You hear about powerlifting programs for football, Olympic lifting, and even Strongman style training being done exclusively by major college football programs. All of these people are missing the point. The goal isn’t to be a powerlifter or Strongman but to become as strong, fast, and insanely explosive as humanly possible so you can dominate on the football field. Weights are certainly a huge part of this equation.
However, too many players and coaches have overlooked a simple but devastatingly effective football training tool. It makes my job easier and makes my players into football Gods. What is this tool? Is it a super expensive machine that was used in some remote gym in Kyrgyzstan? No, this tool is actually quite affordable and super easy to use.
Giant bags of sand
The ignorant will balk, and the weak will retreat in fear, but the motivated will learn to love them—sandbags. Sandbags allow you to work from odd positions and at strange, awkward angles. Because the bags are packed loosely, they change shape on ever rep. There is no such thing as an easy rep or settling into a groove. Sound familiar? Are any two blocks or tackles the same? Don’t you have to spring forward, jump, tackle, and block from less than ideal positions on damn near every play during a game? Of course. So why focus on only weights?
Sandbags caught some attention when Dinosaur Training was published. However, simply filling a duffel bag with dirt left a lot to be desired. They ripped, leaked sand, and simply fell apart with rough use. Football players, as a whole, are not known for being nice to training equipment.
When I found Josh’s sandbags a while back, it completely changed the way we use sandbags at Explosive Football Training. No more sand showers or ripped bags. Even when I use them, they don’t rip, and I’m notorious for breaking things! Since we made the switch, I’ve discovered the top five sandbag exercises for football training.
These five movements will:
· Make your core as solid as a rock.
· Prevent strength leakage.
· Make your shoulders virtually injury proof.
· Teach you to transfer power from the ground up.
1. Bear hug and duck walk
The sandbag bear hug is definitely old-school. It’s also widely practiced because of the great training effects on the back, legs, pecs, and grip. While it’s a good exercise, we’re always looking for something more. That’s what this sport is all about—always striving for more.
I noticed that a lot of lineman, backs, and linebackers could keep a good football position when in a T-shirt and shorts, but once the pads, helmet and a live opponent were thrown in, they began to lean forward, get into a bad position, and get beat. Seeing a strong, 275-lb lineman thrown to the ground because he was leaning forward isn’t pretty.
To prevent this, we do a sandbag bear hug and duck walk combination. This is an excellent football training movement that will strengthen the back, legs, and entire upper body for many football specific tasks (tackling, blocking, and pre-jump position). The only difference we make from the standard bear hug is that instead of wrapping our arms around the bag like Ken Patera would, we grab the bag by the handles and hold it close.
From this position, you start duck walking. Shoot for three sets of ten yards to start and gradually increase the sets to six. Keep your back extremely tight, sit back, and don’t lean forward. If I catch any of you leaning forward during this, I’ll personally throw you down.
2. High rep clean and press
Ah, the high rep clean and press (C&P), a football conditioning masterpiece. Actually, this is great conditioning for any sport. The high rep C&P is a great exercise, but it can be difficult to do with a barbell. Plus, the barbell stays the same the entire time. With a sandbag, you are literally wrestling the damn bag by rep five. It’s less about form and more about guts.
This movement builds mental toughness as well as physical prowess. It’s a great finisher—an exercise used at the end of a football training session to really put the finishing touches on and ensure that you’ve pushed yourself to the limit. Remember, if you leave something on the table in training, you’ll do the same in a game (or in life).
Load up a sandbag and do full cleans followed by the best press you can manage. If you want to get fancy, use different grips during the set or try different straps or different handles, or grab the bag itself with no handles.
What is a high rep? Ten is the bare minimum. Again, this is about toughening yourself mentally and physically. If the bag is very heavy, ten might be the limit. Experiment and use both heavy bags and medium with mixed rep ranges.
