I am looking for input on what is the best way to prepare a FB to pass the infamous 40 yd dash test and look good in position drills. The athlete is looking to start in his first year on the varisty and has just gained a good amount of weight and currently weighs 220 at 72inches. His strength numbers are bench 300 squat 1in above parallel 425x3 vertical 26in HT 40 5.0+. The goal is to have this athlete run sub 4.8 at all costs. He has about 13% BF now. He wants to remain heavy so that he may punish people while running traps up the middle.
My nephew is a senior at ACU in Abilene. His numbers were/are almost exactly yours. He has great hands and has been playing (actually watching from the side a lot) as an undersized tight end for three years. After three years of off season training (along side some outstanding ACU track athletes by the way) his numbers were nearly identicle to yours including height, weight, bench, squat and 40 time. His best vertical was in high school, 28", but the last two years of testing during football it had dropped to 24"
Tired of watching and not playing much, he asked me to help him with a new workout that would help improve his 40 time and improve his strength. Along with his brother, who is a 22 y.o. powerlifter I help, we put him on a combination of Joe DeFrancos WSFB and a Charlie Francis style acceleration and max v program. After 3 months his 40 time has dropped from 5.0 to 4.6high and his vertical increased from 24" to 31.5". He has put close to 50lbs. on his benchpress close to 100lbs. on his squat. I should add here that almost all of his lifting prior to this was higher rep or Oly lifts, he had never really done much powerlifting. His coach has watched him training (he trains on the football field, the track, and in the ACU weight room) and is so impressed with his hard work and improvements, he has told him that he will be moving him to FB where he should expect significant playing time. If you’re interested, I could email you his exact workouts so you could look them over.
I’d be quite interested to see those if that’s ok? That’s a big imprvement in speed, power and strength! Did he put on much weight doing that? Was his body composition altered?
Star61,
Could you email me the workout you designed for your nephew? I would really like to see how you set everything up. Thanks.
I would love it if you could send me that email too as long as its ok with you?
Sorry for the delay in response, baby shower and baseball games yesterday and today. I will put together the full workout and email it to anyone that wants it. Give me a day or two to compile everything. By the way, the nephew who is the brother (powerlifter) is sitting beside me and is saying that the 40yd time is now 4.6low, bench has increased by about 60lbs. from start, and squat around 125lbs. from start of this program.
Is the 4.6low handtime???
Wow thats amazing improvements email me it i would like to look at it to if possible.
Could you e-mail the workout program, I love to see the workout!
I would like that workout e-mailed to me.
Just post the damn thing, so this dont turn into a david w thread.
I’m not going to post it, but instead I will be emailing it to whoever wants it. The 4.6low, as well as the 5.0 he ran earlier, were both hand timed. That’s really irrelevant, since we’re looking at the improvement, not necessarily at the time itself.
While I’m organizing the email, I thought I’d lay out the key details for those who are impatient.
It’s not rocket science and nothing is revolutionary. Everything we do has been discussed on this board many times.
The workouts focus on five main components
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Making improvements in limit strength and posterior chain lean mass using a combination of power lifting movements centered around box squats, GHR, etc. on a WSFSB type plan, along with bodybuilding exercises to build lean mass, especially in the posterior chain.
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Improving maximal, explosive and reactive strength through depth drops and depth jumps. Nothing new or exciting, same as what’s been discussed on this board.
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Improving explosive start and acceleration through sled dragging (light ala CF as well as heavier for short 10m bursts and Prowler pushes), hill work (short very steep 10m bursts and steep 20m bursts, ala Walter Payton)
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Max V training ala CF
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Extensive tempo for recovery and aerobic capacity ala CF
Our results always come in a trifecta of big gains in the squat, big improvements in the 40 yard dash, and big improvements in vertical jump. We feel that the primary difference between this group, who all work out in the university weight room with other athletes and are making significantly better improvements than the others, is the intensity of the weight lifting, the jumps, and the focus on acceleration training. Most of the other athletes are doing sub maximal lifting with lower intensity, infrequent and poorly planned jumping, and sprinting without full recovery which is therefore also of lower intensity.
When these guys do the power lifting movements, they lift like power lifters, even rotating in bands and the rare set of chains, always looking to do a 3RM or 2RM PR. When doing mass movements, they lift like bodybuilders, not being afraid of going to failure. When they box jump, they try to set PRs in every jump every workout. When doing the track work, they train as if they were short sprinters training for the 60m sprint.
As I said, it’s not anything new, just very intense, all encompassing workouts. By the way, we do three weeks hard, sort of a wave, with volume and intensity creeping up from week 1 to week 3, then week 4 is dramatically lower…much less lifting, no jumps and half volume on sprints, hills and accelerations. The goal at the beginning of the next wave is to step up intensity with heavier weight, higher jumps, and faster times on the track. They have had no issues with injuries or overtraining. As long as PRs are being set somewhere, on the track, in the gym or on the jumps, they keep plowing ahead. If no PRs are set during a three week period, adjustments in exercises etc. are made the next cycle, but that has been rare. They are all making steady gains on a continuing basis.
I’m trying to organize the plan into Excel spreadsheets so I can email more details etc. If you want the details, make sure I have your email addy.
Tom Myslinski will be presenting at the NSCA shortly for those interested.
I would also like to have it mailed if possible!
PMed for a copy not sure if you sent it/or I got it, anyways if you could please