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[James_Smith]

@Calis

This has turned into a really interesting thread, thanks for all the info James.

I really like the look of your programme in general. One thing is was wondering about though is the above quote. I understand where you are coming from in that general strength is one of the easiest qualities to develop in your athletes as a strength and conditioning coach. I believe that most football S&C coaches put far too much emphasis on it at the expenses of other elements of their programmes. However I am slightly surprised at just how little emphasis you seem to put on it.

Simply looking at it on paper I would have thought that only the most gifted athletes would develop the strength and size necessary for football without more emphasis on weight training. Obviously this is not the case as your athletes are doing tremendously well.

I would assume that the answer probably lies in the other elements of your programme such as sprinting/jumps/med ball work driving the progression of weights and allowing you to use lower volumes/intensities. Would you agree with this?

If you had a player come into your programme that was skilful but much weaker than they should be for their position, do you think a greater emphasis on strength work would be necessary, or would the way your programme normally works be sufficient to bring them up to the desired strength levels?

Thanks for you time.

When I make statements regarding the ease of general strength development and how it only plays one component in the global process- this doesn’t mean that it isn’t addressed.

For those who arrive here underdeveloped in this regard I certainly make it a point to bring them up to speed. Same goes for guys that have been here and came here underdeveloped.

when I state that general strength training isn’t emphasized, my point is that I view it as just one of the many necessary variables in the process. I don’t get rah rah about it and more often than not the environment in the weight room is nothing like what we see in so many weight room videos of other collegiate programs. This is not to state that our training atmosphere is like an insurance seminar; however, our guys know that we’re not winning games in the weight room.