Look closely at almost all high school, college and professional football team strength training programs and you will see that they are all basically the same. Coaches may argue that their programs are different because of the athletes, content or scheduling involved. However these differences are minor.
For example, collegiate and professional players may be lifting more weight in the various exercises which in turn increases the intensity of their training exercises. Or they may schedule the training for specific qualities at different times or in different progressions. These differences however, have little to do with the core content and practice of the programs.
By strength training programs being different I mean that the teams work for different physical and technical qualities, have a different periodization scheme, a different philosophy of developing the athletes or use different strength, explosive power, agility or other exercises. In other words, there must be some distinct differences that are quite a bit different from other teams, especially as they relate to performance on the field.
When you look closely at most football strength training programs you will see that almost all of them train for strength on a year-round basis. They do heavy lifts and basically the same lifts that include the squat, bench press, dead lift, power clean, etc. year-round. They do the lifting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and devote Tuesday and Thursday to speed and agility training. At specific times in the year this schedule may be reversed.
It is somehow taken for granted that such strength, speed and agility training produces a better athlete, capable of performing more effectively on the field. But this has never been shown to be true. There are several reasons for this but the main one is that this general training, even though it may be specific to football, does not transfer to performance on the field!
As a result of participating in these typical strength training programs athletes get bigger and stronger. Whether they get faster or more agile or have improved their ability to execute quick cutting actions, has not been shown. A few athletes may be exceptions, as for example, young high school players who improve in their playing skills from any type of strength training program.
Success in most strength training programs is most often determined by how much the athlete improves in specific exercises, i. e., how much more weight they are capable of handling in each exercise. It is not determined by how well the athlete performs on the field! The more weight the athlete is capable of overcoming in each exercise the more he is deemed to be improved.
Because there is improvement in the weight training exercises, but it does not automatically follow that there is improvement in performance on the field. But this is where we must look to determine the success of a program or what the benefits are from the strength training program.
For example, how much has the quarterback improved? Can he now throw the ball further with the same or greater accuracy? Can he throw short 10 to 20 yard bullets that are faster and more accurate than previously? (The bullets I am talking about here are those that most receivers are afraid to catch because they hurt the hands. This is what we experience with every quarterback that I have trained or had a part in their training).
Is the quarterback or running back or linebacker capable of accelerating while on the run or after changing direction? Are athletes in these positions able to execute cutting actions faster and sharper? (70 to 90° to either side while in a fast run) Are running backs, defensive backs, receivers and even quarterbacks capable of quickly starting and stopping, changing direction to elude or stay with their opponent?
Are linebackers and other defensive backs now capable of executing more tackles? Are receivers now capable of leaping higher while on the run? Are receivers now capable of slowing up and speeding up as needed to avoid their defenders and to be in a position to catch the ball?
Instead of using such specific criteria it may be simpler to determine the average improvement in some of the following areas: decrease in 40 yard times, average increase in jump height, increased quickness in agility tests, improvement in 10 and 20 yard runs and so on. If the team averages go up significantly it means the program is effective in improving game specific characteristics.
Perhaps even more importantly would be to record the number of injuries if any during practice and especially during play. If there was no significant decrease in the number of injuries it should automatically tell you that the program is not effective in this area. This means you need more skill specific strength exercises that duplicate what occurs in execution of the sports skill.
For more information in this area see Build a Better Athlete and Biomechanics and Kinesiology of Exercise.