Effective In-Season Weight Training

​Football season is here! Many months of weight training and conditioning have lead up to the competitive season.
 
What now?
 
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this when I ask an athlete this question.  “Did you guys lift in season?”  
 
The answer is either a simple “no, not really,”  or something like, “we did for like the first two weeks then kind of just stopped.”
 
There’s a lot of stigma around athletes continuing to use resistance training during competitive season(especially with football.)  I want to make clear that not only should athletes continue to train in season, but it is imperative.  Here we will dive into why it is so important to train in season, and how we should train.

It happens far too often. A coach see’s his team looking gassed, or “out of shape” later in the game on Friday night, and proceeds to run the team into the ground the next week at practice.  Unfortunately, this became the old school accepted way to fix the problem, when in reality, it is likely to wear the team down and make the problem worse.  The truth is, if your team isn’t conditioned by week one, it is probably too late to make any drastic changes.  There is however, a way to keep the team fast and efficient, and that is in season weight training.  Programming for in season of course must be done correctly to benefit the athlete and not wear them down.  Let’s look at some effective methods and concepts to maximize your training programs.
 

1. CONCENTRIC ONLY lifts:  Most exercises are composed of two main muscle contractions; the concentric and eccentric phase.  The concentric phase is the shortening of the muscle fiber which would be the lifting of a dumbbell during a bicep curl. The eccentric phase is the lengthening of the muscle fiber which would be the elbow extending and dumbbell lowering portion of a bicep curl.  Most muscle soreness and breakdown actually occurs at the eccentric phase.  By eliminating the eccentric phase of a lift, we can maintain or even gain strength while simultaneously minimizing muscle soreness. Later on, we will go over my top examples of concentric only lifts.

 

1. Compensatory Acceleration Training:  or CAT training, popularized by the late Fred Hatfield involves moving submaximal weight (75-80%) as fast as possible.  For example, if one’s bench press max is 300 pounds, and we put 225(75%) on the bar, the bar should be pressed not with 226 pounds of force, but with as much force as possible, thus moving the bar as fast a possible.  This method allows us to load the body with less load while still producing high amounts of force.  Let’s look at what force is to understand this.      Force= MASS X ACCELERATION (F=MA).                                                                 Force is the product of mass(bar weight) and acceleration(bar speed.)  Although we have reduced the weight on the bar, by increasing the speed of the bar, we have kept the net force production high.

 

1. Limit Compression Volume:  Exercises such as back loaded squats are compressive exercises which mean they cause vertical compressive force on the spinal segments.  While this is not inherently bad, the amount of compressive volume should be drastically reduced during a time when athletes are beating each other up at practice and games all week.  While we still will use a few sets of squat and deadlift, it’s important to find exercises that are spine friendly.  For example, a back extension or Reverse Hyper would be a better choice in season then a heavy barbell loaded RDL.  The same muscle groups are being targeted with much less loading.                                        Another great way to limit spine compression is unilateral or single leg loading.  Compare a barbell back squat to a back loaded lunge or split squat.  With the unilateral versions, we will reach the intensities we want with much less weight on the bar as ones estimated one rep max will be much more on a squat compared to a lunge.

 

1. Focus on the BACK SIDE of the body: This includes the hamstrings, glutes, low back, mid back, upper back, rear delts, and traps.  There are several reasons that we should focus on the posterior chain. One- these muscles are just chronically weak in humans.  Two- these muscles, while not what you see in an Instagram selfie, are where we get speed and performance from.  Three- the start of football season is also the start of the school year where student athletes sit in a desk for near 6 hours per day.  All the posterior chain is relaxed and unused all day and thus must be maintained in training.  Four- Weakness in these muscles are common culprits in common injuries.

 
 
With these concepts in mind, let’s start to create a program that meets these standards.  A good template I like for In season training is 2 days per week, no more than 30 minutes.  Let’s look at an example template and break it down
 
Day One
 

1. Concentric Only Trap Bar Deadlift, reps performed as FAST as possible

2-3 warm up sets, working to 75-80%
Working sets 3x3@75-80%

1. One Arm Dumbbell Rows

3x10 reps /side

1. Single Leg Glute Bridge(3 seconds pause at top)

3x10/side

1. Cool down breathing/foam rolling

 
 
 
 
Day Two
 

1. Concentric Only Bench Press from pins, reps performed as fast as possible

2-3 warm up sets, working to 75-80%
Working sets 3x3@75-80%

1. Lat Pulldown

3x10-15 

1. Seated Banded Leg Curl

3x30-40 reps

1. Cool down Breathing/Foam Rolling

 
 
In this template, we have combined concepts #1 and #2, using concentric only lifts performed as fast as possible.  We have made sure to target muscles of the glutes, hamstrings, lats, and back.  Cool down breathing and foam rolling is a good way to bring our nervous system back to a relaxed state and kick start neuromuscular recovery.  
 
A video is included showing the execution of the three big lifts in a concentric only, fast fashion.
NOTE** safety is always first, when performing concentric only deadlift, dropping the bar is involved. First, make sure you are using bumper(rubber) plates.  Second, and most important, check your surrounding and make sure nobody is standing nearby where you are about to drop a heavy bar.
 
I hope this article is helpful for athletes and would love to get it shared with coaches.  If you enjoyed this, share this with someone you know who coaches athletes!