Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

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ioppolo said:
I've thought of dropping the machine flys. I usually stall off the chest I find.

My body weight is 55kgs, I'm only benching 40 atm (started at 20 :oops:).

My triceps is usually Two arms extension, Skullcrushes, standing barbell extensions, seated push down machine, overhead extension with a rope, pressdowns with a rope. A little unorthodox but I've made decent progress with this routine.
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Well even though you said not to suggest eating more, gaining weight will definitely be the easiest option. Being 55kg you're primed to grow and grow fast.

Moving away from a program with a lot of isolation work and back to a simple compound program (ie starting strength), or if you want to do a split - this one from hato (whirlpool forums):

Monday

BB Squats 3x8
Stiff legged Deadlift 3x8
Single leg press 3x8
Calf raise 3x15

Wednesday

BB Bench Press 3x8
DB Incline Bench press 3x8
Standing Military Press 3x8
Close Grip Bench Press 3x8

Friday

Deadlift 3x8
Chin ups 3x8
Bent over BB row 3x8
EZ bar Curls 3x8
Click to expand...

Eat a crapload more and try and get your weight up to 65-70kg - don't worry too much about fat gain, get some good weight & muscle on you first and then drop a bit of fat off in 12-18 months time.

There is only so much you can gain in strength without growing your body. And gaining weight/size/muscle is a whole lot easier than training to gain strength at the same weight.
 
What are the best exercises for explosive power through the legs?

I've started playing gridiron so I'm trying to tailor my leg days toward that. Monday I'll squat heavy and do some lunges, followed by training at night. I don't want to overkill it at the gym on this day.

Then today's (thursday) I want a few different explosive movements that I can do, that will ultimately help me with pace off the mark and hopefully strength in the tackle.

This might be a good question to peruse bb.com for, seeing as though they are predominantly American on there. However, I thought I'd throw it out on here first because I don't like bb.com :p



Edit - The only 'explosive' exercise I've been doing/know of are jump squats. I don't know if that's what they are actually called, but I'm sure you can figure it out!
 

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ioppolo said:
Anyone got any tips for me involving chest workouts? I've stalled in the last month.

Incline bench
Flat bench
Incline dumbellpress
Flat dumbellpress
Dumbell flys
Machine pec flys

3 sets each, usually do 10reps-10reps-8reps.

In b4 EAT MORE.
Click to expand...


what have you stalled on? i assume strength as your 55 kegs where strength is built through bench presses and it's variations...2 incline presses is ridiculous as is 2 fly variations...do 5 reps for bench and beat your 5 rep max each session...on another session 3 - 4 days later do 5 x 3 with the same wt from day 1...do 1 assistance lift (floor press, bottom pin press etc) on day 1 and high rep push ups on day 2
 
Monday

BB Squats 3x8
Stiff legged Deadlift 3x8
Single leg press 3x8
Calf raise 3x15

Wednesday

BB Bench Press 3x8
DB Incline Bench press 3x8
Standing Military Press 3x8
Close Grip Bench Press 3x8

Friday

Deadlift 3x8
Chin ups 3x8
Bent over BB row 3x8
EZ bar Curls 3x8
Click to expand...

hopefully not looking to progress on close grip bench presses...
 
Shupe said:
What are the best exercises for explosive power through the legs?

I've started playing gridiron so I'm trying to tailor my leg days toward that. Monday I'll squat heavy and do some lunges, followed by training at night. I don't want to overkill it at the gym on this day.

Then today's (thursday) I want a few different explosive movements that I can do, that will ultimately help me with pace off the mark and hopefully strength in the tackle.

This might be a good question to peruse bb.com for, seeing as though they are predominantly American on there. However, I thought I'd throw it out on here first because I don't like bb.com :p

Edit - The only 'explosive' exercise I've been doing/know of are jump squats. I don't know if that's what they are actually called, but I'm sure you can figure it out!
Click to expand...


for gridiron do a shitload of sprint starts from various positions as you need to hammer hip extension from a complete stop...use squats for strength so keep reps low with plenty of rest btw sets...if you have access to a prowler then use that to transfer the gym to the track like this:



not sure of your weekly training/playing set up (you're playing now though aren't you?) but train legs on the freshest day of the week with each lower body session looking something like this:

foam rolling
mobility - ankles, hips
activation - glutes
neural warm up - deficit split squats 2 x 8, jumps on the spot on your toes 2 x 10 - 20, 5m sprint starts from push up, mountain climber, prone position etc x 3
workout - squats working up to a 5 - 3 rep max paired with 10m sprints using 3 point start like you do at gridiron
reverse lunges 2 x 5
hip thrust 3 x 8 - 12

obviously this is an in season model for lower body once a week
 
Thanks cptkirk - I will save that leg day you posted and use that in season. We're not playing yet, we actually play over summer. Just doing some light, skills based training at the moment with a 30 minute game of flag at the end.

