Strength & Conditioning for footballers

Khan has nearly achieved D Grade

He has now deadlifted 182.5kg,cleaned 100kg,PP 100kg, bencher 100kg

We will try a big squat on Tuesday. He did 100 kg for 5 x 5 today

Strong kid, maybe steal him from footy and get him into PL.

He gets paid to play footy.

We had 3 boys pull 180kg today. All 3 had massive issues locking out the weight, the last few inches were insanely hard.

As I've stated earlier, they appear to be very weak in the hips.

I have a feeling a stack of them will pull 200kg shortly, a few more weeks on the KB complexes will have them primed.

This was the first session they deadlifted, previously we had only used the trap bar.

And previously no lifting experience?

Very little, at a health spa, nothing like this, thats why most boys bench 100kg and squat 60kg.

I've told them I expect them to be squatting 140kg x 1 by season start.

If the team as a whole can get 140kg squat, 100kg bench and 180kg deadlift, then I will be very pleased.

Some boys will go well above these marks and some of the others may struggle.

Today was their first deadlift session and they confirmed what I had stated earlier, weak hips.

It will be a MONSTER KB session on Monday

Paullie said:

And previously no lifting experience?

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Khan has been lifting 6 days a week since I moved in, hence the improvement.

He's the boy Max and I suggested to Goosey that he have a break, I thought Khan was going to cry lol

His break included doing the KB complex 3 times that night rather than once

He did the Keg Medley twice yesterday as well.

He is thriving in the 6 days a week training atmosphere, this also includes 3 times a week running.

I'll find out his beep test and 3km time trial numbers from the start of the program

So with health spa training a first time deadlift at 180kg. FML.

Khan, 6 days a week plus 3 days running, is this something you would recommend as his coach?

Paullie said:

So with health spa training a first time deadlift at 180kg. FML.

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Not to brag but first time I deadlifted at 17, pulled 200kg@82.

One reason why I'm probably biased against the DL. Some guys show massive strength without experience. Whereas its hard to squat 2.5-3 times bodyweight the first time you ever squat.

You right stop f u c k e n bragging. hehe. That's impressive mate.

May I ask, what training experience and what were you doing for work at that time?

Do I think 6 days a week is too much?

Did you see his results?

I'm not there to f u c k spiders Paul.

In my humble opinion, most lifters make poor progress because they truly have no understanding how much the body can take, and invariably never train hard enough.

I know guys would rather be told they suck in bed than they train slack, its just my opinion.

What does the 6 days entail though?

Paullie said:

You right stop f u c k e n bragging. hehe. That's impressive mate.

May I ask, what training experience and what were you doing for work at that time?

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It was first year uni, as the uni gym was the first gym I ever lifted in with a platform. At that time no work. IIRC my training prior to that was straight out of mags, but with a crap ton of cardio. I was 105kg (not quality) in year 12, lost 20 odd kgs by start of uni.

Markos, of course, excellent results mate. It's just that in your newsletters and on the forum you do suggest 3-4 days on weights is enough for anybody. This young footballer also has running and training. It's just a question, so don't get defensive. I know that personally, with three days I train there's no way I could even do a fourth day, as it is right now I'm finding my body is getting run down and becoming prone to sickness. I'm sure you don't think he can train long term like that?

Mahoney, you must be gifted mate. What are your lifts now?

A little history lesson for Paul.

When Max first got serious, we couldnt keep him out of the gym. The clients used to call him the moth, he was attracted to light. He would do multiple sessions a day, every day.

He would train with Tim, then Jimmy, do a session on his own. Every single day. His body adapted and recovered. He was also playing soccer and basketball (domestic) at the time.

This was the period he made his quickest gains.

I am of the belief that while guys are benchng under 140kg, squatting under 200kg and deadlifting under 220kg, they can train far more often than 3 x week and make great progress. In the world of PL, these are tiny weights.

Russians dont believe in assistance work for bench till you press 140kg.

Watching guys squatting 140kg and only squatting once a week so they can recover is laughable. Look at Harvey's progress, he does all 3 lifts 3 x week.

Once the lifts get over those mentioned, 3 x week is ample doing 1 session per lift.

If you were training at PTC, with your lifts, you would be performing all 3 lifts 3 x week.

Khan is doing squats/bench/dead/C&P 3 x week. Cardio complexes and football training 3 x week.

Its November, the season starts in April, thats 6 months away roughly.

Obviously there program will be heavily modified before then, but for now, the onus is on getting strong and fit.

That doesnt happen f u c k i n g spiders

Oh, and I'm not defensive, just surprised that you ask that question, surely you realise that plenty of lifters are making faster progress than you training different ways.

Its one thing for me to post generic advice because I cant oversee a lifters training, its another for me to oversee ALL the lifting a client does.

The most progress is made by lifters that do 100% of their lifting at PTC, some train elsewhere a couple of times per week, its harder for me to help them.

On Friday I had to make adjustments to a groups bench session. They had benched with me on Monday, so I knew how they had performed earlier in the week, it was easy to adjust.

I'm sure being ~19 and eating a metric shitload of food helps.

Of course it does, but ANYONE can eat a shit load of food.

As for being young, interesting point.

What I've noticed is when I was young, we all had manual jobs, no computers and shit like that.

Over 80% of my clients sit on their ass all day in an office.

The majority of the footballers have trades, they are on the tools. They appear to be recovering.

I suppose only time will tell. Either the Frankston Dolphins improve on the football field, or they dont.

No one will give a rats ass if they can squat 140kg if they dont improve.

its his genetics that allows him to train so much. most people couldn't recover. people are very different, what works for some will kill another regardless of their lifts. Its important to understand your body, then you can improve.

The harder he trains, the better his genetics get

he would be very easy to train.