On August 5, 2022, the 54-year-old shared a clip on his Instagram where he completed a 365-pound (165.5-kilogram) bench press for six reps. The retired football legend wore gloves and a lifting belt during this display of upper body strength. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Shannon Sharpe (@shannonsharpe84)

[Related: How to Do the Goblet Squat for Lower Body Size and Mobility]

While it’s been a while since he last strapped on shoulder pads and a helmet, Sharpe makes sure to stay physically active. From time to time, he shares training clips and physique updates on his social media. For example, the football Hall of Famer’s arms and chest look shredded in a post shared on June 26 this year — his birthday. 

Sharpe’s long-term goals in the gym have a noteworthy tinge of ambition. Per the caption of his most recent training post, the football icon says his “bench press numbers are going up rapidly.” By the end of the 2022 calendar year, Sharpe thinks he “can get to 450 [pounds]” and apparently plans to aim for that impressive benchmark. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Shannon Sharpe (@shannonsharpe84)

[Related: The Best Sled Workouts for Muscle, Strength, Fat Loss, and Recovery]

Sharpe’s Background

Between 12 seasons with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens (1990-2003), Sharpe amassed one of the most prolific careers in the NFL. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Sharpe held the tight end record for touchdowns (62), receiving yards (10,060), and receptions (815) at the time of his retirement in 2003. He was also a key cog on two Super Bowl-winning teams in Denver (1997-1998) and another championship squad with Baltimore (2000). 

These days, when he’s not challenging himself in the gym, Sharpe is a sports pundit for Fox Sports 1’s daily debate show, Skip and Shannon: Undisputed. With his platform as a commentator and retired Hall of Famer, he doesn’t appear shy in sharing his opinions as a prominent voice in the football sphere overall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Shannon Sharpe (@shannonsharpe84)

[Related: How to Do the Bulgarian Split Squat for Leg Size, Strength, and Mobility]

As a media professional, Sharpe is undoubtedly preparing to talk about the upcoming 2022 NFL season, which will begin on Thursday, September 8. In the meantime, whenever he’s not in front of a camera, it’s fair to assume that Sharpe will continue pushing himself in his strength training. At the same time, he might very well defy expectations of what a “retired” athlete is supposed to be capable of. 

Featured image: @shannonsharpe84 on Instagram

The post NFL Legend Shannon Sharpe Coasts Through a 365-Pound Bench Press at 54-Years-Old appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

With the emergence of YouTube and celebrity athletes on Instagram, there might be more misconceptions now than ever before about athletic training.

High school or even collegiate athletes may see celebrities like Terron Beckham (an NFL prospect and former bodybuilder), performing supersets of deadlifts followed by backflips, and think this is the ideal way to train. I can’t blame them. If I was 18 and saw a guy who is built like Terron Beckham, I would probably think this is the best way to train also.

But these celebrity athletes are successful in spite of their dangerous training, not because of it. 

When it comes down to it, athletic training is fairly simple. For maximum effectiveness and on-field success, every athlete should have the following staples in their training program:

1. Posterior chain strength work
2. Sport-specific training
3. A proper hip and spine mobility program

The Root of All Power

The posterior chain is a group of muscles on the backside of the body, and includes the glutes, hamstrings, and erector spinae. There is no sport on the planet that does not rely heavily on these muscles or the posterior chain as a whole. Have you ever seen a world-class football player with a small butt and hamstrings? I didn’t think so. Look at Serena Williams; her posterior chain is a marvel to every fitness professional.

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body. A strong gluteus maximus works together with your hamstrings to generate a huge amount of force and explosiveness. Your erector spinae safeguard your spine, and provide an enormous amount of stabilization to the core. If these muscles are not strengthened and conditioned, you will be guaranteed to perform sub-optimally in your sport.

A strong posterior chain will allow you to be quicker and stronger off the line after a snap in football. It will help increase your vertical jump, as well as your change of direction strength and speed in basketball. It can control and charge forward a scrum in rugby. During your golf swing, it will greatly increase the control of your weight distribution during your backswing, and allow you to explode forward with power when following through. In short, a strong posterior chain is essential for power, explosiveness, support, and control in every sport. 

So how do we develop one? The most effective exercises to develop a strong and conditioned posterior chain include:

• Deadlifts
• Kettlebell swings
• Prowler or sled pushes
• Barbell glute bridges
• Barbell hip thrusts
• Bulgarian split squats
• Straight-leg deadlifts

If you want to excel in any sport from tennis to football to bobsled racing, it is time to make posterior chain training a staple in your athletic programming.

Get Specific

Sport-specific training includes exercises that mimic the exact demands of your sport. We will take the most popular sport in America for an in-depth example of sport-specific training: football. The actions required in the sport of football vary by position; however, there are some common threads.

The first is the reaction time from the snap of the ball. We can improve this with reactionary drills. A basic example of a reactionary drill would a coach blowing a whistle to command a change in position, from a player being on their feet, to going into a burpee. The player must react as quickly as possible to the whistle.

