He arrived very lanky, yet strong, up top; however, his thighs look like those of a quarter horse. His thigh development is even more impressive considering he never trained his legs in the weight room before arriving here; and you’ve already seen that I don’t have him do too much in the weight room for his legs other than auxiliary work. All his ‘resistance’ training for legs came in the form of hill sprints and T&F practice.
Currently, his physique is very impressive. He’s in the mid 230s right now.
While he’ll always have a lanky appearance up top, due to his lever lengths, he’s all lean tissue and his total body strength and power potential is freaky.
I feel it’s not safe for wr’s to carry that much weight on there frames with all the running/cutting that is required at the position. Take a look at all the wr’s who tried to play at that weight = INJURIES.
Trust me in that the training I have him perform is not directed to bulk him up; and at 6’5 he has more than enough lever length to spread around a few pounds here or there.
James, do you have Baldwin squat? I only ask because it was often nearly impossible for the taller guys to achieve the proper positions due to extremely long femurs etc.
Belt squats is similar to what Vermeil did with the Bulls I believe. If I’m not mistaken he rigged a little tower with a hole in between for the weight.
"To clarify, the one who belt squats does so because his femurs are so long, relative to his torso
Both very fast, incredible vertical and horizontal jumping ability and neither squat. To add to the variability, one belt squats and the other performs a single leg squat with the rear foot elevated. The one who belt squats perform dumbbell floor presses and the one who single leg squats performs bench presses".
I’m right at 6’2. I have never had any issues with squatting although after my surgery I cap the depth at 90 degrees to avoid even the possibility of posterior pelvic tilt.
I had a teammate at BU who had issues squatting at 5’11 because of the extreme length of his femurs.
I had JB squat during his first few weeks as a freshman and his strength went through the roof.
He had never had a bar on his back before; the bulk of his leg resistance training coming from hill sprints and the speed work associated with track.
within a few sessions he was performing easy reps with 315. Not long after he began associating patella tendon issues with squatting so I said no big deal, we won’t squat anymore.
I don’t have him belt squat either.
he likes split squats with the rear foot elevated holding dumbbells; but we don’t go heavy on these. he’ll usually use 50-70lbs in each hand for 4-6 reps per set.
His legs are incredibly well muscled. He generates so much power from the speed and other field drills that he just doesn’t need to do much more in the weight room.
here’s a few videos of him pressing and performing sub-max 30yd sprints. On the press I kept him strict up to 335 then he asked to keep going with lifting his hips up and I said ok so he worked up to 375. Even with the hips coming way up I am continually blown away by how strong he is on the press considering his long lean arms.
What I probably said was that, other than barbell squats, we have guys who belt squat, leg press, and split squat. At any given time I have had one or more of my skill guys belt squat; it just seems as if those guys will opt for the leg press or split squat instead.
My two fastest American footballers, whom I referenced, are excellent testimonials to the point I’m making.
Both very fast, incredible vertical and horizontal jumping ability and neither squat. To add to the variability, one belt squats and the other performs a single leg squat with the rear foot elevated. The one who belt squats perform dumbbell floor presses and the one who single leg squats performs bench presses.