Give Your Team the Winning Edge
By Dixie Jones, C.S.C.S. H ead Footb all Coach, Trigg County High School Cadiz, Kentucky Part Two: Give Your Team The Winning Edge Editor's Note: Dixie Jon es, an Upper Limit Football Coach, led his team to State Runner-up honors last fall. It was a remarkable achi evement because Trigg County High School is one of the smaller enrollment schools in their Kentucky classificat ion. Greg Brid ges, a Tailback and Defen sive Back, on that great 13-2 team, wa s a BFS First Team FootballAllAmerican . Greg Squatted 465, Benched 305, Dead Lifted 550 and Power Cleaned 265 at a body weight of only 150 pounds. Greg al so ran a 4.35 forty w hi le maintaining a B grad e avera ge.
Coach Jones is al s o involv ed in th e yo u th development program of the NSCA (National Strength Coaches Association). In his first article on winning concepts, Coach Jone s emphasized th e importance of using free weights and training like an athlete, not a bodybuild e r. He al so s tre ssed th e im p o r ta nce of tra ining in all phases : Flexibility, Agility, Spe ed and Pl yometrics. Coach Jones ex p laine d the efficac y of tr aining Multi-Joint and Major Mu scle Group a reas wh ile emphasizing the d evelopment of power wh ich is a comb ination of speed and power. Now, in part two of his Winning Edge series, Coach Jones continues with valu able coaching tips. V.
Squat and Clean Correctly. These are the two most important exercises for an y sp ort , especia lly footb all. Squats d evelop th e power zon e . Cleans combine ex p losive s p ee d -s tr eng th to de velop power. These two exercises are more imp ort ant than the Bench Press, and should receive top pr iorit y in the weight room . Make them core exercises and do them corre ctly. To receive the greatest benefit from Squa ts you mu st break parallel. VI. Strict Disciplined Technique. Do not allow your athletes to chea t . This is a big problem in high school becau se play ers this age wa nt to be able to brag abou t the am ount of weight they can lift. Strict technique is up to you, the coach.
Demand it and you will find the big weights will come even faster that if yo u let th em chea t, because th ey will be a ble to con tinue to progress. The big weights will come if you use strict disciplined techn ique. If you will not allow a lifter to increase his poundage until he performs the 14 Heisman Trophy Winner and top NFL Rookie Barry Sanders Power Cleaned 365 pounds at Oklahoma State. exercise wi th correct technique then he will concentra te more on performing the exercise with goo d technique. There is also less cha nce of inju ry and th is disciplined type of work will hopefully carryover to the footb all field. VII. Emphasize Only One or Two Major Core Exercises Each Day.
It is im p oss ib le fo r a nyone , n o m att e r h o w motivated to come in to the weig ht room and work as hard and intensely as he should on five or six stations. They will slack off on something. We hav e a Squat day, Bench day, Clean day, etc. On that day we will d o other exercises, but w e wa nt them to "sell out" on what we are e m p hasiz in g that d ay . It is a " kill e r" d ay on th at exercise. We will not be satisfied with less. On the oth er exercises we simply wa nt a good, solid workou t. VIII. Start Too Light - Progress Slowly. We want athletes to be succes sful and continue to pro gress. Our rul e is - It is bett er to start too light than too heavy.
In this wa y we will be con tinua lly d oing new personal bests and athletes will be motivated. We make only sm all increases in workout poundages so we w ill continue to progr ess and w ill not overtrain. We ne ver inc re ase ov e r 10 pound s . Bein g "s tuc k" wi ll ca use athlet es to burn o u t mentall y and ph ys icall y. By progressing slowl y w e hav e a thletes wh o do bette r every w eek the entire school yea r.
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WINNING CONCEPTS BY COACH DIXIE JONES Continued from page 14 IX. One Hour Rule. Our weight training workout seldom lasts over 4045 minutes. Remember, we want to train all areas. We spend the rest of the time available on flexibility and other things. We have a one hour rule. We will never workout over one hour in the weightroom, ev en if we do happen to have more time. This is plenty of time if you workout correctly. If workouts last over one hour, athletes will burnout quicker and over a period of time overtraining will be a problem. In the summer we will weight train for 50 minut es; stretch 15 minut es ; plyometrics and speed 10 minutes: agility 10 minutes; and condition for 20-30 minutes.
If you go beyond on e hour in the weight room, you are probably including too man y body building au xiliary exerc ises that have very little value to sports. X. Start In Middle School. Start with the bar a nd teach te chnique. We began our seventh and eighth gr ad e program 5 years ago and these kids won th e 19 89 State Powerlifting Championship as h igh s c h o ol juniors. The BFS Readiness Program is great. Again, work the multi-joint core exercises , progress slowly, and demand strict technique. Remember to work all phases and not just strength. Take time to teach kid s how to run co rrectly. Include jumping, flexibility, and a gility work in the program.
The coach in the weight room is th e key to gr eat results. Study and teach correct technique. Get aft er it in the weight room with the same enthusiasm as you us e when you practice football. Remember to follow the preceding guidelines:
Lombardi Trophy Winnerand Detroit Lion Linebacker Chris Spielman training with intensity on Parallel Squat.
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1. Free Weights 2. Sport Specific 3. Train All Phases 4. Multi-joint, Major Muscle Group Exercises are Best 5. Power Development 6. Squat and Clean 7. Strict Disciplined Technique 8. Emphasis only one or two major core exercises each day. 9. Start too light and progress slowly 10. On e Hour Rule 11 . Start in Middle School Ne e-Tee n eckroll s have b een used by seve ral pla yers from the N.EL. on down to th e youth fo o tba ll leagues and has been r e co m m e n de d by many trainers as well as doctors for maximum protecti on a n d comfort while playing.
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Your Team Will Have The Winning Edge!
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From BFS Magazine — Summer 1990. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
