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We here at MuscleDog have heard the demand for football specific information, and we have answered. This series, titled “Building a Football Foundation” will give you workouts to build the tools you need to succeed as a football player, broken down into a position specific format. Even if you aren’t a football player, you can use these tips from the coaches at California Strength Academy, one of the premier athletic training centers in the nation, to build a body like your favorite football players (if you have a similar body type of course).

 

Part One of this series focused on the offensive and defensive linemen. Then in Part Two, we talked about the most athletic guys on the field, the so-called “skill position” players. Now in Part Three, we will deal with the violent hitters on defense, namely the linebackers and safeties.

 

"You take this helmet, and you put it right in his numbers. Drive it through his guts. I don’t want to see nothing but snot bubbles in his nose."

- Coach Winters (James Caan), The Program

 

As much as people love seeing a deep throw for a touchdown, or a punt/kick return 96 yards from the 6, the plays that draw the biggest reactions and the most "ooohhs" and "aaaahs" are the huge hits. A vast majority of the time, it is a linebacker or safety doling out these hits. Whether it’s a wide receiver going over the middle, a quarterback on a blitz, or a running back in the open field, these players are conditioned and paid to deliver bone-jarring hits that can be felt and heard in the stands.

 

Although things like instincts and tackling technique can make up for disparities in tools with some of these players, things like strength, explosiveness and lateral quickness are at a premium for these positions and top-end speed can separate the elite from the mediocre. Since explosiveness, speed, quickness and the ability to turn are so important, we like to stress doing a lot of work to improve flexibility and increase stability in the hips, knees and ankles more so than any other positions. The broad jump, bench press, 40-yard dash and shuttle drills are all very important for analyzing guys at these hard hitting positions.

 

While power and strength are vital for success at the positions, the thing that sets their workouts apart from other positions is the extra work on joint flexibility. We add in extra work on the knees and hips to ensure that they are flexible for turning and running with guys going downfield. This also improves the transfer of power from the legs and glutes through the rest of the body to increase explosiveness. For more info on how this can help increase speed and explosiveness, see Max’s article The Need For Speed. The choice of exercises also focuses on the hamstrings and glutes, along with the typical full body strengthening exercises seen in the other programs. We also do explosive plyometric work to increase explosion in all directions--be it up and down, side to side or back and forth.

 

Day 1: Strength Day

Swiss Ball Hip Work 5 minutes (work on increasing glute activation)

Light Power Snatch 5 x 2 (up to 70-80% max)

Heavy Power Clean 4 x 1 (up to 85-90% of max)

Back Squats 5-8 sets of 2 reps up to max, with 2-3 drop sets of 3 reps (90% of max)

Weighted Hyperextensions 4 x 5

A1. Ab wheel/Swiss Ball Rollouts 3 sets

A2. Seated Incline Bicep Curls 3 x 10

 

Day 2: Repetition Day

A1. Hip adduction 4 sets

A2. Hip abduction 4 sets

Full Cleans 5 x 3

Bench Press 5 x 5 (up to 75-85%)

Hip Thrusters 5 x 5

B1. Hanging Leg Raises 3 sets

B2. Arnold Press 3 x 10

 

Day 3: Plyometric Day

Power Snatch 10 x 1 80-85% of max

Light Back Squat 3 x 3 75% conditioned for explosive stuff

Box jumps 3 x 5 working up to highest box

Single Leg Bounding 3 x 5

Broad Jump 6-8 x 3

Bench Press 3 x 5

Plyo Pushups

Lying Medicine Ball Catch & Throw with partner standing on a box 3 x 10

Increase weight every week as progression by 5-10 lbs.

 

David Spitz – David is the founder of California Strength Academy in San Ramon. This former high school football player was also a USA Junior National Team thrower in track and field. He is currently working towards his CSCS certification. Clients he has recently trained include Chris Cooper (just resigned with the Oakland Raiders), TJ Ward (second round 2009 / 2010 NFL Draft pick) and Cameron Colvin (former Oregon Ducks and San Francisco 49ers player).