For the next 2 weeks, I’ll be on vacation. This much needed time off will be the calm before the storm known as the 2010-2011 season.

This winter I’ll be taking over my third sprints/hurdles/jumps program in the past decade or so (I’m the Larry Brown of HS track coaches) and I have high expectations for the group. This is a program used to experiencing success, so I’m excited to get the season started!

When I get back, I’ll be diving head first into preparing for the upcoming year. I’m not one to wait until November to start preparing for the winter season. Because if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.

And I’ll be explaining everything I’m doing, studying, changing and thinking about along the way.

In the meantime, here are the three most popular videos I posted during 2010.

1. How to run the 400m

2. The fatal flaw in your sprinters’ technique

3. How to run the 200m

A few weeks ago I sent out a survey to get a sense of who was opening my emails. The #1 area of interest from the group was “Program Design/Workout Planning”.

My friends. If that’s what you want to know more about, then you’re looking for my Complete Program Design for Sprinters program. It walks you through everything you need to know about writing workouts that lead to PRs in meets that matter. You can watch the above videos until you’re blue in the face. But if you don’t know what workouts to do, when to do them and why you’re doing them, all that technical stuff has little value. If you’re looking for an upgrade to your program design/workout planning/periodization skill set, invest in Complete Program Design for Sprinters now.

- Latif Thomas

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Hills are one of the most effective means of training all elements of speed, conditioning, technique…

You get the idea.

And it’s not *just* for offseason training, especially when you’re working with high school aged football players (and younger).

With the season here, you don’t have a lot of time to commit to conditioning. So you’ll want to focus on drills/exercises/workouts that give you the most bang for your buck.

Remember, there is no ceiling in terms of gaining speed, strength and power.

Your developmental athletes have such a low training age (training experience) that ‘inseason’ is no time to attempt to ‘maintain’ strength levels or speed gains.

The incline helps develop strength and power, as well as teach athletes to fire the right muscles in the right order so they get maximum acceleration.

Otherwise, they’ll *feel* that they aren’t going anywhere.

Because running up a hill is more difficult than running on a flat surface, you can get more specific conditioning, strength/power, etc. out of one drill.

So you can spend less time away from offense, defense and special teams, but still ensure your players can go all out at the end of the game.

Also, keep in mind: It’s fun.

Players get bored doing the same old gassers and shuttle runs. So they don’t go as hard. They’re not trying to ‘half ass’. They can’t help it.

But something new, different and challenging always gets the competitive juices flowing.

So check out this video of a couple of Coach Carlisle’s favorite hill drills you can use in your next practice, depending on what you’re trying to get out of it.

 Total Football Training with Duane Carlisle

Sample workout:

Back pedal

For pure speed:

4 – 7 x 20-30y w/3′ rest between each run

For speed endurance (the ability to execute quickly and efficiently while tired):

4 – 7 x 20-30y w/walk back recovery

Be sure to cue the things discussed in the video, regardless of how you use these drills.

Walking Lunge

For strength & power:

3 – 5 x 20-30y w/3-4′ rest between each ‘run’

For strength endurance (the ability to execute efficiently & explosively while tired)

3 – 5 x 20-30y w/1-2′ rest between each ‘run’

Use these drills to develop the specific skills you want your players to learn and you will have better football players.

To your success,

Latif Thomas
http://www.TotalFootballTraining.com

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Last week it was Indian Runs. (A group of players jog around the track in a single file line and then the last person runs up to the front of the line. Repeat repeatedly until boredom overwhelms everyone.)

This week it was bleachers. (Jog up the bleachers, across to the next row, down the bleachers, across to the next row, up the bleachers…you get the idea.)

As I stood there watching these poor kids attempt to get in shape, for a fleeting moment, I thought I had time warped back to 1933…

Sadly, this is the training equivalent of most HS football programs

Now these kids had the right idea:

They were proactively working out and trying to do what they thought was best to prepare them for a successful season. After all, I know a bunch of those kids and I know they have aspirations of winning a Super Bowl this year.

The problem is that football is not cross country.

Football is fast, explosive and aggressive. How does training at slow paces at low intensities prepare anyone for the demands of American football?

You are correct. It doesn’t.

Some of you might be asking:

“Maybe it was a recovery day and they were just doing those workouts as tempo work.”

If that thought crossed your mind, congratulations. You score a point for asking a good question based on legit understanding of workout planning and energy systems!

But that’s not why they were doing it. They were just doing it because that’s what the class before them did, which is what the class before them did, which is what the class before them did…

I call it ‘Groundhog’s Day’ training.

Now, I’m not saying that my beliefs on training are the only viable beliefs on training. I understand that all truths are half truths. And my truths are not the exception to that rule.

But, my friend, we have to keep asking ourselves if our training methods are developing the qualities required in our sport. Because, if they’re not, we’re not going to get the results we’re looking for. And, in that case, why bother?

For football players, training slow will not make your athletes fast, explosive and powerful.

It will, however, make the other team look that much faster, more explosive and more powerful.

So perhaps I’m looking at it from the wrong point of view…

If you want to develop better football players, you might as well take your lead from an expert on the topic.

NFL Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Duane Carlisle’s Total Football Training System is on sale through July 31. Get your hands on a copy now and save $100. You can even break the cost into 3 easy installments.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with Coach Carlisle. Every time I get off the phone, I’ve learned something new.

If your mind is ready for the possibility that some new training ideas will help your athletes and/or your program, then I highly recommend investing in the program while it’s still on sale.

Don’t talk yourself out of making a decision just because the season is about to start. Duane Carlisle’s Total Football Training System is the real deal.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

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As you may know, I’ve been involved in the release of NFL Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Duane Carlisle’s new program Total Football Training.

We get so many questions from people asking about a comprehensive speed, strength and conditioning program specifically for football players that I’m glad I can finally suggest something that I feel good about.

I’m not going to write a big long story here. But I do recommend go take a look at the program, read the page and watch the video.

Every football player and team needs to be faster, stronger and in better overall shape. People take football so seriously and spend so much playing, watching and coaching it, I can’t see how anyone involved in the sport *wouldn’t* grab this program while they can get the launch price.

Especially when I *know* there are still some high school programs that claim to be serious, but don’t even lift or train for speed before and during the season…

(I know it sounds hard to believe.)

It’s not a perfect program. There’s no such thing. But I know what kind of information, format and structure people want when they invest in a program. Keeping that in mind, it is, without question, the best football training program I’ve ever seen.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

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