09.10.04
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Click
here to Ask Joe about training. If you send a
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Q: Coach
D,
I just discovered your website
and I’m extremely impressed. The information
you have given away is just incredible, and much appreciated!!
You’re doing a great service to coaches throughout
the country.
Now onto my question. I’m
a high school football coach in north Jersey and I
recently saw you on channel 10 news performing “strongman”
training with some of your clients. It looked intense!
But, all of the athletes interviewed were in college.
My question is have you ever implemented this type
of training with high school athletes? I’d like
to try this with my kids next year but I want to make
sure it’s safe.
Thanks for your time coach!
Coach Matt
A: Matt,
I have been experimenting with “strongman”
training with my athletes for many years now. I must
admit, though, this was the first year that it really
became a major part of our off-season program. When
you implement this type of training with your “traditional”
weight room work, speed & conditioning and flexibility,
the results are astounding! We got a lot of “press”
this year for incorporating this type of training
into our program and I predict that next everyone
in our area is going to be doing it (or at least trying
to do it).
And yes, we implemented this training
with many of our high school football players as well.
Remember that there is risk involved in any form of
physical activity, but if you implement the program
properly it is no more dangerous than any other form
of training. We had over 100 high school, college
and professional athletes perform strongman training
this summer without one injury! The only side effect
of the training was that our athletes got bigger,
stronger, faster, better-conditioned and mentally
and physically tougher! The most serious “injuries”
were bruised biceps from flipping the tire and bloody
hands from heavy farmers walks.
Check out the pictures below. These
were taken at Bergen Catholic high school this summer.
We were hired by Bergen Catholic to run their football
team’s off-season strength & conditioning
program. These pictures were taken at the Strongman
Contest that we held on their last day of training.
Keep in mind that these “kids” are all
in HIGH SCHOOL!!!
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16-year-old Dan Larkin had the longest keg
toss!
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The #1 high school linebacker
in America (Brian Cushing) flips the 500 lb.
tire!
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Junior defensive back, Joe Dottino, finishes
off his farmers walk.
(The kid is shredded!)
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Greg DeMarco competes in
the one-on-one tug-of-war competition.
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If these pictures don’t motivate
you to train like an animal, nothing will!
Joe D.
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Q: Mr.Defranco,
Word about your great free
website have spread like wildfire through Croatia.
Every basketball player worth his salt uses your methods
to jump higher and run faster!!!! And here we produce
some great b-ballers....Tony Kukoc, Dino Radja, Gordan
Giricek and others went to NBA...HOPEFULLY WITH YOUR
METHODS MANY MORE WILL COME SOON!!! There is even
group of your fans with black t-shirts with big letters
DEFRANCOUSLY HARDCORE flipping logs and tossing med
balls at Jarun (big park near lake in southern part
of Croatian capitol Zagreb)!!! We are all looking
forward to new articles!!
Ivan
A: : Ivan,
Thanks for the feedback and support! You guys seem
like you’re really dedicated (and a little nuts!)
Hopefully I’ll have some new
articles soon. I apologize for not submitting any
new articles and slacking on my website updates this
summer. It’s not like I was partying all summer,
though. This has been the busiest summer of my life!
Since most of my college athletes have gone back to
school and the NFL season is underway, I should have
a little more free time. Look for new articles coming
soon!
Joe D.
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Q: Joe,
Love the site! One quick
question: It seems as if I’ve read about every
aspect of conditioning for football players on your
site with the exception of cardiovascular endurance.
You’ve written extensively about strength, flexibility,
speed, etc., but never about endurance. What gives?
Don’t you want your players to be in shape?
I know you’re a busy guy but I’d love
to hear from you.
Thank you.
Rick
A: Rick,
The reason that I don’t write about cardiovascular
endurance is because it is NOT required in the sport
of football. Don’t get me wrong, it’s
extremely important to be in great shape to play football,
but you don’t have to be in cardiovascular
shape. It amazes me how many coaches still don’t
get this concept. I saw it AGAIN this summer. You
see, the conditioning test for 99% of the college
football players that we trained this summer was either
the 300-yard shuttle or sixteen 110-yard sprints performed
in a specific time. These are the two most popular
tests that college strength & conditioning coaches
are administering when their kids report to camp in
August. These tests apparently show the coaches what
players are in good football shape and what players
are out of shape…Give me a break! It pisses
me off because, like any other test, if you want to
do well on these tests you must prepare for them.
Obviously, kids want to report to camp and show their
coaches that they prepared for the upcoming season.
The problem is that preparing for these two bullshit
tests can be counterproductive to the development
of strength, speed and power. This, in turn, becomes
counterproductive to your development as
a football player! Wake up coaches! The average football
play lasts about 4 seconds with a 30-second rest between
plays. During these 4 seconds all hell breaks loose!
You must train your body to be fast, strong, explosive
and change direction quickly. You also must be able
to perform repeated bouts of this “mayhem”
over and over during the course of an entire game.
In other words, repeated bouts of explosive activities,
coupled with brief rest intervals, is a great way
to condition football players. This is the logical
way to condition for football. Unfortunately, most
coaches aren’t logical. They’re ego-maniacs
who get off on making kids puke.
I’ll leave you with this final
thought: Growing up I idolized Earl Campbell of the
Houston Oilers. His combination of size and speed
amazed me. He ran around guys as easily as he ran
through them. He was also one of those running backs
that got stronger as the game went on. To me, he was
the ultimate running back.
Strangely enough, it was publicized
about how Earl Campbell always failed the conditioning
test when he reported to camp each year. At that time,
the Oilers conditioning test was a 1 mile run. The
media was always baffled at how such a great running
back was in such poor “condition”. Well,
I’ll let you in on a little secret. The exact
reason why Earl Campbell failed the mile run was also
the exact reason why he was a Hall of Fame running
back. In other words, the energy systems that are
required to be a great football player are the exact
opposite of what’s required to run a mile!
It’s one thing for coaches
to be “behind the times” in the 1970’s
and 80’s when Earl Campbell played; but there’s
no excuse for being “behind the times”
in 2004.
I’d rather be in the Hall of
Fame than run a 6-minute mile!
Joe D.
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Q: Joe,
You have a great site, very
imformative. I was wondering what your
opinion is on 20 rep breathing squats for small athletes
trying to build size and strength.
Thanks.
John
A: John,
Although I don’t do much high-rep squatting
with my older athletes, I feel that high-rep squatting
can be beneficial for young, skinny athletes who are
looking to gain weight. Check out my article, “Westside
for Skinny Bastards”, for some
more detail on my application of high-rep training.
Also, remember these 3 things:
-
Squat with proper form! There is nothing worse
for your low-back and knees than improper squat
form – especially when you’re performing
a lot of reps!
-
Eating is just as important as squatting!
If you want to gain weight, you must do both.
-
Don’t overdue it! It’s very easy
to over-train and fry out your adrenals if you
perform too many sessions of high-rep squats.
Listen to your body!
Joe D.
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