Increasing Your Chance for Scholarship in the Weightroom
October 17th, 2008 - by 
So many times I go to the gym and see muscle-bound meatheads doing concentration curls, using aided machines, basically doing exercises to make them look better in the mirror. This is fine, since that is their goal. However, very few athletes play there sports while shirtless and flexing. My point is if you want to become a better player train your body for motion, not for muscle. Too many high school student athletes see guys in the gym like the ones I mentioned and assume it’s the way they should be training. If you really want to become a better player on the field, do things that translate closet to the field, in particular start with explosive lifts. Cleans, snatches, and other Olympic lifts, should be the base of any program. These lifts utilize fast-twitch muscle fibers that are used to do things such as pop out of your stance, make that crushing tackle, or leap up and grab the ball out of the air. Don’t get me wrong slow-twitch movements, such as the bench, squat, etc. are important-you need a muscle base to increase muscle speed. But make sure the focus is on explosive lifts, with good technique.
For those who do not have experience in Olympic lifting make sure to consult your coach before doing so. They are dangerous lifts if done improperly. For starters train your technique with a broom, or any light stick under supervision of a qualified instructor. You want to become proficient with this before moving onto larger volumes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlFZ-nWXxy0&feature=related
Quick Tips:
Do your explosive lifts 1st. After complete warm-up, make sure your explosive lifts are done first (first of the week too), not only are these the most important exercises, but your fast twitch muscle fibers fatigue much faster than your slow ones (think of jogging a mile, vs. sprinting a mile)
Explode, Explode, Explode-Make it one, fluid, explosive movement, Remember we are training for power here. From a physics perspective we are training for force. Force equals mass times acceleration. To make things simple, when you are executing an explosive lift with x amount of weight, that weight is the mass, and its constant (you can not change the amount of weight mid/lift). Therefore the only way to increase your force (power) is to execute the lift as fast as possible (acceleration).
Use a spotter, don’t have them aid you on each lift, but have them there in case of failure so they can spot you.
Belts: really no need for them, if anything they make it more dangerous because it tricks your mind into thinking it can do a higher volume than your body can handle.
Straps: very useful, but not recommended, basically we are trying to train the whole body with this exercise, and if we use any aides we are taking it away from that body part.
