Post season workout

[Off Road]

My kid (10 years old) is completely taken over with football. He is absolutely loving it. He wants me to design him a workout for the off-season so he can come back next year and dominate the line. How fun is this going to be? I am enjoying the season, but now I'm looking forward to off-season too.

Here's what I've come up with so far. Please critique, comment, suggest, and remember he's only 10 years old and I'm not ready to put him under the bar for a couple of years.

Monday
Sandbag Squats
Sandbag Squat and Throws
Sandbag Side Lunges
Sandbag Shouldering

Wednesday
Run 1 lap
10 Yard Sprints
Shuttle Runs
Standing Long Jump

Friday
Push-ups
Fat Man Pull-ups
Light Shoulder Presses
T-handle Rows w/ Sled

Saturday
Sideways Sled Pulls
Backwards Sled Pulls
Forward Sled Pulls
Hill Sprints

Everything kept in moderation with slow progression

[BendtheBar]

I think it's looks great Off Road. I know if I was a kid I would have a blast doing that sort of stuff.

[MikeC]

Looks perfect.

[MikeM]

What's a fat man pullup? Err.. you know.... not like it's for me or anything...

[Soldier]

If he's on the line, I'd put in some squats with a pause at the bottom. I know when I first started playing, if we had to stay in a three point stance for too long my legs started to shake. Maybe he can squat with a sand bag, count 5 seconds, then explode up and throw the sandbag as high as possible. Stuff like that will also build synergy between the upper and lower body, which of course is important for a lineman.

Also, as a lineman, he'll have to take on players that already have momentum and stop them. Plyometric stuff that causes quick contraction will help with that. He could jump off a box and focus on absorbing the shock at the bottom, and also do some sort of pushups where his hands move from an elevated position to the ground in one movement, forcing his chest and arms to get used to absorbing some shock. These should also help to start strengthening his joints and connective tissue, which of course will help with injury prevention.

Of course, these are very specific things, and You program looks really great! I'm sure he'll love it and improve like crazy. I'm jealous, actually. My wife is pregnant now, and she's convinced it's a girl. I tell her to keep saying it's a girl, because I'm sure that the more she says it, the more likely it'll be a boy.

[jslep]

i agree with the plyo work. this can really increase fast twitch movement. many variations can be done from jump squats, repeated long jump, bounding, my favorite would be boxes.......list goes on. just limit the time spent on the ground for the exercise, down up as fast as possible.

step 2. drink as much whole milk as possible!

[Off Road]

Originally Posted by MikeM

What's a fat man pullup? Err.. you know.... not like it's for me or anything...

Haha...I use them for warm-ups before my pull-ups. My kids use them to develop strength to be able to do pull-ups. They are also called inverted rows. Here's a picture...

[Off Road]

And thanks to the rst of you for the support and added ideas. The team had a bye weekend last weekend, so we took the oportunity to do the upper-body gym day last Friday and the sled work last Saturday. Both my boys had a fun time with it.

Of course the best thing for him has been the three times a week football practice and the weekly games. His coaching staff is really great for this level of football. They really put on a good program. But the props really need to go to my kid for enjoying himself and putting in the effort.

When he first started the season (his first) he was absolutely pathetic. His coach told me the only reason he wasn't cut from the team was because he was so BIG. His line coach told him, "you'd be better off just falling down in a ball than that crap you're trying to do, at least the other guys would have to jump over you."

Since then he has worked his butt off and is now THE starting offensive tackle. He just came off of a fantastic game, hitting big, putting the D linemen on their butts, and even made a touchdown saving tackle after an interseption. That same coach said he's never seen a player make that much progress in his eight years of coaching.

My reason for telling you this, is not to brag about my kid, but to stress how important effort can be. That goes for every one of us in the gym. Effort and enjoyment can overcome a lot of natural ability. So my goal with the off-season routine for my son will be for him to enjoy it and put in the effort.

[Soldier]

Originally Posted by Off Road

Haha...I use them for warm-ups before my pull-ups. My kids use them to develop strength to be able to do pull-ups. They are also called inverted rows. Here's a picture...

Awe yes, inverted rows. I like supersetting them with light bench presses or pushups. Do pushups just short of failure, then inverted rows just short of failure, then switch back and forth 3 more times with no rest. Oh yeah, you'll feel that one in the morning.