An advanced example of a reactionary timing drill would be a player running 5 yards away from a coach, then right before the player turns around, the coach would throw a tennis ball on either side of the player. The player would then have to immediately react to catching the ball upon turning around at the 5-yard mark. The player wouldn’t know where the ball is being thrown, hence their reaction would have to be very quick upon turning around.

The next action required in football is an explosion off the line. This movement requires the posterior chain strength and speed that we talked about before. The exercises listed above will provide strength and conditioning for the posterior chain in the weight room. To practice explosiveness on the field, players can use short burst sprints.

My personal favorite training exercise for explosiveness is sand sprints. Sand sprints deliver the perfect environment for maximizing explosiveness. They require players to be powerful enough to drive through layers of sand to get a solid footing for a big push off. They then require players to have a quick stride or cadence to not get stuck in the sand. This combination produces a strong and quick athlete.

In football, after this explosiveness comes a short sprint which requires multiple changes in direction, whether you are a defensive end or a wide receiver. These short sprints are accompanied with pushing and jostling for position. This should be practiced by mimicking gameplay scenarios. Players should go head to head on the line and rehearse plays.

Athletes may also incorporate pushing and pulling exercises for said jostling of position. These exercises should require full body stabilization to be as sport-specific as possible. In football, you are pushing and pulling while standing and moving, so contrary to popular belief, doing seated rows or bench presses won’t be the best exercises to replicate the demands of the game. Instead, the exercises should be complex, compound movements requiring full body stabilization, rather than exercises that are mostly for isolation of a body part or a competition-specific lift. For pushing, this would mean performing plyometric pushups or medicine ball chest passes. For pulling, it would mean standing bent over rows or landmine rows to elicit as much full-body stabilization as possible.

Sport specific training may seem obvious, but it should be. If you want to get good at your sport, you have to practice every facet of it over and over again. The message I want to drive home: ditch all of the fancy accessory work and drill for your sport. 

Pick apart every action required in your sport and drill those actions over and over, in pieces and as a whole. Was it annoying to have to run the same route 1000 times in practice through the course of a season? Maybe, but it worked, and it is the most effective way to get good at that route.

When picking strength and conditioning exercises, pick those that are most closely related to the demands of the sport, and don’t get caught up in fads.

Get Your Spine and Hips Mobile

I know this gets beat to death, but it is absolutely crucial! If your hips and spine do not have proper function, your body and performance will suffer immensely. Your hips are central to every single movement in the body, and your spine is your lifeline. Treat them with the respect they deserve. Sitting destroys our posture, so we have to compensate for this and build back our hip and spine function with a specialized program.

Flows have become increasingly popular to deal with this issue, and are quite effective. You can find video tutorials for these all over the internet, including Chris Holder’s Cal Poly Hip Flow.

When picking a flow to strengthen the hips, I would focus on one that emphasizes lateral (side to side) movements. Almost all of our exercise movements are done in a linear plane or from front to back. Lateral movements are highly neglected, and are important for any athlete. They strengthen the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and tissue around your lower extremity joints and spine that are often overlooked. This is a main reason I prefer qigong to yoga, since many qigong exercises are done in a lateral plane, and most yoga poses are done in a linear plane.

Lateral lunges with variations of torso stretching should be included in the flow. You can stretch the torso away from the dominant leg in an arching fashion to mobilize and strengthen the iliopsoas muscles, or towards the dominant leg to require further stabilization of the hip joint, knee, and adductors. Cossack squats are another favorite lateral movement and are quite effective.

Finally, deep squatting should be included in any flow program to achieve proper hip and spine mobility. Try variations of the deep squat with internal rotations of one leg, external rotations of one leg, side twists of the torso, and vertical arm reaches. You can even practice holding an overhead deep squat with a broomstick or pole for an intense thoracic mobility and strengthening exercise.

No matter what you include in a flow, the main priority should be ingraining proper hip and spine mobility. In the Western world, our hip and spine health is so poor that this really does need to become a staple in athletic training for safety and proper biomechanics.

Train Simply for Athletic Excellence

There you have it. No splits, no front flips into pistol squats, no BOSU ball snatches. Just simple and effective training protocols that elicit maximal performance. Keep the programming simple, have every exercise geared towards a specific goal, use the three pillars above, and you will excel at any sport.

Before you can develop the body, you must hone the mind:

3 Guiding Principles for Every Athlete

The post The 3 Indispensible Elements of Athletic Training appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“Train like your life depends on it!”

“Practice like it’s game day!”

These are all phrases we coaches bark at our athletes. Like most of the things we say, our athletes tend to let it go in one ear and out the other. But there is a solid layer of reasoning behind these statements that goes beyond the anecdotal wisdom that we are trying to impart.

