We break our lower body exercises into 4 separate categories. Foundational, transitional, accessory, and chaos. Lets take a closer look.

Foundational

How high you peak, in terms of athleticism, will ultimately be determined by how solid your foundation is. That is why we center our program around 2 basic movement patterns. Keep in mind there are many variations of each. For example, we have over 30 different variations of squats, and probably double that of Olympic lifts at our disposal. Make it your mission to not only become strong in these movements, but also technically proficient.

1. Squat: This should not be a surprise to anyone that this exercise comes in at the top of the list. You would be hard pressed to find one single exercise that has been proven to have a more positive impact on lower body strength, hypertrophy, vertical jump, and power. We have found with our own athletes that there is a very strong correlation with improving squat strength, relative to body weight, and improvements in short sprint times.

If you are centering your lower body workouts around the squat, you are headed in the right direction.

2. Olympic lifting variations: Emphasis on variations! The clean has been a staple in football programs for decades, but that doesn’t mean we should limit ourselves to only this power movement. All variations of the clean and snatch will go a long way in developing explosive power and rate of force development, and all variations should be fair game. In fact, certain variations can be used to achieve different qualities within the strength - speed continuum.

A snatch from the hang position, for example, requires significantly more bar speed than a clean from the hang position. Therefore, this could be applicable for defensive backs in terms of the force-velocity requirements of that position. Cleans from a dead stop, either off of a rack, or podium can be great for developing explosive starting strength. High pulls, can be yet another option if you want to add some load to the triple extension movement without the catch. This is also a good alternative for athletes who have banged up hands and/or wrists.

The take home message is that as long as you are using good technique, all of the Olympic lifting variations of the clean & snatch should be in your training arsenal.

Transitional

3. All types of Jumps: Both double leg and single leg jumps, hops, and bounds serve as the perfect transition from the strength you build in the weight room, to explosively moving your body through space on the field. These include broad jumps, box jumps, hurdle hops, and alternate bounds. It is important to structure your jumps from simple, lower intensity movements, to high intensity more ballistic efforts over time.

It is no accident that the first three exercises on our list are progressively increasing in velocity. Squats require the highest load and therefore have the slowest bar speed. O-lifts make up the middle ground in both load & velocity, while the jumps are performed with the least load, but is the most ballistic of the three. Remember, the end game is to not just chase numbers in the weight room, but to have those efforts improve your game on the field. By working on different aspects within the strength- Speed continuum, our athletes achieve this year after year.

Accessory

Accessory exercises are included to not only compliment our foundation, but also develop structural balance and reduce injuries on the field.

4. Single leg exercises: We use dozens of variations of split squats, lunges, step ups, and sled drags in this category. When done with the correct technique, you strengthen the muscles around the hips and knees at the same angles used in the acceleration phase of a sprint. As an added bonus, stability around these joints is also developed, as well as structural balance between the right and left sides.

Put it all together and you have increased performance and less risk of injury. Not too shabby if you ask me.

5. Posterior chain movements: Strong hamstrings, glutes, and lower back muscles are a must for high level performance. Giving them a little love will go a long way at improving speed, vertical jump, and agility. We use 6 to 10 variations of the RDL, glute/ham raise, and loaded glute bridge to get the job done.

Chaos

6. Non-traditional implements: Mixing things up with some non-traditional movements has been a great addition to our programming. This has allowed us to train the same movement patterns we would in the gym, but do so with implements that are a little less cooperative. Since the football field is such a dynamic environment, we view this as a nice transition. Below are some of the comparisons we use at our facility.

Traditional                                        Non-Traditional Straight bar squat                                large cambered bar squat Power clean                                           tire flip Snatch                                                    keg or med ball toss Single leg                                                prowler walks Posterior chain                                     sled pull through Core work                                              farmers walk or super yolk

Now let’s put everything together. Our athletes typically perform two lower body specific days per week. We either start each session with some type of jump, hop, or bound, or program these movements immediately following our foundational movements. Once this is completed we move into our accessory movements. Chaos lifts are worked into the mix depending on the athlete and how close they are to competition. A typical outline might look like this:

Day 1: A1) squat variation (foundational) A2) box jump variation (transitional) B1) single leg variation (accessory) B2) posterior chain (accessory) C) Farmers walk (chaos)

Day 2: A1) clean or snatch variation (foundational) A2) stride jump (transitional) B1) prowler march (chaos) B2) Super Yolk (chaos)

Using this template allows us endless combinations of exercises, rep patterns, and training stimuli. And as long as we stick to the basic principles listed above, it has provided us with endless progress. Hopefully you can take a nugget or two from our system and enjoy the same success.