Let’s get one thing straight about speed training for football. Most football strength and conditioning programs are doing 10’s-20’s-30’s on grass-in cleats-while wearing big baggy shorts vs track guys who may wear tights-spikes-track surface. When doing 10-30’s in the football condition you may only need 30-90sec of rest vs 60-180 in the track condition.
I think Charlie would say they are probably loaded down with CNS work from sprints (maybe even more than an average athlete like me because they have a much greater ability to burn their CNS through sprints) and all they have left is what you see them use in the weight room. Plus, sprinting is not a absolute strength sport so is there really a need to prove that they can express absolute strength in a 1rm…
Also it’s not like Tyson or Powell can’t bench 275-300 or so if they had to max out which is good for an athlete that does not have a huge requirement for absolute strength. Sure there are footballers who lift more, their sport requires a large amount of absolute strength at most positions.
One thing I go back and forth on in my head is whether lesser talented, average speed athletes should work more on strength and heavier weights than the gifted world class we are discussing. On one hand I think they should do pretty similar training to the world class guys realizing their results will fall in line with their natural talent anyway.
Because you are comparing results vs training. Lsu football does shitty training and get great results on the field so does that make the training great? If Michigan State or Michigan wins a championship on the football field will it make there training great? CFTS had sets of 10 for ol’s but I think Charlie changed with time as he learn that wasn’t the best way to do things.
What’s wrong with change? James had a system that worked 5-10yrs ago but he is much different today.
As Charlie once said, the lower level athlete can push the weights harder since they can’t tax the system as hard on the track vs elite sprinters.
What I was thinking. Figured I had read Charlie say that.
Your points are noted, however, lets just say if they were given time away from sprinting, none of the guys I saw could would be able to put up no more then 275 max. This is a FAR way from 450bp Ben did.
As far as your last statement, I believe the best thing a young player needs to do is just play his/her respective sport and as the body gradually matures,if you’re a good coach, you should be able to tell what areas you need to work on along the way. This takes into the account that everybody is different.
Not necessarily, look at Houston Mctear. He was only 5’7.
Anyhow, I do believe that a long legged sprinter can get way with doing less weight room work. Which, in a way, is the opposite of what you think rb34
No, we are saying the samething. Long legged athletes can get away with less strength work vs shorter athletes.
Hmm, let me think about that…
I just wanted to add this… I read this article and I thought I was pretty good.
The key, again taken from Charlie, is that the athlete should work towards their strengths.
Hence those who are less predisposed to excel in the weight room, by definition, have less room to improve via a weights emphasis and more room to improve at what they are predisposed to excel at- running, throwing, jumping. Doesn’t necessarily mean that these athletes should bag weight training, only that it makes sense to identify where they are able to generate the greatest outputs and take advantage of that form of training.
Alternatively, those who are more predisposed to excel in the weight room, by definition, have more room to improve via weights and that the weight training will play more a role in their speed development due to the greater output they are able to generate via weights; HOWEVER, this doesn’t mean that the weights are taken to the human performance limits because the end goal is still speed. So in this case, the weights should play more of a role, in comparison to those who aren’t as well suited for as much weights, until any further push in this area ceases to lead to faster sprinting.
Both cases also lead towards the benefits of L-S and S-L due to the greater capacity for CNS intensive work that is typically associated by those who get more out of weights.
The output factor is what I find interesting. By definition, the activities in which the athlete is able to generate the highest output, CNS wise, are the activities that make sense to predominate the training load volume.
In the case of those who are well selected for the sprints, this activity will always be on the track.
In the case of other athletes whose speed requirements do not extend as far as those of a 100m sprinter, ergo those who spend most of their time in early acceleration, there’s more of a case for more weights; hence the emphasis many American football coaches place on the weights.
One must be careful not to veer away from individualization or forget what actual characterizes competition activity, however.
In the case of American football, it is a mistake to prioritize weights across the board due to the wildly different positional demands and because the competition is characterized by movements, even those of the down line that are more strength oriented, that extend far beyond the scope of the general strength exercises (powerlifts and Olympic lifts) that are so over volumized in most programs.
I should note that the fellow who visited us not only mentioned that we were the only program, of the 26 that he visited, that performed true speed work; but also, that we were the only program, of the 26, that differentiated the training of players, in and out of the weight room, by position.
Ben is probably the only one who has gotten close to 450 bench. He just happened to be freaky strong and freaky fast.
I agree with you on everybody is different and the coach has to gauge areas that someone needs work on. I was mainly speaking in general for lesser talented guys. BUT I like more of what you guys discussed regarding bodytype and need.
Wow, you guys stopped posting. Lr400 you better keep hitting those weights. 
Talking about volume - end of summer game day!!!
Power Clean 50 sets/50 mins.
OL-DL 242 lbs./50x2 or 286 lbs./50x1
LB-TE-FB-220 lbs./50x2 or 264 lbs./50x1
All Others-198 lbs./50x2 or 242 lbs./50x1
Everyone-300 Sled Push 50 yds.
What program does that?
The “team” thing in football is taken to far. Hence the fact that everyone does the same lifting program.
Wake Forest.
You got that right Randy.
I know of more than one NFL head guy who is actually proud of the fact that every man is trained the same.
I have done something like 30x1 in 30 minutes at 65-70% max roughly. I didn’t find it too tough.
I fall in that tall athlete range so I’m going to machine weights like MJ and Bolt. 
Damn 30mins on one movement?