Hit the Weights
By Andy Katzenmoyer
Just as there are different football strategies, there are different options regarding the way to improve strength for football. As most football coaches know, utilizing the off season as a time for evaluation, preparation, and planning is essential in building a football power house. To compete at any level, it is critical to develop a training style which keeps the athlete interested, healthy, and injury free.
Various strength coaches and /or football coaches believe in the old philosophy of dividing football players into defensive, offensive, and special teams lifting groups or any other subcategories. This philosophy, even though it has evolved, does not test an athlete’s full potential in the weight room. To compete at any athletic level, it is critical to develop a training style which keeps the athlete healthy and injury free. Having your football squad divided up based on each individual athlete’s structural balance rather than their specialty position will help improve confidence amongst the players and prove to the team that there isn’t one group of all big players and one group of small guys.
I believe in the old saying "you are only as strong as your weakest link". That is why structural balance testing is what we believe in here at L.I.F.T. Initially, each football player who walks through our door naturally has individual body imbalances, these being upper and lower body weaknesses or left and right side body imbalances. These structural body imbalances in athletes, if not addressed, can either initiate an injury, postpone the rehabilitation or wellness of an existing injury, or can hold back an athlete from achieving incredible gains in the weight room or more importantly on the field of play.
When applying this method of testing to a football team, it is vital to have each individual athlete tested for a baseline analysis. Initially, this does take time. Keep in mind, when their bodies have been beaten up, yet still no sign of major injury exists and the athlete maintains little to no muscle weakness, you will see the value of the time you have given to set up your program. This is a goal each coach should have and can only be achieved by proper periodization training and program design.
With football players, some of the weaker points which are more susceptible to imbalances are weak or tight hip flexors and groins, imbalanced erectors (the QL) and rotator cuffs strength, and weak sub-scaps and necks. Whatever imbalances the football team has as a whole is what the focus of the teams’ off-season strength training program should be based upon.
Structural body strength programs can be integrated into any high school, college, or professional team’s regime. The greatest advantage of this type of training is that no matter what training season an athlete is in (off-season, pre-season, in-season, post-season), the training protocol can be tweaked, yet the foundation has already been established by the initial application of individualized structural balance testing and the completion of the phase one workouts.
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