All of my football guys out there, especially those who are tied to a team currently: Think of the cramping episodes you’ve had. They nearly always happen during the first few games of the season, yes? I know in my experience, our first game is one where I have to patrol the sideline like a pit bull, stretching random kids who are catching cramps. Seriously, we can have up to a dozen cramping episodes on a given Saturday, early in the season. But as the season wears on, these incidents nearly disappear. So what gives?

Why Do We Cramp?

The science on cramping is all over the board. Back when I played, our sports medicine people would blame it on inadequate hydration. That single reason stood alone for what feels like eons. It was so pervasive that products like Gatorade and Power Aid have multimillion dollar businesses centered on the re-hydration market. It could even be said that they are the reason that research into cramping has moved so slowly. Rehydration and its effects are big business, and what would happen to their bottom line if someone began to create cracks in the efficacy of their products?

For decades, we have been forcing electrolytes and fluids down the gullets of our athletes to keep them from cramping. And for years, we have still had kids who go down on the field, or tap their helmets to come out because their calves or hamstrings are locking up. We’ve known that something else is going on, yet we continue to be married to the idea that there is an electrolyte imbalance, and if we could get just a little more magnesium, sodium, and potassium in the body, the cramping will stop. Mustard (MUSTARD!) is the new thing on the sidelines. The super high sodium content, along with a couple of other ancillary ingredients, supposedly is the magic sauce to stop the cramping.

Could you imagine being in level 10 pain, writhing on the ground, and the solution was to shoot a quarter bottle of mustard in your mouth? No thanks.

If you don’t practice how you want to play, don’t be surprised at the problems you encounter on game day.

The Unique Stimuli of Game Day

In August, I heard Dan John speak on a small concept that blew me away. Something that we all know about, but few of us have taken the idea the full distance. The idea of arousal.

Let’s think about the word arousal in the context of performance. When we get ready for competition, there are levels of anxiety, stress, and excitement that inherently come with competition. This degree of stimulation affects everything you do with performance. Dan was talking about throwers who would be able to hit personal bests in practice as they were peaking for competition. When the big event would come around, the addition of the stressors mentioned above would topple the system and they would under-perform. The convergence of the day with the new stimulus that is inherent in formal competition becomes too much for the nervous system, and the performance itself suffers.

If we apply Dan’s ideas on arousal to the cramping situations above, we find the same laws at work. Take for example our star linebacker here at Cal Poly, Josh Letuligasenoa. Josh is a physical phenomenon. He’s broken several decade-old strength records at our school, he is one of the most athletic big men I have ever coached, and is likely going to get a shot at playing on Sundays this coming year. Josh is also one of the calmest guys you will meet. Soft-spoken, insightful, and tough to get too excited.

But he’s one of my cramping guys. See, Josh is moderate in every aspect of his life, except game day. Then he becomes someone else. I know this about him, so our first game I grabbed him on the bus to the stadium and told him he’s not allowed to get too hyped up prior to kickoff, and to keep a lid on the excitement until I tell him to let it fly. Then during warm ups, I look over and he’s jumping around, hooting and hollering and doing excitable things you never see from him. Once the game began, within a quarter, he was on the sideline, cramping.

On the flip side, there’s me. I played college football at Eastern Kentucky University in the late 90s. I was a decent athlete whose game revolved around my strength, quickness, and smarts. I had moderate success, winning one conference championship. I was the opposite of Letuligasenoa. I never got over-excited. I was the poster boy for calm and collected. Yes, I could feel the significance of the game, but I wouldn’t allow myself to get overly excited. Therefore I never had cramping episodes.

Arousal, the CNS, and Cramps

The arousal of game day puts a massive load on the central nervous system (CNS). If you think of a volume knob on a stereo, a normal day is about a three. Depending on your level of excitability, the gravity of competition can take the knob to a 10 in a hurry (or even to 11, for those of us who are so inclined). When the nervous system is not accustomed to working at that volume, the fatigue hits much harder, and much faster. If we think about training or competition from an adaptation perspective, most of these athletes are unaccustomed to working at this level of effort. This alone is the reason we see cramping so frequently at the onset of a season. After game four or five, the nervous system becomes conditioned to the weekly spikes, and adjusts accordingly.

Or look at the performance Matt Frasier had at the 2016 CrossFit Games. He won the entire competition on the second to last workout (from a points standing)—something this event has never seen. He blew the field away with one of the most iconic performances in all of sport. Without speculation of any kind regarding his preparation, I can make one certain observation:

Matt Frasier has been on the mountain top for years now. He has been on the podium several times, so he knows how it feels to be in the hunt. Therefore, Matt was able to train in a way where his body, and more specifically his nervous system, was familiar with the magnitude of the event itself. I haven’t heard any stories about his training, but I’ll bet my reputation that he is able to get himself into a “Games” type of mindset that allows his nervous system to adapt to a level beyond his competitors. So when he took the field on day one, his level of excitement for the event was commonplace for his CNS.