3. Zercher Romanian deadlifts with chains or bands added
My athletes are sick of hearing this, but most football training programs don’t put enough emphasis on working the hamstrings. Sure, posterior chain training has gained popularity, but most assume that a few sets of leg curls and some standard deadlifts are sufficient to make the hamstrings and glutes strong enough to make you faster. The truth is that the hamstrings have an amazingly high work capacity. Exercises like deadlift variations, squats, and even leg curls are needed because the hamstrings must be worked in both of their functions (flexion and extension).
Zercher Romanian deadlifts are a great way to hammer the hamstrings. However, doing these with a bar can be painful, especially when you start using big weight. Using a sandbag is less painful yet harder. Always a good combination.
The only problem is if you are a bigger athlete or you are using heavy sandbags, it can become difficult to effectively hold the bag in the Zercher position. By adding chains or bands, you can use a smaller sized bag but work the legs and back even harder. Plus, anytime you use chains and/or bands, you are using accommodating resistance, and this is always good for athletes (teaches acceleration).
You can use this as an in the weight room hamstring training exercise, done after your main exercise for the day. Go with 3–5 sets of 4–8 reps.
4. Sandbag high pull with chains
This one’s a bit different than most are used to. It’s a great way to thicken the traps, build the upper back, and use sandbags as an explosive movement, again teaching the transfer of power from the ground up. But unlike the traditional high pull, this version saves the shoulders. As someone who always had shoulder pain while doing high pulls, this variation has allowed me to do the movement pain free.
You’ll want to go with a medium to light load for this. Grab a sandbag by the handles and drop into a half squat, just like you would be in a stance. Now do an explosive high pull. Think of it like a clean pull except you’re using a sandbag. If you have shoulder problems, grab the outsides of the bag so that your palms are facing each other. Think speed and pull hard. Go for 3–4 sets of 6–10 reps.
5. Clean and push
This is a cool variation of the clean and press that is perfect for football training because it is highly specific, especially for lineman. It will require great let strength, or the transfer of power from the legs through the hips and to the upper body, as well as muscular coordination. And all you need is a sandbag and a little bit of room.
Load a bag and clean it in any way you see fit. Use the various handles or mixed grips, or just grab the bag itself. Now clean it to chest height. When I say clean it, I don’t mean end up in one of those “split the legs eight feet apart” kind of clean position. No, I mean finish the clean in the good football position, just as you would pre-block, tackle, jump, or sprint.
For the first few reps, hold that position. Then pop the hips hard and push the bag as far as you can. Think if it like a standing bench press. It’s the exact motion used when blocking, making it an excellent movement for lineman. It is maybe one of the most football-specific training exercises in the world.
After you get the motion down, begin to do the entire movement as one complete exercise rather than pausing with the bag at chest height before pushing. This is an ideal time to video the lift or have a coach/teammate watch you and critique your form. There aren’t many guarantees in football or football training, but I can damn near guarantee you that this exercise will improve your blocking and tackling.
Use this exercise for conditioning, as a finisher, or as a total body accessory lift. Vary the sets and reps from high to low with appropriate changes in the weight of the bag.
Putting it all together
Now that you have the top five sandbag exercises for football, how do you put them to work in your football training program?
If you are considering adding them to your conditioning program, they can be easily inserted into just about any form of conditioning. Add them to the end of your sprint training or simply take a day and do only sandbag exercises for high reps. Think of it as a mini-Strongman training session.
If you’d like to use sandbags in the weight room, treat them like any other barbell exercise. Cycle them on and off, make small changes, and don’t get obsessed with any of them. Variety is the lifeline of the athlete. Avoid becoming crazed with the idea of cleaning a sandbag with a weight of “X.” Instead, keep the movements changing so that you’re hitting the body from all angles.
A great way to start would be to use the Zercher good morning with chains directly after your big leg movement for the day (box squats, deadlifts). Use them as an accessory in this instance, and I’m betting you’ll feel the difference the next day! For the absolute best sandbags, check out Josh Henkin’s sandbags. They’re pretty much indestructible and will withstand the abuse that even the roughest football players can dish out.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.