weight training to mimic on the field actions

What kind of rep/set scheme would you recomend for the "ballistic bench press"? How safe and functional is the smith machine to use on that exercise? The smith maching only develops a very specific range of motion and can place added stress on the shoulder joint. Would doing the ballistic bench press in a power rack be more functional? I can place bars through the sides of the power rack to catch the bar in case I don't grab it...or better yet...maybe I can make my own contraption that would be just as safe and as functional as possible. It'd also be great if I had my own personal runningback I could practice tackling on

Thanks a million man! I really appreciate the great help you have been. I have been using a form of ballistic push ups lately, a hand-clap pushup, but I haven't been holding at the bottom for 15 seconds. Can you shed some light on why I should hold for 15 seconds? Ballistic pushups, like you explained, are a form of plyometrics for the upper body, and I was always told that you should explode up as fast as possible, keeping the amount of time your hands (or feet in lower body plyo exercises) are on the floor to a minimum. Thanks again for the info and the help!

one more question...while on the BFS program in high school, we were told that no more than 3 reps should ever be performed on power cleans, that it was a power movement, and we shouldn't do more than 3 reps...any opinions on that?

ok, thanks Power cleans have always been the most naturaly lift for me, and the easiest for me to gain strength on. I've been taking your advice and dropping the weight on cleans, focusing on speed and explosion. Sometimes it's frustrating to do less weight, but I know that it's more important the WAY you lift and not how much you lift. I read an article about Adam Archuletta and his training program in which he said, everybody benches, everybody squats, everybody cleans, it's a matter of HOW the movement is done that matters. I've been taking weight off of about all the exercise I do, focusing more on how the weight is lifted, and it's discouraging now, but when I get back to the weights I was using, but able to move it much faster and much more explosively, then I'm sure that feeling will subside. I'd much rather be able to bench 250 explosively than 315 very slowly. You never do any motions on the football field slowly, it's always explosive, and I think that the emphasis on bar speed and explosiveness will pay off immensely next season. I've also been picking too many exercises for too many sets in my workouts, I've cut down on the amount of work done, focusing on each rep of each set of each exercise being a QUALITY movement and I've already made very good gains. My only problem right now is that I can't seem to find anybody to work out with, somebody that will push themselves as well as me day in and day out, so most of my work is done myself. I believe that is a double edged sword, it teaches me to become extremely self motivated and to push myself, but no matter how much I would love to stay pumped up every day that I workout, there's just those days when I need somebody to push me, somebody that can see that I'm not pushing myself as hard as I think I am. Coming to this site helps a lot though, I can see other people that are trying to better themselves as athletes and coaches, and it gives me a little boost of enthusiasm. Thanks again!

----Linebackers are population control, they weed out all of the stupid people in this world. If someone is stupid enough to come into your area, then you as a linebacker must make sure he isn't able to breed and produce more stupid people!---- Coach Loftin

Thanks man, that is what I always try to think of when I'm not "feeling" it, focusing on my teammates that want to take my position. I've also singled out a few players on opposing teams already that are big time players, players that I must do well against. In high school it was a kid named Brad Haywood for me. The kid was a freak. 6-1, 235-240 FB/LB. ran a 4.55 40, benched over 400, squated 600, and power cleaned 350. He had full rides to nebraska, ohio state, purdue, ole miss, and the U of IL. He ended up going to IL (how I'm sure he wishes he had gone to OH state now, he'd have a Big 10 and national championship ring on his finger). The kid was just a phenomenon, and he played for my high school's rival. This high school rivalry could compare with auburn/alabama it was that intense. Every time I thought I didn't have any more left in me at the end of a set, I would say his hame out loud and I'd just start pumping out the reps. Just a huge rush of adrenaline, I hated that kid on the field, but off the field he wasn't too bad.. He helped me a lot in my training even though he was never present in the same weight room as me.

Isolation exercises can be a part of an athletes program, however in my opinion, they should make up an extremely small percentage of it. Situations such as rehab or bringing up a lagging bodypart are exceptions, however you should STILL be doing 90-95% compound (multi-joint) exercises.

Take into consideration, that by doing compound lifts, you will be working several muscles at a time. Pull ups are a good example. In a pull up, you are working the forearms and grip strength, the biceps, chest, the deltoids, traps, lats, mid and upper back, and even abs to some extent. Now imagine how many exercises you would have to do in order to work all of these muscles individually. Plus, by doing the compounds, you are teaching the body to work in unison.

As an athlete, you need to focus on what will make you stronger and more powerful. Too much isolations and slow lifting can lead to non-functional hypertrophy, which will be added weight to your body with little or no transfer to the playing field and not necessarily an increase in strength either.

Pushing (pressing), pulling, and squatting should make up the majority of your workout. You can add some hypertrophy focused lifts at the end of your workout, but only one or two. However, in choosing these lifts, think of what will help improve your bigger lifts, i.e. hitting the triceps will bring up your bench press, or hitting the hams will help in your squat.

Flys and the pec-dec really don't transfer well into athletics. They might help you look good for the beach this summer, but on the other hand, doing cleans and snatches and overhead presses will build huge traps and shoulders and give you that "power" look, which I think looks better anyways. You can still build a big chest doing inclines, dips and close grips (both flat and incline) if getting that "beach" look is what you're worried about. But...is THAT what you are focusing on? Or, are you focusing on bustin' chops come August? I would think that you are focusing on the latter, so in that case, focus on 3 or 4 compound movements per day with 1 or 2 auxillary lifts at the end of the workout.

Hope this helps, Greyhound.

J.H.

One more question, for now anyways! Should I do barbell and db overhead presses in the same workout? I'm only doing the standing barbell variety right now. What are your takes on seated overhead presses? I try not to use any sort of bench unless absolutely necessary, as in Bench Presses. You don't get to carry out a bench onto the field, so it seems if I'm training to improve my performance on the field, I should limit the amount of exercises that need a bench or seat to a minimum. Thanks again for all the help and I hope I never stop asking questions!

I know I have to get rid of the bodybuilding mind set. I believe a lot of younger men and kids get caught up in the bodybuilding way of training because it is the most easily accesible form or training for us. I don't know about other towns and cities across the US, but here in my town the only "fitness" magazines we have are the bodybuilding mags. So we read those, and basicaly I think we are taught that is the way to train, bodybuilders have big muscles and football players need to have big muscles, so we put two and two together and go with the bodybuilding mindset. I've realized this isn't the way to go however. I have to forget all the crap I've read in bodybuilding mags before and retrain my mind to work my body like an ATHLETE. I will say though that Muscle and Fitness has a good article on the "Best Physiques of the NFL" every year, they try to take sample programs from each players training program. The rest of the articles are crap though. I've learned that bodybuilding mags are fueled by marketing and not actual science of improving sports performance. I'm learning a lot now, but I have a long way to go still, but I enjoy the journey