If You Need It on Game Day, Find It in Practice

If you are a competitive athlete, you have to take into account your exposure to competition intensity in your training regimen. If you know you are a person who “gets up” for game day, you are going to have to include a degree of competition-level efforts in your training to allow your body to prepare and adapt correctly.

I read constantly. What I’m seeing in the literature from many areas is the notion of not allowing yourself to get too geeked up during your training. Don’t thrash the heavy music, don’t stalk to equipment, and don’t become an animal when you train, they tell us, due to the fear of injury. My question is, why not? Especially if you have to go into hunter mode during competition. In fact, if that is the mentality you must carry onto the field, you’d better find some of it during practice. We have to practice or train like its game day—our CNS depends on it.

How can you find that game-day intensity in practice?

The Power of Intention

The post Practice Like It’s Game Day appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

So the other day, I was floored by a statement my colleague (who played professional football) made: “I think football is in trouble in the long term.”

Surely, nothing can bring down the NFL. That is, nothing except a lack of players to fill the shoes of the current ones. “I wouldn’t let my kid play football,” my coworker said. “So, who is going to be playing college and pro ball ten years from now if parents these days aren’t letting their kids play football?” he asked me. It’s a good question.

Football Reigns Supreme

Make no mistake: football is currently America’s national pastime, as well as America’s national obsession. The NFL is the most profitable professional sports league in the world, to the tune of more than nine billion dollars annually. As consumers, we have an insatiable appetite for our Sunday football fix. Of the fifty top rated sporting events in 2013, an astounding 46 were NFL games. As the title of a recent documentary suggests, we are The United States of Football.

The Specter of Head Trauma

It appeared nothing could possibly shake the mighty pillars of college and professional football – until now. Enter the head trauma discussion that has been grabbing an increasing amount of media attention in recent years.

Current and former players are making a lot of noise about this issue. In 2013, the NFL settled a class action lawsuit with over 4,500 former players for $765 million dollars. While the NFL admitted “no admissions of liability or weakness claims” in the settlement, we now know one thing for sure – football is dangerous.

We can debate who is responsible for the head trauma suffered by football players – coaches, owners, commissioners, or players. What isn’t debatable anymore is that football is bad for your head. The average life expectancy for an American male is almost 78, whereas former NFL football players live on average only until their mid to late fifties.

It’s not just NFL players that are garnering media attention, but the sport of football itself, and particularly the potential dangers to our youth. The Obama administration thinks it’s such an important issue that a special commission on youth sports safety was recently held at the White House. Barak Obama himself weighed in on the issue, telling The New Republic that if he had a son, “I’d have to think long and hard before I let him play football.” I’m guessing if the president is paying attention to the issue so are main street moms and dads.

Getting Hit in the Head – Is It a Smart Thing?

This query seems almost laughable when you read it out loud. Who thinks getting hit in the head is anything but a bad idea? You only have one head, and how you use it is pretty darn important in the grand scheme of things. We now know the dangers of concussions on the human brain. Multiple concussions are known to lead to the brain degenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is linked to symptoms including memory loss, dementia, and depression.

If you want to participate in a sport where head trauma is a risk, then that should be an adult decision. Should you make that decision for your kid? Not having a child, I’ll leave that one up to the experts – parents.

Still, dangerous or not, some of us are still going to elect to play football, study martial arts, or play other contact sports. I will never forget the look of the doctor who examined me after I ruptured my second eardrum boxing – a mixture of disbelief and scorn. While I understood the doctor’s disapproval, we all have a thing. Whether it’s football, soda, booze, mountain climbing, or driving fast, none of these things are particularly justifiable as it relates to our health. But when it comes to our passions, safety doesn’t always enter into the picture. However, those are adult decisions to make.

As a coach for novice and amateur level boxing, I tell students that if they want to learn the craft of boxing it involves getting hit, a lot. Kids can learn technique in boxing, just like they can learn technique playing flag football, but if you want to excel at either sport, hitting and getting hit are the most important elements of proficiency. So, knowing what we know about head trauma, should kids be putting on boxing gloves or football helmets? Probably not.

The Future of Football: American or Association?

I used to joke that if God wanted us to play soccer he wouldn’t have given us hands. All joking aside, God also gave us a head and God wants us to use it – and not to ram things with.

While soccer might not have the hard hits or gladiator-type appeal, soccer is also far and above the most popular sport in the world. 36 of the top 48 professional sports leagues worldwide are association football (soccer) leagues. Will America follow suit and become obsessed with a different and safer type of football? I highly doubt it. Besides, soccer players suffer concussions, too, by hitting their heads with soccer balls.

The Future of Football and Our Youth Athletes

According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, which conducts surveys about participation in youth sports, football still reigns supreme. Football is tied with basketball as the top youth sport for boys with 40% of adolescent boys playing the sport. However, high school football participation is declining while soccer is growing. Between 2008-9 and 2012-13, high school football participation dropped 2.3% while soccer grew by 7.4%. Are we finally catching up with the rest of the world? Again, it’s doubtful. Despite the dangers, football isn’t going anywhere.

