Speed/Strength Workout

Expert Discussion Advanced Sprint Training
1

Hello all, this board is a great resource of info. I am planning on a new strength and speed routine, just as a hobby, and wanted to get the board’s feedback. I would like to start planning a lot of recreational football in a few months so my main focus will be on short sprints and strength. A little background first, I am 28 years old, played free safety for a D1 school in college, so have a pretty good understanding of what I need to do. My current strength levels are decent, although a little out of whack. I have been concentrating on the bench press quite a bit the last few years, entering a couple of competitions, and neglected the squat and deadlifts.
Anyway, my current stats and strength levels are…
HGT-6’0
WGt- 210
Bench- around 400, can do 365 for 3 reps
Squat- around 375, can do 325 for 3 reps
Deadlift- around 350, can do 315 for 3 reps
Power Clean- around 240-250, can do 205 for 3 reps, technique isn’t perfect yet, so I may do hang cleans for a while

When I was playing ball, I was running consistantly in the 4.5 range for the 40, 20 yard was about 2.6, and my vertical leap was 36 inches. My currne tvet is 35 inches, although I haven’t ran the 40 recently, but I’m sure it isn’t quite as fast. I have been doing a lot of sprinting, but not a sophisticated program. I used to do overspeed, but I ditched that because it was giving me groin problems. Sorry for the very long post, but I wanted to give as much info as possible so you guys can get a better grasp on what I am trying to do. After reading just about every archived post on this board, here is the program I came up with for the next 10-12 weeks… there are 2 main workouts that I will be doing, rotating between the one you see for Monday and the one for Wednesday, so 1 week I would be focuing on the start 2 days, and top speed 1 day, and the next week it would be the opposite
Monday-Speed
20 yard sprints from a 3 point stance, 2 sets of 5 reps, with 3 minutes between reps
2-3 plyo exercises, 5 reps per set
Lifting
Squat, 3 sets 2-4 reps, between 80-95 %
Explosive Bench Press 6 sets 3 reps, 50-60%, 1 minute rest
Power Clean- 3 sets 2-4 reps, 80-95 %
Rows- 3 sets 5 reps 80-90%
Abs

Tuesday
Tempo, 10 100 yards runs at <75%, 1 minute res, lots of stretching

Wednesday-Speed
sprinting, same as monday, only running flying 20’s instead of from a dead start
lifting
Explosive Squat, 6 sets 2 reps, 50-60%, 1 minute rest
Bench Press, 3 sets 2-4 reps, 80-95%
Snatch Grip DL- 3 sets 2-4 reps, 80-95%
Push Press- 3 sets 2-4 reps 80-95%
Abs

Thursday
Tempo, 10 100yd sprints at < 75%, 1 minute rest, lots of stretching, or work in the pool

Friday- speed, strength, same as Monday

Sat, Sun, off

My main questions are :

  1. Can you get just as good of results doing speed and strength trainining 2 times per week with extra rest days, or is 3 days better with fewer rest days?

  2. I know doing explosive bench and squat isn’t really necessary with all of the speed work, but I am a little leery of being able to recuperate doing heavy Bench and squat 3 days per week, with only one rest day between. Could I alternate betwen doing Flat Banch and Incline Bench, and maybe Squat and Snatch Grip Deads, which would look like this…
    Week1
    Mon-Squat, Incline, power Clean
    Wed-Snatch grip deads, Flat Bench, Snatch
    Fri- Squat, Incline, Power CLean
    Week 2
    Mon-Snatch Grip deads, Flat Bench, Snatch
    Wed-Squat, Incline, Power clean
    Fri-Snatch grips deads, Flat Benc, Snatch

Thanks everybody!

2

Your program looks pretty decent, I question the length of time you plan to spend on the progrom. 10-12 weeks is a pretty long time, you might want to think of more of a 3-1-3 approach.

But the reason i responded is I wanted to ask you, since you have played D1 football, and have had time to look back and evaluate your career. What tools do you feel make a top notch player? Like physical, and mental attributes.

3

Thanks GeneticFreak for responding, I was actually planning on doing the 3-1-3 plan, I have been doing a similar approach with my training for a few years now. I have used the Westside routine like that with some good success, where I will focus on one main move for both squat and bench for 3 weeks, go lighter for a week, then change the move.

In my experience, from playing at a top flight school (Although I must admit I didn’t play much) the thing I noticed is the majority of the players who ended up going to the pros all had great talent when they got to school. They all had the natural speed and instincts. One guy who got there as freshman was a 210lb linebacker/safety, and when we left for the NFL his senior year he was a 260 lb defensive end. He had always had the speed and agility, he just worked hard and put on the size and didn’t lose a step. I had decent speed when I got there, but everyone was extremely fast, and most were big too. So I had to work extra hard to get to where most of these guys were at with just natural ability. And I had only played one year of ball in high school, so I was still learning the game. Also, most of the guys that made it to the next level were very coachable. They were the ones asking all the questions in the meetings and making sure that their technigues were sound. At most big D 1 schools where football is life, everyone is big, strong, fast, and quick, so the players who are the most prepared and technically sound were the ones that had a lot of success. Most of the postion coaches were very fundamentally sound, and the kids who were willing to listen to them learned a lot.