52-Week Football Training: Part 2

By Ben Cook

Thanks to an agreement with Human Kinetics Publishing, NFLHS.com is proud to present 52-Week Football Training, a book that provides the conditioning plan you need to maximize football-specific physical development and motivation. Players can gain the perfect balance of power, speed, and agility by implementing this proven in-season and off-season training plan.

Conditioning coach Ben Cook, who has worked with 27 players that went on to the NFL, includes more than 160 photos showing correct technique and nearly 200 exercises and drills.

The 52-week football conditioning plan presented in this book is one example of how to set up a solid, complete, and constructive exercise plan. The purpose of the program is to show you--whether you're an athlete or a coach--how to incorporate all the aspects of your daily workouts into a consolidated working exercise plan. Consider this program one of many methods of exercise planning. Some methods produce better results for specific athletes and teams because of the construction of the program and the times of the year when it applies certain training elements. I have constructed this workout plan with consideration for the football player and his team, with particular attention to the stresses the player might confront on and off the football field.

The following program--a 52-week macrocycle--has been designed around a typical collegiate football athletic and academic calendar. The macrocycle is a method of structuring and viewing a complete workout plan based on a long-term observation and goal-setting period. An Olympic athlete may choose to structure his macrocycle on a four-year observation period; the football player should structure the macrocycle on one full year of training. This is a realistic program for a collegiate schedule, but it can be easily adapted for high school student-athletes whose athletic and academic calendars and busy schedules are similar to those of collegiate players. The timing of each peak in intensity during the training year is affected by the academic schedule as well as the athlete's other sport season; this 52-week training plan accommodates those considerations.

The macrocycle is divided into in-season, postseason, and preseason periods. The program emphasizes different exercise elements within each of the periods. For example, as the in-season period approaches, the training becomes increasingly specific to football. In this way you can convert the basic strength you acquired in the weight room during the postseason period to more functional strength that you can apply to your skills on the football field.

The in-season, postseason and preseason phase divisions mark the route to the upcoming football season, providing points to observe whether progress has been made during that portion of the training. Some phases flow into the next with little, if any, break in the workout. Other phases are separated by a planned week off.

This 52-week plan also considers breaks in the academic calendar that occur in the in-season, postseason and preseason periods. Academic breaks create periods when you may be away from the training environment. Planning these breaks into the training program helps you maintain consistency in your fitness while away from school. The plan can use academic breaks as time off for recovery, or it can provide workouts for you to take home. Take-home workouts can prevent a loss in the physical improvements already achieved.

Each workout outlined in part I of "52-week Football Training" is made up of four main components:

1. Warming up and flexibility exercises
to prepare your muscles for the workout, increase your range of motion, and reduced risk of injury.
2. Resistance training
for increased muscle stability to protect you from injury as well as for increased muscular endurance, size, and power
3. Running and Conditioning
for aerobic fitness as well as speed, power and agility training
4. Skill training
for transferring your fitness into excellent on-the-field football play.

Before beginning the workout you should understand several points that can accelerate your progress. This book provides the structure of the workout, the types and order of exercises, the number of sets and repetitions for each exercise, and the amount of rest between each exercise. Each chapter in part I provides weekly workout programs for each week within that mesocycle. Each week in the mesocycle divides the workouts into three parts - resistance training, conditioning, and applied-skill training. Part II of this text explains and illustrates the specific exercises you will use throughout the 52-week program

At some point you may want to create your own workout. Understanding the structural components of a workout will help you in your endeavors.

Find more information about the book 52-Week Football Training by clicking here.

From 1990 to 1994, author Ben Cook was the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the University of North Carolina (UNC) football team, where his assistance helped 27 players reach the NFL. He is currently the strength coach for the Tar Heel basketball team, one of the nation's top programs.