There may be a slight decline in the participation of football, but more so than injury concerns, that’s because there are other options nowadays for kids. From Facebook to lacrosse, kids have myriad options for their extracurricular time. When asked why they quit a sport, both boys and girls overwhelmingly cited that they “weren’t having fun.”

We love football as a society. It’s hard to have a passion for watching the game and then convey to your kid that it’s a bad thing. People get hurt playing football, both in the moment and in the long run. Like many facets of society, we polarize and simplify the blame game into someone else being at fault.

The reality is we’re all at fault. As a society, we passionately support a sport that is inherently dangerous. That doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. In the meantime, it’s play at your own risk – and consider who’s making that choice for your child.

References:

1. Ryan Wallerson, “Youth Participation Weakens in Basketball, Football, Baseball, Soccer.” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2014

2. Juliet Eilperin, “Obama to Host a White House summit on growing concerns over sports head injuries.” The Washington Post, May 28, 2014

3. Kay Lazar, “NFL players union and Harvard team up on landmark study of football injuries and illness,” Boston.com, January 28, 2013

4. Paulsen, “2013 Ratings Wrap: NFL Dominates List of Most-Watched Sporting Events.” SportsMediawatch.com, January 31, 2013

5. Bruce Kelley and Carl Carchia, “Hey Data Data – Swing (The Hidden Demographics of Youth Sports).” ESPN The Magazine, July 11, 2013

6. List of Professional Sports Leagues By Revenue. Wikipedia.com

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Could Head Trauma Bring an End to Football? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Since cooling down is so important, let’s look at how we get there. In this particular study, the researchers were concerned with two major methods of cooling:

• Convection: Convection cooling occurs when air flow carries heat away from the body. This is the same type of heat loss that gives us the wind chill factor when it’s cold outside. Moving air cools the skin, and in general the faster the air moves, the faster the cooling.
• Evaporation: Because evaporation requires energy to occur, it also cools the things around it. This is why we sweat. When the skin gets wet, heat is conducted away from the body faster because of the moisture, and then we are cooled further when it turns into its gas form.

The reason why linemen are at greater risk for heat illness might be due in part to reduced self-generated air flow. Put more simply, linemen tend to not move as much as the other positions, but they still work hard. As a result of covering less distance and wearing all those pads, they don’t get much air flow on their skin. With less air flow, it makes sense that convection is significantly reduced for linemen.

However, in this study, the researchers focused on evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling also works best when there is air flow. Think about how much colder a wet t-shirt feels to take off when you have a fan blowing on it. The researchers found that evaporative cooling was also reduced in linemen due to lack of air flow. Heat loss in linemen was significantly reduced in every practice workout. The researchers also found evaporative cooling was over sixteen times more effective at cooling than convection.

One thing the researchers didn’t mention was the effect that the increased size of the linemen had on heat reduction. In this study, the linemen were 43% larger than the other players. This factor is important because larger individuals have a lower surface-area-to-volume ratio, and thus less potential to lose heat to the environment. This can play a large role in preventing heat loss.

It’s important for linemen to increase air flow on hot days whenever possible. The researchers suggested using fans either while drilling during practice or when the linemen are of the field. This practice will improve evaporative cooling and allow the athletes to recover faster, while also reducing the proven risk of heat-induced illnesses.

References:

1. Tomasz Deren, et. al., “Maximum heat loss potential is lower in football linemen during a NCAA summer training camp due to lower self-generated air flow,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000427

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Football Linemen More Susceptible to Heat Illness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The NFL-225 correlates to strength and endurance in sport, which should come as no surprise. What was missing before this new study was science regarding the reliability of this test. There are different kinds of reliability that are important for coaches who use testing procedures like this one, and before now these were not known for the NFL-225. The researchers tested the following types of reliability:

• Absolute Reliability: This is the ability for an athlete to repeat a performance, given adequate rest. In this study the researchers used a week-long period to assess absolute reliability.
• Relative Reliability: In groups of test takers, relative reliability is the likelihood that any given participant will maintain their rank over time.
• Smallest Worthwhile Difference: This is probably the most interesting reliability test. This value is related to absolute reliability and reflects typical test-to-test variations. What it means in more practical terms is how much an athlete needs improve on the test in order to make to expect a meaningful increase in performance that can’t be attributed to other factors.

In the study, the researchers enlisted 72 Division I football players to perform the 225lb bench press test. Each athlete performed the test three times during a three-week period. Each player was assigned a group based on their position, their performance on the test, and their size.

The researchers discovered a high degree of absolute and relative reliability for this test. They found the test is generally reproducible and has minimal variation. The smallest worthwhile difference on the 225lb bench press test was three repetitions. This means a change in performance of three repetitions or more can be attributed to training, whereas smaller improvements might be the result of some other influence.