I'm looking to make as much advance in explosiveness as I can now whilst we're not in full pre-season training.

for gridiron do a shitload of sprint starts from various positions as you need to hammer hip extension from a complete stop
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Can you please expand on this a little? What positions? As in standing, crouching, and how I'd begin as a wideout?
 
i see...in that case just pump up the vol a bit on the accessory stuff (everything after squats/sprints)

plan backwards from your round 1 or practice games and work these steps in;

step 1 - get stronger (squats or deadlifts)...focus on starting sprinting technique as above

step 2 - use general transfer training (squats paired with sprints)

step 3 - use specific transfer training (prowler/sled sprints paired with sprints)

as you work through the steps you'll decrease the volume and intensity (somewhat) of the squats

make sense?
 
I see.

The only issue being that I can't pair these exercises with sprints whilst at the gym. It's something I'd have to do directly after the gym, which will mean that it probably won't have the same effect?
 
Gridiron is just a light, skills based session on Monday nights at the moment. Gym-wise, I'm training 6x per week with a three day split (so I'm hitting each part twice a week). Gym has been going great, so the only thing I'm looking at changing is leg days to incorporate exercises to benefit the sport.
 

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for gridiron it's all about legs so i;d be inclined to cut back upper body a bit (2 x upper body sessions a week) then have 1 - 2 lower body gym days and 1 - 2 sprint days either on lower days or other days...yuo can't just add, add, add to a program, you've take something out to bring something else in, especially nervous system reliant training like sprints, jumps etc

what are you squatting now and how much you weigh?
 
That is true, something has to eventually give. Once official preseason training starts, I will certainly be cutting back my gym days, but at the moment I'm just trying to add as much size as possible. I often workout in the morning, so on those days I can do some sprint work at the park in the evening.

I weigh 80kgs now (I've posted some pics elsewhere, a couple of years ago I was about 68kg). On my heavy leg day, I'm squatting 100kg 5x5. On my lighter day, I'm doing 80kgs for 3x8.
 
i wouldn't wait...you'll as big as you can in 4 days then you will with 6...the 2 extra days just means you have more to recover from not neccesarily be benefitting from

speed/power is the number 1 factor in sport and especially in gridiron - the 40m sprint/vert test correlates greatest to performance according top combine prep coaches

and getting bigger is basically stimulating the bottom just enough and then eating enough to grow...stimulating too much just means you need more food to get back to "even' which doesn't mean getting bigger

picking up what i'm putting down?
 
Absolutely, you have all the experience in this exchange. I will heed your advice, but I feel like I need to train 6x week.

So, with that in mind -

Monday - Lower
Tuesday - Upper
Wednesday- Sprints
Thursday - Lower
Friday - Upper
Saturday - Sprints
Sunday - Hangover day.

Rather than doing the sprints on a leg day, they can have a day to themselves where I still get the satisfaction of some form of training. Do you think this is something that will work?
 
ioppolo said:
Anyone got any tips for me involving chest workouts? I've stalled in the last month.

Incline bench
Flat bench
Incline dumbellpress
Flat dumbellpress
Dumbell flys
Machine pec flys

3 sets each, usually do 10reps-10reps-8reps.

In b4 EAT MORE.
Click to expand...


I would suggest lowering your reps with slightly higher weight, make sure you mix up your program with different exercises, reps and sets. Doing the same program for 4 months is boring and can stall progression. Some people may like doing the same thing over and over, for me i like to mix it up every 6-10 weeks.

I wanted to build up my chest and strength. My chest exercises;

Flat bench - 2 x warm up sets, 3 x 8
Bumbell flys' - 3 x 8
Incline BB bench - 3 x 10
Incline DB press - 3 x 8

Also at the end of my training i would do a finisher super set;

3 x incline pushup
3 x decline pushup
3 x dips

Around the end of February my flat bench 1 max rep was a 100kg, Wednesday i pushed out 1 max rep of 110kg.
 
Cheers for the tips guys.

