOAR in the winter of 2010.

1. Combine training for Pro Prospects has already started today 1/7. Lenny Wicks, a CB from Youngstown State is our first member of the 2010 combine class.

2. Saturday January 30th I am holding a free squat technique clinic from 12:30 to 2pm in Lewis Center. It is open to all athletes and coaches. Proper technique and progressions will be taught. Each athlete will also have their technique assessed. Call me at 614-306-9364 to reserve a spot.

3. Off - season training for all athletes has already started. Remember, if you train at school, we will design a program that complements your school one.

4. I will be at the Mintonette Volleyball Club on Sunday January 10th to do a speed and strength clinic specific for volleyball players.

Stay tuned to the blog, I will get some more video up as soon as I can.

Linear speed workout

This is the linear speed workout that various athletes performed before their lift yesterday.

Foam roll/Dynamic Warm - up

Band resisted footwork on agility ladder

Single and double leg quick hops on ladder

10yd band resisted sprint followed immediately by a 10 yd. sprint. 5 sets, 1 minute rest between

10 yard sprint, 5 yard backpedal, accelerate into a 10 yard sprint x 4 1 minute rest.

I like doing the resisted sprints in conjunction with regular sprints because it gives the athlete and over - speed feel. When they sprint with the band, I want aggressive knee and arm drive while they maintain the proper body angle. I then want to see the same thing when they do the regular sprints and the acceleration drill with the backpedal.

This is just one example of many different linear speed workouts that are done at SOAR. Notice that all sprints are kept to 10 yards.

Less is More

I have been designing strength and conditioning programs for athletes for 7 years now. Although my coaching style has not changed much through the years, my programming certainly has. I don't think that any of my programs in the past were not good programs, I just started to realize that I was trying to do to much. Athletes that trained 4 days a week with me were doing speed and agility two days per week and high intensity jumping 2 days per week in conjunction with their lifting programs. Over- training was a line that I never wanted to cross and I thought my programs were set up to avoid that. My athletes got stronger and faster - but I was not satisfied. I read and researched what the top strength and conditioning coaches in the world were doing. Some were doing things just as I was doing them, but some coaches who I highly respect were starting to do some things differently. I bought in - and it has paid off tremendously.

Athletes that train 4 times a week with me now perform high intensity jumping and sprinting/agility twice per week on Days 1 and 3. They also do their Olympic Lifting and leg work (squats, lunges, ect.) on those days as well. They do a double leg lift on one of those days and a single leg on the other day. Posterior chain work (hamstring, butt, low back) is done on those days a well. On Days 2 and 4 we only do some light agility ladder footwork and lateral hopping before they do there heavy upper body work. This gives my athletes more time to recover between high intensity leg workouts. For my athletes that train 3 days per week, the program is broken down differently but days 1 and 3 are still the high intensity days. I can honestly say that this is the most satisfied I have ever been with my programs.

Back when I was a student teacher through Ohio State, my mentor teacher John Blaine told me "Never be satisfied that you are doing the best job possible." Those are words that I have lived by and really apply to this situation. I knew I was doing a good job, but I also knew that I could do a better job. The changes really paid off when I saw a number of my high school football clients receiving All - District and All - State honors.

I would like to thank some of the top strength coaches in the world for helping me see the "light". If you would like to learn more about speed and strength for athletes, I would highly recommend searching the following names - Mike Boyle, Lee Taft, Joe DeFranco and Jason Ferruggia. One of the best things you can do is learn the philosophies of different coaches and begin to shape your own.

The Bench Press

It is the time of year that most high school weight rooms open up for football players....it should be open for all athletes but we will save that topic for another day. What is the most popular exercise?......the bench press of course. It was the most popular exercise when I was in high school and its the most popular exercise you see in any commercial gym.


I love the bench, but it is not the end all be all of upper body lifting. Here are a few principles I use when designing strength programs.

1.IF we barbell bench in a program, we only do it once a week. There is no reason to bench twice per week.

2. Every few weeks, we substitute another horizontal press for bench press. This keeps workouts fresh and helps eliminate plateaus. We will use DB's or mix up our grips.

3. Vertical presses such as Military press and Push press must be done as well. You must press in the horizontal plane and the vertical plane.

4. This is most important. For every press, there must be a pull. We do pull ups, horizontal pull ups, seated rows, Lat pull downs and many many others. If you do a ton of pressing and little pulling, YOU WILL experience shoulder pain. Have you ever seen guys walk around with huge chests and their shoulder rotated inwards? That is a guy that didn't do any pulling and a ton of benching. HUGE MISTAKE!

Again, I love the bench. I am all for athletes benching a lot of weight. But some things must be done to ensure the body is the strongest it possibly can be.