For larger players, 225lbs was only about half of their one rep max on the bench press, which means the test was actually more of an endurance assessment. However, when the researchers controlled for body size, the correlation between max strength and the NFL-225 didn’t diminish much. For this reason, they recommended focusing on maximum overall strength to improve on the NFL-225, rather than simply working with the test weight.

Ultimately, the NFL-225 is a valid and reliable test for strength and endurance. Getting bigger is one way to improve performance in this test, but if that’s not an option, working on your one rep max is critical as well. Of course, a combination of the two would be ideal.

References:

1. Bryan Mann, et. al., “Reliability and Smallest Worthwhile Difference of the NFL-225 Test in NCAA Division I Football Players,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000411

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Reliability of the NFL-225 Bench Press Test appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Big players have a clear advantage in such collisions, and the offensive and defensive linemen tend to be the biggest players on the team. (For readers not familiar with the game, a discussion of the offensive and defensive positions can be found here.)

Body Mass Index (BMI) Does Not Predict Health Outcomes

Recent studies have shown that body mass index (BMI) is not a good measure of overall fitness, especially in athletes. Dense muscle can allow an athlete to be heavier than average for his height without adverse health consequences.¹ Merely being big is not necessarily unhealthy.

Nonetheless, studies of retired NFL linemen have found that they are 52% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than comparable members of the general public. One study found that 60% of retired linemen had metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors that includes poor blood glucose control, elevated triglycerides, and high blood pressure, among other symptoms. While we think of athletes generally as fit and healthy, is that really true of football players?

Bigger and Badder

A study at Miami University of Ohio attempted to answer that question.² It considered 123 high school and 82 college football players, of whom 74 were offensive or defensive linemen, 58 were wide receivers or defensive backs (considered “skilled” positions in football jargon), and the remainder (72) were quarterbacks, running backs, tight ends, and so forth (the “athletic” positions). The study measured body fat percentage, blood pressure, fasting glucose, and fasting levels of both triglycerides and high-density lipoproteins (HDL; “good” cholesterol).

The researchers found significant differences between positions, regardless of playing level. The average body fat percentage for linemen was 24.8%, compared to 15.3% for athletic positions and 12.1% for skilled positions. 6.8% of the sample population had three or more markers of metabolic syndrome, and 92.3% of those were linemen. To put these numbers in context, though, as many as 34% of U.S. adults over twenty years of age have three or more markers for metabolic syndrome. As many as 16% of teenage boys are obese. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among players in the study was comparable to or lower than among their non-athletic peers.

It’s also difficult to differentiate between cause and effect. Are linemen more likely to carry excess weight because the demands of the position encourage them to do so? Or do large individuals gravitate to the position because it is a good fit for their existing body type? While this study cannot answer that question, a clue may be found in the difference in obesity rates between the high school and college students studied. The average body fat percentage for high school linemen was 26.1%, compared to 22.9% for college linemen. It’s possible that the more sophisticated game at the college level places more emphasis on athleticism over sheer mass.

Nonetheless, linemen are the biggest players on the team at every level, from high school to professional. A lineman who is merely average-sized in high school may need to get bigger or change positions in order to continue to play in college and beyond, even though excessive weight gain can have clear consequences for the athlete’s long term health.

“Fit” and “Healthy” May Not Be The Same For Linemen

Most high school athletes – in any sport – will not compete at the Division I college level, much less play professionally. As the researchers emphasize, strength and conditioning coaches have a responsibility to help athletes balance short-term athletic goals against longer-term health consequences. Metabolic syndrome markers like waist circumference and blood pressure are easy to measure; they can and should be used to identify athletes who are at risk.

References:

1. Rexford S. Ahima and Mitchell A. Lazar, “The Health Risk of Obesity-Better Metrics Imperative,” Science, 341(6148), 856-858 (2013).

2. Gary D. Steffes, et. al., “Prevalence Of Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors In High School And NCAA Division I Football Players,” J. Str. And Cond. Res., 27(7), 1749-1757 (2013).

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Football’s Big Men: Fit or Fat? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Regardless of your opinion on the efficacy of the combine, it’s still something to see. With some of the world’s best professional athletes putting on a physical show and accomplishing feats such as bench pressing 225lbs for over 40 reps, it’s enough to make any serious lifter pumped up just thinking about it. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning looked at the differences between the athletes and combine results over a span of about ten years.

Over the last decade and a half there have been numerous rule changes and many advances in knowledge and awareness of preparation for sport. In this study, the researchers wanted to see if these changes had altered the demands required for elite professional football players.

If you’re not familiar with the combine, it’s a series of physical tests that can alter a player’s placement in the draft. The tests include mainstays such as various distance sprints and shuttle runs, different kinds of jumping, and the aforementioned bench press test. Researchers also looked at the height and weight of each of the 15 positions in football. They looked at two blocks of years – the first being three years centered around 2000, and the second being three years centered around 2009.

