Varsity Weight Training
About Our Program
Who: All Somers Point residents who will qualify for the VARSITY football team next season. (Generally all 7th and 8th graders)
Days: Mon - Fri, Weekends also possible
Times: 8:00pm during the week, Fridays will start an hour earlier .... weekend times will vary
Basic Details:
The football weight training program is FREE to all varsity age kids. The program is designed to be a 3 day per week program but the nights are flexible - so you have all 7 days to fit in your 3 lifts. Optimum would be Monday, Wednesday, Friday if that works for your schedule.
This program is VERY structured. Coach Natello will instruct every athlete on the proper form for lifting on each exercise. Coach Natello (and the other coaches who will be there at times) will be present at every session to supervise the workouts and assist the athletes as needed. We will stress safety ... and we will work hard!
You will be provided with a Weight Training Chart each day you arrive which will allow you to record your various weights and reps as you workout. This chart will have a list of all the various exercises you are to do for that day. We will be right there to show you what each lift is and to help you estimate the proper weight to use when you are first getting started.
Try hard to be on time ... we will warmup as a group at 8:00pm sharp!
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Philosophy
When we lift, we lift for power. Our goal is to get stronger and strengthen our bodies to help us avoid injuries on the football field. It is critical to remember this because it influences the lifts we choose to perform, the way we structure our sets, even the way we perform each rep within the set.
Warming-up
It is very important to properly warm-up and stretch before you lift. The last thing you want is to suffer an injury in the weight room. After stretching, you should always perform a set or two of whatever exercise you will begin with that day – using light weight and slow exaggerated motion. We will gather together as a group prior to each lift to go through a proper warm-up.
How Much Weight to Lift
You should always lift as much weight as you possibly can for the number of reps you are trying to achieve. It may take you a little while at first, but you will quickly learn how much weight you can lift. If you’re not sure, try MORE not less. Challenge yourself … with a spotter. You can always take some of the weight off and try another set.
Lifting Technique / Proper Form / “Cheating”
Proper form is critical. It is important not only for your safety ... but also for you to maximize the benefits of each exercise.
“Cheating” is a slang for swinging weight or contorting your body to move a weight that you probably wouldn’t get otherwise. Despite what you may hear, cheating can be good … within reason. If a slight swing of the weight helps you get a weight that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to lift,
great. Lifting more weight is our GOAL. Don’t be ridiculous with it however. You can injure yourself if you go overboard. You should always have control of the weight in your hands. Furthermore, we are athletes. Athletes use body position, balance, and momentum as well as strength when they are competing. So we will do the same when we are lifting. Again, Coach Natello will guide you on how to do this properly.
It is important for a football player to complete a full range of motion when performing your lifts. The nature of our sport requires us to be strong at every stage of a motion. This is particularly true when completing the various LEGS exercises.
Number of Reps
The main way to manipulate your strength gains is to vary the number of reps you perform using a particular weight. When it is suggested that you do “8 reps” for instance, what is really being said is “pick a weight that you think you can get for 7 reps by yourself and an 8th rep with a little help from your spotter.”
If you pick too light of a weight (shame on you, always pick too heavy), if you get to your 8th rep and you can still do more, then do more. Do 100 if you can (that would have been a terrible guess at the weight to use). Simply guess better for your remaining sets. The longer you lift, the better you become at guessing.
Splitting Up the Body / Muscular Recovery / Physiology
Your strength gains come not when you lift, but when you recover. We lift to tear the muscle down. We get stronger when we allow the body time to repair itself … COMPLETELY. The harder you work your muscles, the more you are tearing them down, the longer your body will need to repair itself, the stronger you will become.
It is necessary to split the body up into different body parts for this reason. This allows us to focus on a small localized area of muscle, spend lots of time and effort tearing it down completely, while allowing that area to repair itself over the next several days while we are tearing down other areas.
It typically takes between at least 48 hours for a muscle to completely recover from a strenuous weight training workout and be ready to fully benefit from another session.
Nutrition
Nutrition is a critical element to maximizing your weight training gains. A car with the most powerful engine in the world won’t go anywhere without fuel in the tank. Furthermore, it might run on Kerosene but it will run a lot better with some real gas. Your body is the same way. If you’re not eating properly, you won’t have the energy to lift hard. If you’re not eating the right foods, your body won’t have the proper nutrients to help your muscles recover fully after the lift. You will waste a lot of effort by lifting like a madman and not supplying the proper nutrients for
muscular growth.
Protein – I cannot stress this enough … your requirements for protein are greatly increased when you lift weights. You should try to eat at least 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. This is a tough standard. It will only happen if you make a conscious effort to do it.
Not all protein is “created equal”. There are high and low quality proteins (it’s an Amino Acid thing). Egg whites, tuna fish, and red meat are great sources of quality. Protein drinks and bars can be helpful (generally the cheaper the brand, the lower the quality of the protein). Try to spread out your intake of protein evenly throughout the day with your biggest dose coming soon AFTER your workout.
Carbs – Useful for energy BEFORE a lift. Simple carbs like sugar found in candy bars and soda can actually rob you of energy after a short initial surge of energy. Complex carbs like potatoes, fruit, vegetables, and bread should be eaten well in advance of an activity. Carb drinks can be
valuable if consumed at least 30 minutes BEFORE a workout.
Flexibility
We do not want to become “muscle bound”. Lifting can actually improve your flexibility if you take just a few minutes after your lift to stretch.
Misc.
The bottom line is this:
The more dedicated you are, the harder you work .. the better the program will work and the stronger you will become.
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