Strength & Conditioning

[ZORO50]

This is an area with more debate than ever
Traditional weight lifting
Olympic weight lifting
Crossfit
Plyometrics- I posted many times that Oregon's success is James Radcliffe.
(World's foremost authority on plyometrics and functional fitness.
Functional Fitness.
Gymnastic strength
Yoga
Kettle bells

I try to study from all of these areas.
This week I listened to a podcast called
Gymnastic bodies founded by the former
US Olympic coach.

He stated the best weight lifting guys- (bench press guy, squat guy)
would be the worst athletes.
Due to stiffness, no range of motion- inability to fire

Ironically, I received an email from a friend on the west coast that said, " Christian McCaffrey- 10 reps of 225. Cmon guy!
My friend is a jacked weight lifter.

Then I find out- he ran a 4.4, had the second best vertical and best broad jump.

And we all know Stanford is a functional fitness conditioning program and is easily the reason for their on field success.

It immediately also made me think of Asap Schwapp. Record weight lifter- worst player on the field.

Hopefully, ND program is catching up.

 

[impossibilityofreason1]

I was thinking about strength and conditioning after hearing about our performances at the combine. Hopefully Balis is an improvement over Longo.

 

[nemeth#5]

I saw some people making fun of McCafrey as well.... ONLY benched 225 like 10 times.... Good thing the football isn't that heavy. I could see bench press being very applicable to offensive lineman... but who cares about an RB or WR? I am surprised he even did it.

As we all know, Quinn set a record for QB's on the Bench...... didn't amount to much in the pro's though.

 

[stu4don]

I was thinking about strength and conditioning after hearing about our performances at the combine. Hopefully Balis is an improvement over Longo.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Very disappointing speed and strength results from all three of our players.... Bottom 30%.

 

[impossibilityofreason1]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Very disappointing speed and strength results from all three of our players.... Bottom 30%.

I was hoping for at least decent performances out of them. Shocked at the poor performance.

 

[Telx1]

I was hoping for at least decent performances out of them. Shocked at the poor performance.

The various reports on S&C indicate that Longo had some major health issues, and our S&C program last year was a complete disaster as a result. Other reports suggest the program was not well run or state of the art for several years. Regardless, I think it's safe to say the program will be significantly improved under Balis.

 

[Bumpdaddy]

This is an area with more debate than ever
Traditional weight lifting
Olympic weight lifting
Crossfit
Plyometrics- I posted many times that Oregon's success is James Radcliffe.
(World's foremost authority on plyometrics and functional fitness.
Functional Fitness.
Gymnastic strength
Yoga
Kettle bells

I try to study from all of these areas.
This week I listened to a podcast called
Gymnastic bodies founded by the former
US Olympic coach.

He stated the best weight lifting guys- (bench press guy, squat guy)
would be the worst athletes.
Due to stiffness, no range of motion- inability to fire

Ironically, I received an email from a friend on the west coast that said, " Christian McCaffrey- 10 reps of 225. Cmon guy!
My friend is a jacked weight lifter.

Then I find out- he ran a 4.4, had the second best vertical and best broad jump.

And we all know Stanford is a functional fitness conditioning program and is easily the reason for their on field success.

It immediately also made me think of Asap Schwapp. Record weight lifter- worst player on the field.

Hopefully, ND program is catching up.

The 225lb bench press at the combine isn't just a test of strength. If that's all the scouts were looking for they would load up the weights and have each prospect perform a 1 rep max bench press and call it a day. The fact the scouts are actually looking at the number of reps and not the amount of overall weight a prospect can handle is proof that the pros are indeed looking for functional fitness. A big o-lineman who cranks out 30+ reps on the bench press not only shows he's strong, he has endurance as well. Every time the ball is snapped the linemen on both sides of the ball perform extreme acts of strength against one another, so strength is important, but scouts need to know if a prospect can exert the necessary output play after play. As with any test or drill at the combine, the 225lb bench press won't tell the whole story about how strong or how much endurance an individual has, but it is still a useful test.

As far as McCaffrey is concerned, 10 reps of 225 is actually low for a 200lb RB no matter how you look at it, but fortunately for him he's not a bubble prospect. There's enough tape on him that shows he's explosive, highly durable, and one of the best prospects in the draft. Scouts won't care that he only performed 10 reps, but if he were a bubble prospect any particular test or drill could help our hurt his cause.

I think your overall argument has some validity - if an athlete only trained to lift maximum amounts of weight he likely wouldn't be a very good football player. However, most football players don't train that way. They train for strength, endurance, explosiveness and muscle flexibility. It is possible to be very strong and very physically fit. There are a lot of guys in the NFL who are able to lift incredible amounts of weight but they are well-rounded in the other areas of fitness as well. I don't think we're getting to a point where we need to worry about players being too strong to be effective.

 

[NDskins]

I wonder if we won't see that much improvement on the strength and condition of our team. I don't think with classes, homework, study hall, practices and extra curricular activities that they would have the time to put in the strength and conditioning work. Plus they take heavier school load in the winter and summer so that cuts down time for off season training. It's not like other schools where they can take dance / basket weaving, etc to dedicate most of their time to football. I think I recall Ronnie Stanley telling the press how it was so much different now that he has time to put in work for the combine and nfl practices compared to when he was in school and putting in the work for a student athlete at ND.

 

[bizzybecknd]

Poor sample size- 3 guys, 1 QB, 2 DL who have both battled injuries during their careers.

Look at last years class? Might be the fastest in ND's history- Fuller, Brown, Procise, Carlisle. Not to mention Stanley, Jaylon, Okwara, Farley, Keivarie.. None of those guys disappointed in the speed and strength.

 

[IrishMike409]

Crossfit is without question the best workout out there right now.

 

[nemeth#5]

Crossfit is without question the best workout out there right now.

Lets grab the most awkward object and throw it around with no form whatsoever.

 

[Pennick44]

Crossfit is without question the best workout out there right now.

Crossfit is without question the best workout out there right now.

Only If you are a Dr or a physical therapist!

 

[impossibilityofreason1]

Poor sample size- 3 guys, 1 QB, 2 DL who have both battled injuries during their careers.

Look at last years class? Might be the fastest in ND's history- Fuller, Brown, Procise, Carlisle. Not to mention Stanley, Jaylon, Okwara, Farley, Keivarie.. None of those guys disappointed in the speed and strength.

That was a really good class. NdSkins these guys did just fine while managing academics.

 

[mirer03]

Only If you are a Dr or a physical therapist!

Every single person I know that does CrossFit has developed ongoing injuries...Mostly back injuries. Lifting for speed at the point of exhaustion is a recipe for injury. CrossFit has the brand but there are better options out there.