There were no differences in height or weight in the athletes that made for an obvious trend. As far as performances went, however, there were some substantial differences. Usually in a sport there’s an upward trend in athleticism as time goes on. In this case, however, the trend wasn’t universally positive.

The athletes were much faster in the more recent sample, performing much better in the straight sprints. There was an improvement in the 3-cone drill as well, which is similar to a shuttle run but with cones in an L-shape. On the other hand, there was a decline in the 18.3-meter shuttle. The athlete’s vertical jumps were not as high, but their horizontal leaps were greater. These were not positional distinctions, but rather held true across all positions.

The varying results over time bring up questions about the nature of testing. It could be possible that there is a bias toward these tests, and so a greater chance of being well trained for these tests going in. The athletes may also have seen greater potential to stand out in these exercises so as to improve their draft position. The authors of the study suspect the tests that showed improvement over time measured traits that have become favored among coaches for better athletes, such as explosiveness and speed.

Because of the technical and tactical complexity of a sport like football, deciding what tests by which to judge the abilities of the athletes is difficult, and there are numerous reasons why the results could change in time. It seems like football athletes are becoming more explosive, or at least better trained, but it might be time to review the tests themselves.

References:

1. Daniel Robbins, et. al, “Changes in the athletic profile of elite college American football players,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(4), 2013

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Football Players More Explosive Than 10 Years Ago appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Like many, I googled Clowney to find that he is 6’6” tall and 256 pounds – at 19 years old. I just don’t remember beasts like him existing when I was that age.

American football players are getting bigger every year. Never was this more painfully obvious than on New Year’s Day when Jadeveon Clowney, defensive end for the University of South Carolina, brutally tackled a running back from the University of Michigan during the Outback Bowl, causing a fumble and changing the momentum of the game.

Like many, I googled Clowney to find that he is 6’6” tall and 256 pounds – at 19 years old. I just don’t remember beasts like him existing when I was that age.

A recent study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research proves some truth in my suspicion.

Researchers studied body measurements from college and professional football players over the last seventy years. They examined height, weight, and body composition, and grouped the results by position played on the field.

The conclusion – American football players are much heavier than seventy years ago, and they’re getting heavier every year. Both at the college and professional levels, all players show a trend towards increasing size. Lineman are growing most quickly and skill positions are growing most slowly, but they’re all growing.

In fact, the average lineman from 2011 outweighs his counterpart from 1942 by over forty pounds.

You might be wondering if football programs are simply recruiting taller players. After all, taller players generally weigh more than shorter ones. Nope. Players are generally about the same height as seventy years ago.

What about body composition? Well, skill positions are getting slightly leaner and everybody else is getting fatter – especially linemen. Modern linemen average about 18% body fat. The leanest players on the field are skill positions at about 9% body fat.

In general, almost every player on the field today is carrying about 2-3% more body fat than his 1942 counterpart.

What could be the reasons behind this significant change? The widespread adoption of strength and conditioning programs is probably the largest factor.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded in 1978. This marked the widespread beginning of the professional strength and conditioning coach. Now every serious football program in America employs a strength and conditioning coach.

Training philosophy has also changed. In the 1940s most football training was skill specific. Very little time was devoted to general strength training. Off-season training periods were also shorter.

One thing is certain: all of these factors are producing bigger, stronger, meaner football players than ever before.

The athleticism we see from these men is astounding. So say a little prayer for every 19 year-old quarterback who has to start a play knowing that 6’6” 256 lb Jadeveon Clowney is hunting him like the Predator in a southeast Asian jungle.

References:

1. Anthony R. Anzell, et al. Changes in Height, Body Weight, and Body Composition in American Football Players from 1942 to 2011. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.27(2):277-284, February 2013. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31827f4c08

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Football Players Are Getting Bigger and Bigger appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Though I didn’t feel any affinity for the game, I did (and still do) love to hear my dad tell stories about the adventures he had while playing. It was clear that he adored his time on the gridiron and that football taught him many of the things parents hope their kids will learn through playing sports. In my childhood, I’d even ask him stuff every now and then while he was watching, like what a safety is and why the fourth down seems to be so significant. (I have no memory whatsoever of the first thing and a vague understanding of the second.)

It was this history of wishing I could have given my dad more of a partner in football fandom as well as a realization that I miss out on a big cultural phenomenon by not really caring about football that caused me to pick up this year’s The Last Headbangers: NFL Football in the Rowdy, Reckless ‘70s – The Era That Created Modern Sports by Kevin Cook. Cook, a former Sports Illustrated staffer, chronicles the history of the game in the twentieth century. As the title indicates, he focuses on the decade in which modern football made huge advancements toward its current level of technical sophistication and cultural significance.

