2009 NFL Combine

[James_Smith]

@speedster12

I agree that 6-8 weeks of bad training can absolutely lower one’s sport form easily.

However, regarding the Optimal training of football players, I have many questions. Maybe some of you can answer.

1. How can one balance the physical preparation with the actual practices?
   In the current american system, there are usually 1-2 hour a day sessions of practice, while lifting takes place on the side. Which leads me to my next few questions.

2. It appears that many on this site suggest training most football players similar so a sprinter. Although i dont dissagree that many principles applied to sprinting relate to american football, i question the transfer of the volume/intensity of the actual sprint training itself.

Im not sure if this is making sense. But say, 300-500 meters of work in one speed session can be used. How can Football players be coached in this manner? Should practices be mostly sub maximal (tempo type) sessions. Furthermore, If one can only sprint 2 to 3 days per week, what is to be done during practice on the other days?

Also, The main difference in sprinting and football, is that i do believe that football players do need more interval type work, because although a sinlgle play may not break out of the alactic energy zone, a combination of those plays with the short rest periods between plays, will yield a cumulitve effect that poses much more stress on other energy systems than that of a 100m sprinter would not encounter.

Overall, I think we can all agree that the physical preparation of most american football players is not suffiecintly meeting the needs to attain highest sports form, however i feel like there is not enough discussion on what are the best ways to combine all factors of practice and strength and conditioning.

Personally, I tend to agree with James’s earlier post about how easy it is for these athletes to improve.

Too often strength and conditioning is the primary focus when it should be secondary. A simple lifting program with the ‘weights is general’ motto focused on injury prevention, and increasesing strength, and hypertrophy when necassry, along with proper recovery and regeneration methods will yield the most optimal results. But how to combine the practices and the training?

The solution, without going into specifics, is to account for sport practice in the overall plan; a matter of give and take. During spring ball and training camp our job is retention and restoration and the tactical coaches job is development. From Jan-mid March and May-Aug our job commences with restoration/GPP and then becomes development and from Aug-years end our job is retention and restoration for starters, development for non-starters/red shirts, and restoration for all while the tactical coaches job is development.

The failures within the community, in my view, lies in what is actually characterized by development and towards what tasks are adaptive reserves expended.

The greatest challenge for me, is tolerating the lack of efficiency within the infrastructure of the coaching models inherent to the North American sport training system.

I think I’ll be putting together some DVDs in the vein of how Charlie has put out his latest view videos (me and a white board) in which I may clearly elucidate my method of solving these training problems.