Summer Football Training - Volume 3: Strength/Power

Here's the last cycle of my summer program. The only "notable" change to the lifting is, as of right now, we'll do DE Squat in place of the heavy RFESS. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same. As I go through June I may just continue with the RFESS. If the kids take it seriously and try to push it and actually use it as a Main Lift, of sorts, I'll keep the train rolling. By this point in the summer, the assistance work will be varied almost every workout. On the sheet I just have movements written down (not exercises). I'll probably let some of the older kids choose the exercises before we start each workout. Running-wise we'll go to a 4 day plan.

• Monday - Speed/Lift
• Tuesday - Agility
• Wednesday - NO RUN/Lift
• Thursday - Agility
• Friday - Speed/Lift

I my have already listed this plan in the last section? Lifting will look like this: Monday

• Hang Clean
• 2-3 Warm-ups sets
• 3's Pro, 2's Pro, 3/2/1 Pro (based on weekly percentage)
• DE Squat (FSL): 5x3 (20% lighter than weekly Squat percentage)
• Pull-ups
• Circuit (3-5 Rounds)
• Hinge
• Upper Push
• Upper Pull
• Abs/Neck/Traps/Iso Holds
• Team Mobility

Wednesday

• Squat
• 2-3 Warm-up sets
• 5's Pro, 3's Pro, 5/3/1 Pro (based on the weekly percentage)
• Push Press
• Pull-ups
• Circuit
• Hinge
• Upper Push
• Upper Pull
• Abs/Neck/Traps/Iso Holds
• Team Mobility

Friday

• Bench
• 2-3 Warm-up sets
• Same as Squat
• Trap Bar
• Pull-ups
• Circuit
• BB Single-leg
• Upper Push
• Upper Pull
• Abs/Neck/Traps/Iso Holds
• Team Mobility

Very simple. I will keep track of the assistance work that we end up doing to make sure they don't keep choosing the same things. As I think about it, I'll probably give them 3 choices each for Upper Push and Upper Pull. Maybe 2 choices for the lower portion? The 4 Week Progression will look like this:

• Week 1: 75% - 5's Pro
• Week 2: 85% x5, 90% x3, 95% x1-3
• Week 3: 75% - 5's Pro
• Week 4: 90% x3-5, 95% x1-3, 100% x1

I have it set up so that each week we'll have one Heavy lift, one Moderate and one Light. It sets up so that we test one Main Lift per week instead of all 3 in the same week. Honestly, I'm too lazy to open the file and list out exactly how the weeks will be set up. If I get the itch, I'll put it in a separate article. This is the first time I've ever tried testing 1 lift per week. There's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping it simple and having a "test week". It has proven to work just fine for decades. I just got the idea in my head and figured the summer group would be a good time to try it out. Thanks for reading. I hope these 3 articles gave you a few ideas that you can try with your own teams.