Cook accomplishes several things in this homage to a sport he obviously loves. First, he paints a vivid picture of the earlier days of football, when players hitchhiked to practice and maintained jobs in the off season to make ends meet. He depicts the football of the 1970s as testosterone-laden, punctuated by condoned violence and notable changes in the ways coaches used passing and running the ball to gain yardage.

Second, he observes how the game has changed over time, both culturally and strategically. He describes the development of Monday Night Football into a ratings and revenue juggernaut, and shares trivia even the most casual fan (or me) would enjoy. For example, “Super Bowl” was originally intended to be a placeholder name until someone came up with something better. He also describes how the game became more research-based, increasingly incorporating analysis of both statistics and video footage, and, eventually, ear pieces for players to communicate with coaches while on the field.

Third, he highlights some of the unique personalities that characterized the game, from players like troubled Terry Bradshaw and gifted Joe Montana to egomaniacal commentator Howard Cosell and iconic coaches Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh. Based on Cook’s description of these figures, it’s easy to see how they became larger than life and why their impact is still felt many years later.

And finally, he sheds light on the plight of aging and retired players, some of whom are wheelchair bound, in constant pain, and financially insecure, as they finished their tenure years before the multi-million-dollar contracts today’s players negotiate. For instance, “Like others of his football generation, the great Johnny U(nitas) was broken down at forty, barely able to reach up and drag a pocket comb through his crew cut, much less skip out of the pocket to dodge a blitz” (pp. 108).

This part of the story hit particularly close to home. My father’s time on the field resulted in his sustaining numerous injuries, including a hit to the knee that required surgery and gives him constant pain nowadays, and this was from high school and college play only. I don’t think he’d do anything differently given a chance, which speaks volumes about his love of the game. Regardless, it has taken a toll. Apparently the game has taken such a toll – arguably a worse toll – on multiple players highlighted in the book. Players have suffered both physically and psychologically, and many of them retired before the days of the multi-million dollar deal, which means they are also in precarious financial positions. But like my father, these guys loved football.

The Last Headbangers has something for everyone: the most avid fan, the cultural historian, and even the disinterested daughter trying to learn more about someone she loves. Cook’s book has succeeded in piquing my interest in watching football, albeit football from the ‘70s. I’m sure I can find some archival footage, and I’m sure my dad will watch with me.

“The Last Headbangers: NFL Football in the Rowdy, Reckless ’70s – The Era that Created Modern Sports” is available for $16.63 at Amazon.com.

The post Book Review: “The Last Headbangers: NFL Football in the Rowdy, Reckless ’70s” by Kevin Cook appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The study assessed 289 players from successful Division I programs over a period of 5 years for 1RM bench press and reps completed with 225 pounds. First, the 1RM for each player had to be determined. Players warmed up using lighter weights at about 60-80% of their 1RM. Weight was added after completion of one rep, and the player was given a minimum of 5 minutes rest before adding more weight to the bar. The objective was to reach the 1RM within 3-5 lifts.¹

One week later, the NFL-225 test was performed. The test required the standard “touch and go” method of bench press: the bar was lowered slowly to touch the chest before being pressed immediately to full extension. No bouncing of the bar off the chest was allowed. The head, shoulders, and butt had to remain in contact with the bench throughout the lift. No more than a 2-second pause was allowed between each repetition. Simple measures of body composition were estimated from body mass index (BMI) to assess the potential of selected demographic variables for reducing prediction error associated with the NFL-225 test.²

The statistical analyses of the tests produced a similar equation to other equations developed with players at various levels of competition. This indicates a consistency in the relationship between maximum repetitions with submaximal loads and peak strength. Cross-validation of the newly developed equation on a random sample of elite players predicted 67% within +/- about 10 pounds of their actual 1RM. This study also indicated that mid-range body weights (194-218 pounds) tended to have their 1RM predicted with greater accuracy than the lighter or heavier players.³

After this study was completed, it was determined that the best equation to predict 1RM bench press from the NFL-225 test was a previous equation developed from Slovak et al.:

1 Rep Max = 221.8 lb. + 6.81 x Reps @ 225⁴

For example, if a player performed 24 reps at 225 pounds, you could predict he his 1RM would be approximately 385 pounds. (221.8+6.81×24 = 385.24).

Have you ever given the 225 bench press test a go? How many reps did you get, and what does it predict your 1RM to be?

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post NFL 225 Test Accurate at Predicting 1RM Bench Press appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Football Workouts

Our entire twelve-week football program is currently available online. It is a linear progression program with the goal of safely building your strength training without sacrificing power. It was designed by seasoned football coach Terrance Gant. Click here for access to the entire twelve-week program.

Hockey Workouts

Our twelve-week hockey program just started this week. Jump in now to do the workouts in real time with coach Conor Doherty. This program is designed to optimize speed and strength, both essential aspects of fitness for competitive hockey players. Click here to get started on workout number one.

New sport specific workouts are posted every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday morning. We also broadcast them on our Twitter and Facebook.

Is there a sport you’d like to see a program for? Let us know in the comments below.

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