I don't even think this cycle could legitimately be called a Strength/Hypertrophy Cycle, but for argument's sake, that's what I'm calling it.

As I mentioned in the previous installment, we'll do the Hypertrophy Cycle for 3 weeks.  You could choose to do it for 2-4 weeks.  I think more than 4 weeks would be too much.

The Hypertrophy Cycle should get guys back into lifting shape, build some muscle and have a good foundation to start from.  We'll be following the same progression we did in the spring.  It worked so well that it doesn't make sense to change it.  Obviously, the total volume of work done in the off-season versus the in-season may cause me to make changes as we go, but for now, it looks sound.

Running will start during this cycle.  We have 3 scheduled running days:

  • Monday: Speed Work (pre-lift)
  • Wednesday: Agility Work (pre-lift)
  • Friday: Conditioning Work (post-lift)

Speed Work

Nothing fancy here.  The first 2 weeks I'll keep it very short and let their hamstrings get conditioned before we really start pushing it.  My approach is going to be very simple.  I've picked a few drills and we're going to "master" them.  Instead of getting fancy and having to constantly teach something new I've decided to teach early and then let them work.

The basic order of the day is as follows:

  • Starts (3-pt, 2-pt, Position, Lateral, Kneeling, Lateral Kneeling)
  • 6-10 starts (Week 1 - 6/Week 2 - 8/Week 3-12 - 10)
  • 10 yards
  • 60-90 second rest
  • SIngle-leg Hops
  • 2 sets each leg
  • 10 yards
  • 60-90 second rest
  • Skater Hops
  • 2 sets
  • 20 yards
  • 60-90 second rest
  • Bounding
  • We will do the Single-leg hops for 3-4 weeks (or until they get really good at driving off of one leg).  Once they get good at these we'll transition to Bounding.
  • 2-4 reps
  • 20 yards
  • 60-90 seconds
  • Flying 10's/20's
  • Skill/Big Skill
  • 2-4 reps
  • 40 yards total
  • Lineman will do 10 and 20 yard sprints (basically a repeat of Starts)

Agility Work

I'm not going to list all the drills I do.  Set up a 5x5 or 10 x10 box and have them do some combination of 1.) Sprint, 2.) Shuffle, 3.) Crossover Run, 4.) Backpedal.

I usually call our Box Drills "Perfection Drills".  Common sense should dictate that with a Box Drill you can run each drill in 2 directions.  The goal is to perform 4 perfect reps before we move on to the next drill.  All this means is that each player has to perform the drill without a mistake (that I see).  Any mistake - not touching the line, not running around the cone, not finishing through the line... and the whole group repeats that rep until it's done correctly.

In a perfect world they do 16 total reps (4 drills).  Early on, this is a shit show.  It doesn't take many repeated reps for them to get their heads in the game and pay attention to details.

I have a few new ideas in my head that I haven't worked out yet, so this may change a little bit.  But, this is how I've done it in the past and it works just fine.

Conditioning

I'm still up in the air about whether we'll do a different drill each week or just add reps to  one drill.  I don't think it matters.  As long as the yardage increases each week it doesn't matter which drill we do.

My options are:

  1. 1/2 Gassers (Sprint across, touch line, backpedal - to save hamstrings early)
  2. 50's (Sprint 50, walk 50)
  3. 120 yard Shuttle (10 and back, 20 and back, 30 and back)

There are obviously other conditioning drills that you can choose.  I'm shooting for 500 yards Week 1 and adding 100-200 yards each week over the next 3 weeks.

I may make some adjustments to the yardage, but this is the idea.

As a side note, I'm not a huge fan of running a lot.  I prefer a few very focused reps done with maximum effort as opposed to running marathon-type conditioning sessions.

Lifting

Monday

  • Hang Clean
  • 2-3 Warm-up Sets
  • 3/3/3x3 at top weight
  • BB RFESS (treat it like a Main Lift - Progression of weights)
  • Pull-ups
  • Circuit - 3-5 rounds
  • RDL w/shrug
  • Upper Push
  • Row
  • Abs (Rollouts/Hanging Leg Raise/Weighted Sit-ups)
  • Iso Holds (Single-leg/Lower Back)
  • Neck/Rear Delts

Wednesday

  • Squat
  • 2-3 Warm-up Sets
  • 3x5 Work Sets
  • Work up after top set with 5% jumps every other week
  • Push Press
  • Pull-ups
  • Circuit
  • Snatch-grip RDL w/shrug
  • Upper Push
  • Row
  • Abs (Rollouts/Hanging Leg Raise/Weighted Sit-ups)
  • Iso Holds (Single-leg/Lower Back)
  • Neck/Rear Delts

Friday

  • Bench
  • 2-3 Warm-up Sets
  • 3x5 Work Sets
  • Work up with 5% jumps every other week
  • Trap Bar (same as Squat/Bench Progression)
  • Pull-ups
  • Circuit
  • BB Lateral Squat
  • Upper Push
  • Row
  • Abs (Rollouts/Hanging Leg Raise/Weighted Sit-ups)
  • Iso Holds (Single-leg/Lower Back)
  • Neck/Rear Delts

Post-Lift Mobility will continue just like the first cycle.

This will start June 1st and run for 4 weeks.

Main Lift Progression

  • Week 1 - 75% - 5's Pro
  • Week 2 - 80% - 3's Pro, 85% x1-3, 90% x1
  • Week 3 - 75% - 5's Pro
  • Week 4 - 85% - 3's Pro, 90% x1-3, 95% x1

I'm happy with this set-up.  I'm looking forward to getting started with the guys who will be on campus in June.  Before then, I'm looking forward to a little break and some time out of Morehead.