Agility Drills for OL/DL ?

Other Sports Football
1

I am training a local HS this summer, and am in charge of roughly 120-140 kids ages ranging 14-18.

I am using a very simple but effective set up based off CFTS. Here’s the outline for the first 3 weeks. All work done on grass. Keep in mind the skill guys go from 8:30 a.m.- 9:15 a.m. and the OL/DL go from 9:20-9:50.

Monday- Speed (Skill players up to 300 yards total volume, OL/DL up to 200 yards total volume) The longest the skill players will run out to is 45 yards. The longest the OL/DL will run out to is 30 yards.
Tuesday- Tempo; Skill players (1400 total yards, reps ranging from 80 yards to 200 yards at any given time) OL/DL (700-800 yards, reps ranging from 40 yards to 70 yards at a given time).
Wednesday Anaerobic Conditioning- I was thinking of setting up 6-7 different stations of agility circuits for the skill players, having them break up into 15-20 kids per station and working for 5-6 minutes at each station. That way each kid can get in at least 3-4 solid reps if the drill only lasts 7-8 seconds per rep. Is this a good idea, or should this day be another day devoted to linear speed? I am at a bind with what to do with the lineman on these days also… They don’t need to do all the cuts and plants like the skill players are doing… Thoughts? Explosive Med Ball work here for them?? Mirror Drill? Jump rope? Bag Drills?
Thursday Tempo; Skill guys- 1000-1200 total yards, rep ranges from 60-100 yards each. OL/DL 600-800 total yards, rep ranges from 40-50 yards each.
Friday Speed/GPP or Off…

Thoughts? My main concern is with Wednesday and the OL/DL… Perhaps it would be best to give them the day off Wednesday for weights only?

2

Altought I don’t know sh*t about football, I would post mine opinions

  1. Why would you do position specific training? For some guys load would be too much and for some too small. Some will be overtraining, and some undertraining. I would suggest creating groups of players with simmilar characteristics. For tempo you could check their 40yard dash and calculate 75% of speed for running velocity, you could also do YoYo intermittent recovery run and based on testing result plan total tempo distance and recovery between reps (greater distance in YoYo greater total volume and shorter recovery time). Based on bodyweight and morphology rep distances can be planned. Bigger athletes should then run less both total volume and both distances used (as you have suggested)
  2. Instead of agility drills I would use tag games and small sided games. You have plenty of them… organize something, it can be handball (also with medballs), it can be ‘rugby’, etc, etc. This way you will have both metabolic effect and agility training but in open situations
  3. For form running drills, agility ladders, lateral movements technique (shuffles, etc), they are all low intensity and can be done on tempo days or even after a warm up.

Thus the week can have this form
Monday: Speed, Plyos and lower body strength training (maximum effort)
[b]Tuesday:[/b]Explosive medballs, form running drills (technique), agility ladder, line drills (low level plyos), SL&DL jump and stick, Tempo
[b]Wednesday:[/b]Tag games or small sided games. Medball circuit, plate circuit, dumbell or barbell complexes circuits, bodyweight circuit
[b]Thursday:[/b]Tempo
[b]Friday:[/b]Speed, plyos & upper body strength training (maximum effort)
[b]Saturday:[/b]Upper body repetition work, sled work, tug of war competition, rehab work
[b]Sunday:[/b] OFF

Hope this helps.

3

Medballs would be great as Duxx suggests. I would ditch the anaerobic work altogether. I think as well that the high intensity days that Duxx has one after the other would be fine since at this level the intensity isn’t so high that they would need a full 48 hours to recover from it. The tough part is keeping them entertained.

4

your setup look good but i really wouldnt do form running drills, i think its waste with the bigger guys esp during the summer when the focus should be getting to play the game

5

Then kick it out… the training plan is based on training objectives, athletes needs and training context. I put it because he mentioned having 14yo kids…

6

You should definately do footwork with the lineman. Most guys who played only OL/interior DL their entire career never develop any footwork(which is very important) because they were always sent off to hit sleds. Depending on the level of the athletes(and this is maybe why you should try to split them into two groups depending on skill level) You might want to try basic footwork drills for kids who struggle with footwork and have a progression to more open skill oriented drills such as mirror drills and various tag drills. With the tag you might want to keep the boundaries close since it will be a little more like what is happening in a game. Also since it is a competition it will keep the kids motivated during the drill.

Also, what westside does for GPP is also an option if you feel that they need the conditioning.

7

thats what i told him just do some simple footwork stuff to develop there foot work and movement eff for example - jumprope, dots, ladders, bags, line hops etc.

8

I agree with the footwork. Their position is to defend against recievers running holes but also to tackle the QB if possible. Quick feet !

9

Thanks for the replies guys. The hard part for planning is that…

1.) I only have 6-7 weeks before they have to put the pads on and are ready for camp.
2.) It is hard to really asess each individual (like I said earlier, I have a very short period of time with them), although I could group them by times when doing speed/tempo, i.e. guys that are sub 4.6 one group (I don’t even think we have one that is!), guys that are 4.7-4.9, 5.0-5.2, 5.3-5.6, etc… Then have all the frosh together, etc. I had them do a mild tempo session on Tuesday and some were struggling hard to finish. I cut it short because there were a few that just couldn’t take it just yet.

3.) I don’t have any say in the weights set up, so either way the strength coache(s) are doing their thing in the wt room with the guys. I think they are doing an upper/lower split now (m-t-th-f).