So yesterday I did 3x8 of flat bench, 3x8 Incline bench, 3x9 Dumbell flys and 3x8 dumbell press. Finished off with 1 set of pushups to faliure. Will probably try a different routine for the next 3/4 chest days and see which one feels comfortable to me.
 
I'm not a personal trainer or anything but I thought I'd just share a few things that have worked for me which might help a few here.

I don't concern myself too much with how much I lift on anything and focus more on doing a weight where I know I can progress. You need to build up to things as its not going to happen overnight. I concentrate on linear progression and trying to get one more rep every time. So for example if I'm doing 3 sets of 8, ill go 8.8.8 one week, 9.8.8 the next, 9.9.8 etc. I focus more in the strength rep range for most things as you're never going to make decent gains doing high reps with little weight, and obviously helps increase your strength so you progress. Don't be too concerned with the amount of reps you're doing, if you're progressing your body has pretty much no choice but to grow.

Lately I've thrown in a drop set/superset/whatever you want to call it into my routine where I either follow one exercise with either another one, or just drop the weight and do it again. So for example I might do incline chest then straight after dumbbell flyes, but for biceps do cable curls then drop the weight and do it again.

Just thought I'd throw those out there as they've worked for me.
 
Shupe said:
Gridiron is just a light, skills based session on Monday nights at the moment. Gym-wise, I'm training 6x per week with a three day split (so I'm hitting each part twice a week). Gym has been going great, so the only thing I'm looking at changing is leg days to incorporate exercises to benefit the sport.
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I played Gridiron for several years here in Sydney.

Here's a tip. Speed kills.

In more detail - Strength, speed, agility, power and explosiveness. They are the key attributes for the Gridiron.

If you spend too much time training like a bodybuilder and end up with size instead of speed and explosiveness, then you will suffer on the field.

Size seems to be a safety net for many and they lift just to get big. Allow size to be a by-product, not the main objective.

I played predominantly as a strong safety and have knocked many offensive linemen and back field players on their arse despite being smaller in many cases. The force I could generate with my speed and strength was greater than other players slow moving weight and size.

Technique plays a big part. Working out with functional and compound exercises is another.

Of course, position plays a big role too. If you're going to be an O or D line man or even a running back or Linebacker taking plenty of snaps, then you need some extra size to combat the physical wear on your body.

Just don't get fixated on size and spend too much time on it at the expense of the critical success attributes of the game.
 
Shupe said:
More likely to be a wideout or corner. These positions absolutely rely on speed.
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Then speed & agility is even more critical than any size.

If you end up playing a bit as a defensive back, you'll also have to get used to proper technique in running backwards because you need to be able to carry a bit of speed doing that, and then break in any direction. If you can't carry speed running backwards, you'll end up compensating by either standing off and giving away short receptions, or continually having to line-up close to the line and get physical with the receiver. If he or his QB have been playing for a while, they'll work you out quickly. You need a few strings to your bow to change it up and not give away what you intend to do. Afterall, American Football is an athletic chess game.

Here is a document where you'll find some useful tips.
http://www.hostedfootball.net/npsfl/Houston Texans Strength & Conditioning.pdf
Dan Riley & Ray Wright were both former Texans S&C co-ordinators and this was their hand-outs to every player in the Texans program. Riley was in the minority with his theories on using machines and isolation exercises, with the majority of his peers and other clubs very much shunning his approach. The focus should be free-weights. Lifting for the gridiron requires power movements and generally performing as many exercises as possible while standing. Afterall, football is played on your feet. So take Riley's machine weights and treadmill crap with a grain of salt.

What is helpful is the skill pattern running from pg 27. Depending on the position you're going to play, you need to get your body used to the movement patterns that you'll encounter in a game.

Also, if you have a sufficient strength base, start your speed and agility work now. You need to get football fast. I can't drill this into you anymore. This is the critical success attribute to play well on the gridiron.

Find American Football agility drills on the web and do those too. You need to be able sprint hard and change direction without losing too much speed. Sprinting, stopping on a 10c piece and turning and accelerating over and over again...apart from blocking or beating blocks, that's what you'll be doing all game.

Certainly, your 6x frequency of lifting volume is only making you slower at the moment, particularly if you're taking a bodybuilder approach to it.

Further to the poor lifting program the Texans had, here is an article after the the Texans made the complete change from the Riley/Wright regime.
http://www.examiner.com/article/another-year-another-strength-and-conditioning-change-for-texans

All the best with it. It's a great game to play.
 

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Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

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