27 Quick Tips for Better Performance
No matter how good your football strength training program is, we all get stuck at some point. Sometimes you need to pull something out of your bag of tricks to get progress going again. It can be something huge, like a total program change. Or, it can be something as simple as mixing up the reps or adding a new strength training tool to your toolbox.
Here are 27 tips and tricks to get you closer to hitting your football strength goals.
1. Guns not growing? Try Arm Wrestler Curls. This partial movement allows you to overload the biceps and also build explosive strength, which will allow you to use more weight in your normal curl exercises. Sit down with bar in hands, place your forearms on your thighs, and explode the weight up. Go heavy. 3 - 5 sets of 4 - 6 reps.
2. "Choke up" on the bar when doing Dumbbell curls. The biceps' job is to turn the palms, so by placing your index finger closer to the plates on the dumbbell, the bi's will perform more work when supinating the hands. This may not seem like much, but it can make a big difference.
3. If you are having trouble putting on muscle, try slowing down the negative portion of the lift then exploding up! This won't do much for strength but it will lead to an increase in lean muscle.
Slow the negative down and then explode up as fast as possible.
4. Always lift the bar as fast as possible, no matter what the exercise or how much weight is on the bar. Lifting fast will train your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which will lead to a better physique and improved performance in any sport. Even if the bar is heavy, the intent to accelerate it as fast as possible is what counts.
If you concentrate on always moving the bar as fast as possible, you'll never have to worry about not being fast enough for football! This type of training is the secret on how to get faster for football...
5. Use chains and bands to accommodate resistance. The problem with lifting fast is that the body will decelerate the bar as it nears lockout to prevent bad things like your joints breaking. Adding bands or chains to the bar actually "adds" weight to the bar as you near lockout, so you must accelerate all the way through or you will miss the lift!
Another issue is that often we are strongest in the last 1/3 of a lift, so that portion of the motion is under-trained. Bands and chains will increase resistance as the chains come off the ground or the bands are stretched, thus making the entire lift hard.
6. Bands aren't just for explosive strength. Adding bands to the bar and fighting their pull on the way down will accentuate the negative and lead to more muscle gain. A great way to try this is to loop one end of a band around a barbell, and the other end around the bottoms of your feet (a position called stumping). Do curls as you normally would, but fight the bands on the lowering portion. You'll feel it the next day.
You can also stump the band around your back and transform the ordinary Push-up into a hard-core, muscle-building movement that will challenge even the strongest lifters. High rep push ups with bands added is an excellent way for a young football player to add quality muscle to his upper body.
7. Is your Deadlift or Squat hurtin'? Try performing some jumps before your pull or squat. Do about 5 jumps either onto a plyo box, on stairs, over a bench, or just do Vertical Jumps. I picked this up from Joe Defranco and it always seems to help get the big leg exercises going after hitting a wall.
One of my football players hit a 10lb P.R. in the Trap Bar Deadlift after weeks of stagnation after adding the jumps. Many others have seen similar increases.
8. Static stretching just before lifting heavy or performing athletically is not always a good idea...except for the calfs and hip flexors.
In most athletes, these two areas are notoriously tight and relaxing them prior to going all out can help increase performance. Football players are notoriously bad in this area!
Hold static stretches for 2 sets of 30seconds, each leg. For the hip flexors, the lunge stretch works best. Remember, tight hip flexors have been called breaks, so don't let them slow you down.
9. This one is a little odd, and might be hard to do if you train in a commercial gym, but, from time to time, try training shoeless. This will provide a much different stress for the legs and also help actually train the feet. It seems weird, but get a foot injury and you'll quickly realize the importance of foot health.
10. Go outside! Coach Dan John often talks about this. Why is anyone running on a treadmill when we have thousands of miles of beautiful landscape to sprint across? There is just something refreshing about going out into the elements and exercising. Don't let weather be an excuse either. Living in Jersey, I've trained in freezing rain and in choking humidity. If nothing else, sprint and run outside. Buy a Kettlebell and get out and do some swings and snatches and throws and anything else you can think of!
11. Video your lifts or routines as often as possible. The old saying in football is true in every sport; the film doesn't lie. If you are having form issues either on stage, in the weightroom or on the field, the video will expose and allow you to fix them.
12. Training is great, but at some point you've gotta' put it on the line. Obviously we all compete in football, but I'm talking about something more...
Think you're strong? Enter a Powerlifting or Olympic Lifting meet. Competing will help keep you focused, give you an idea of where you are, and inspire you to constantly strive to perform better.
13. Train in different types of shoes, especially when Squatting. Try Olympic Lifting shoes, Deadlift slippers, Chuck Taylors, and even boots with a heel. All will put a different spin on the squat and help improve strength and give more complete development in the legs. Most sneakers are terrible for lifting weights. They have too much cushion and the force that you should be applying to the floor through your feet is just lost.
14. If your Bench, Incline, or other pressing movements are stalling, try changing grips. Go wide, narrow, mixed or reverse. This can provide a subtle, but much needed change to get things moving.
15. Constantly change bars and handles on your pulling movements. Lat pulls can be down with a Lat bar, Rope, V-handle, Rotating Handles, D-Handles, Thick Bars, Spud Straps, or a towel. In fact, any cable exercise for the back can be trained on a huge variety of handles.