I’m also taking into consideration that some may not be able to take the workload, while others may breeze through it. It is difficult in that I am trying to appeal to the masses with a broad range of kids, varying from 14-18.
My goals for them are…

1.) To get them faster plain and simple.
2.) Get their general fitness levels up and conditioning on par so they are good to go when it comes time for double days, etc.

I just have a bit of a harder time planning for the big guys as I am a skill player myself.

So what it looks like we’re suggesting is…

Monday- Speed (Skill no more than 300 yards, OL/DL no more than 200)
Tuesday- Ex. Med ball, Agility Ladder, Tempo
Wednesday- ?? (Today for example, I set up 6 diff agility circuits, at 3 min. a circuit with 45 sec rest in bt each, 15-20 kids per group for the skill guys; Lineman did jump rope, med ball, bag drills, and low int plyos…)
Thursday- Tempo
Friday- Speed (Skill 280-300 yards, OL/DL 150-200 yards)

I know that it shouldn’t get too complicated (trying to keep it as simple as I can); But it is hard when I do not have control over the weights.

Open for more suggestions/critiques. Thanks so far! :cool:

10

bro you only have 6-7 weeks not sure how much speed development you can get done in that time, most people start to focus on conditioning and getting ready to play the game during the summer months, i would strongly recommend you run the kids 3 days per week focusing more on conditioning:

Phase 1: strength train 4x
day 1: interval 40’s
day 2: pattern runs
day 3: 110’s

Phase 2: strength train 3x
day 1: agility circuit
day 2: 110’s
day 3: agility circuit

11

Here is an old thread that I found about working out OL and DL. Hope it helps.

http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=6537&highlight=football

12

that program is all linear these big kids need to develop coord, movement eff and footwork and there coaches will want them to be in shape. i bet they will have some kind of condit test also.

13

  1. You don’t control the weights, but do you know what they are doing? Can you influence weights at all?

  2. I don’t know if duxx realizes this, but lineman are different from “skill” players (always hated that term) by body type so this distinction is useful.

  3. What are the weaknesses and injury risks you see? I actually think having the kids do some of the basic Feldenkrais stuff could help with overall body awareness and flexibility. Maybe your groups are too large to make that practical though.

14

I know that this week they have done lower on monday, upper on tuesday, so I scheduled speed on monday, tempo on tuesday, etc. I am trying to base it around the weights best I can.

I don’t really see much injury risk with what I’m doing, the volume isn’t too high, even for the younger kids. I have cut all planned sessions short every day, because even what I had planned out was wearing some people out. The lineman very rarely sprinting for more than 20 yards, and the bulk of it is non-linear. I have also been stressing hip mobility work as part of the warm up for both groups.

Some of the weaknesses I have noticed…
1.) General lack of conditioning, mainly in the younger kids (frosh-JV).
2.) Inability to hold sprint form for very long (again, the young kids). This is why I have cut the sessions short so far.
3.) The lineman did very well in the tempo session, I was pleasantly suprised, even the “skill” players did very well at 1400 yards. I had about 7 or 8 of the younger kids sit out after about 900 yards also.

I don’t really know how much say I could have w/ weights, but I do know a few things of the stuff they are doing is not necessary IMO. But alot of it is good though (core lifts focus, squat, clean, dl, etc.) They are also incorporating alot of med ball and explosive med ball work as well, so that is taken care of right then and there. IMO it is a pretty decent training schedule for high school kids. When I was in HS, we were doing "“ladders” every day, sometimes up to 12 in one session. 1 ladder = 400, 200, 100 with very short recoveries. Now THAT was just uncalled for. And don’t even get me started on the weights program! :cool:

15

With due respect, when is he going to find time to do it anyway? I don’t know what is happening in training camps but I am sure they are not doing ‘quality training’
Since wrcortese wrote

I am just reading a book ‘The interval trainig manual’ by Tom Kelso (coaches choice), which deals with planning intervals with large number of athletes based on 40yard dash time regadless of position played. But I would rather test them with Yo-Yo test (you can test 10 athletes at the time) and then make training groups.
Anyway, I would spend 4-5 weeks on speed, power, strength and tempo, and then spend additional 2-3 weeks on more intensive conditioning. Easy come, easy go…
Juggler, I am familiar that some positions are Bigger Athletes… Yet again, if the positional requirements are the sole of individualization, within positional training some guys will overtraing and some will undertrain. Altought I agree that those big guys should run less.

Wrcortese, why not doing your OL/DL split, but having three distingc groups within?

16

with due respect in american football quality speed work is done during the winter/spring jan-may maybe early june. he only have 6-7 weeks no time for yo yo ding ding testing. the interval program i gave above is what i got from usc head sc chris about 4yrs ago and seem to work really well without overtraining your athletes.

17

Sorry, maybe you are right cause I am not familiar with your competition calendar.
Actually, Yo-Yo test can be finished very soon and can be done on day one of prep period.

18

No problem, not maybe but im correct when i say most schools in the states never do any quality speed work and if they do its done btw jan-may, in summer there speed work will be done in there dym warmup period…

Season Calendar:
Inseason: Aug-Jan for good teams, bad teams could finish there season in Nov.

Offseason: Nov or Jan-March or April depending on the school.

Spring ball: March or April - April or May (spring ball last about 4 weeks.)

Summer training: Late may or early june, Ncaa rule can only have 8weeks of summer training

NCAA Limitations:

The NCAA allows strength coaches to work with players eight hours per week outside of Spring practice.

We must give our players eight weeks off of required workouts from January through May.

During Summer we get eight weeks to train the players with one week off.

Mandatory two month break during January-May months