16. Change bars often on all exercises. Take the regular Squat and give it a wicked twist by using a Safety Squat Bar, a Hip Belt, Manta Ray, or Cambered bar. Powerlifters constantly change the type of bar they squat with and they are some of the best squatters on the planet. Use a thick bar for curls and pressing.
17. Have a big training session or meet coming up? Try this: 45 minutes pre-workout take 2 caffeine-free Spike, 3 L-tyrosine caps and either a strong cup of coffee or half a caffeine tab. This will inhibit serotonin, get the CNS fired up, and get your brain ready to train.
18. Sore in the middle of a heavy training cycle? After the first heavy session of the week take a hot Epsom salt bath, then perform 20-minutes of static stretching. The next session, rub either Blue Heat or if you are feeling risky, try the super hot Nicoflex, on whatever areas are still sore. It's best to wear long sleeves and sweat pants when doing this. Whatever soreness you have will be gone, along with quite a bit of sweat. Be careful with the Nicoflex in any areas that could burn, it gets super hot and the warmer you get, the hotter it becomes!
19. Super tired? Dragging yourself to the gym? Try everything listed in #17, take the Spike, Tyrosine, Caffeine, and take a serving of Power Drive then immediately take a 15 - 20 minute nap. This works best for those who have trained themselves to fall asleep quickly.
The nap provides much needed sleep and the supplements will start to kick in just as you wake up. Save this for when really needed.
20. If you are having trouble holding on to Deadlifts, ditch the straps and train your grip. Straps are ok for training sometimes, but don't neglect your grip strength! I realize it's not always sexy for a woman to be able to crush walnuts in her hand, but improved grip strength will help your biceps grow, give you better control in all exercises where the bar is in your hands, and, if you are an athlete, your hands can never be too strong.
You can train your grip in a variety of ways, but here are some favorites:
- Use Grippers
- Do Timed Claw Holds holding one end of a hex dumbbell
- Train with Thick Bars
- Use a thick handled Forearm Roller
- Do Power Holds: Load a thick bar and hold it at waist level for as long as possible
- Put a few plates together and perform a Pinch Grip Hold for time
Train your grip 1 - 2 times per week and you'll notice a huge difference in almost all other upper body exercises.
21. If you find your progress slowing but you have some extra time, try splitting some of your workouts in two. Instead of doing a long leg workout on Monday; do half Monday and the other-half on Tuesday.
This is inconvenient for most people long-term, but it can provide a much needed intensity boost. Instead of giving the movements in the second half of your session half effort, move them to the next day and go after it hard.
22. Get in shape to get in shape: even if you don't compete in Figure or don't play sports, it's always a great idea to include 1 - 2 GPP (General Physical Preparation). Do 20 minutes of any of the following, once or twice a week:
- Walking with a loaded sled or Prowler
- Walk with a weighted vest
- Run Hill Sprints
- Swing a Sledge Hammer (10 - 1 minute rounds, each side)
- High Rep Kettlebell Swings with a light weight
So many people, athletes included, just run out of gas during hard training; train your GPP and you'll be able to power through even the toughest of training sessions.
23. Reading and learning is great. But, learning without applied action is worthless. Don't be one of those lifters who spends months planning the perfect diet or program, all the while doing nothing! Part of the fun of this whole lifting thing is to learn along the way. Read, study, apply. Too many young football players and lifters spend so much time planning the perfect strength program that they do nothing at all. Don't be that guy!
24. Shake up your supplements. Supplements are just that; a way to supplement your nutrition plan. But, just as we tend to continually return to the workouts we like time after time; most of us stick to the same supplements as well.
Remember, you don't have to stick to the conventional wisdom. I had a football player have tremendous results using Hot-Rox Extreme while bulking. Try new products and track results closely.
25. Speaking of supplements, don't think that only high-tech products are result producing. Products like ZMA (maybe the most underrated supplement in the world), Creatine, Fish Oil, and Powerdrive may not promise to add 20lbs of muscle in 6-minutes, but they will provide you with outstanding long-term results.
26. At least once per training cycle, do something completely off plan. Use much higher reps, do exercises you don't normally do, or perform the entire workout as one giant super set.
Yes, long term these plans might not be the best fit for your goals, but, even when we make a concerted effort to change our plans often, we can fall into a rut. The best thing to do is go out and do a program that is so unlike your current program that you are almost scared to do it! As Charles Staley once said, "The best program in the world is the one you're doing now."
You only have to do this for a day, so no need to fear. Actually, this is a great time to utilize tip #10 as well. Take a Kettlebell outside and do high reps or throw it like you are training for the Highland Games!
27. Hire a coach. I admit I'm biased on this one, but sometimes you have to look to a professional for guidance. Even if you are quite advanced, having someone else who knows their stuff evaluate part of your training can pay off huge.
I recommend hiring someone for an area that you are either deficient in or just hate doing. For example, as much as I preach flexibility to my athletes, I slack off on stretching. Well, until it gets bad and my deadlift starts to look like a demented teeter-totter!
In that case, I hire someone who stretches me (either through Yoga or by a massage therapist). See, it's easy to blow off stretching while watching "How I Met Your Mother," but when I'm paying someone to do it, you can bet I'll be stretching! (Cheapness is a great motivator)
To get Free Football Training Reports "7 Steps to Insane Game Speed," and "14 Must-Do Exercises to Increase Football Speed," please visit FootballStrengthWorkouts.com Increase Football Speed and explosivefootballtraining.info/2010/12/09/how-to-get-stronger-for-football Get Stronger for Football.
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