Football Training at Home

The myth that you need to have fancy equipment to really do a great football training workout or that you need to lift in an expensive gym in order to be a great athlete is complete B.S. I’ve heard way too many times that in order to get a real, hard-core football training session in, you need expensive equipment or a fully stocked commercial gym!

History is full of guys who trained in conditions that would be considered damn-near 3rd World who went on to be come champions. Jim Davis and Tommy Kono, two former Olympic Gold Medallists in Olympic Lifting, both trained in basements on bent bars. Tommy used dirt in place of chalk. Football training is about attitude, effort and work...not fancy machines!

John Davis Clean & Jerking Over 350lbs - How many guys at your local gym can even Squat that?" src="http://www.explosivefootballtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/john-davis-clean-and-jerk.jpg" width=395>
John Davis Clean & Jerking Over 350lbs - How many guys at your local gym can even Squat that?

There are teams of Olympic lifter in foreign countries who train in freezing cold training halls, with bent bars, and barely have enough to eat…yet they kick the asses of guys training in state-of-the-art facilities year after year.
Why? Attitude. Balls. Intestinal fortitude. Whatever you wanna call it. Effort is a great word for it.

Can a football player train to get big and strong lifting at home? Absolutely!

I’ve been lifting in garages, sheds, and basements for over 10 years. I’ve trained people in those same sparse facilities, and guess what? The results are better than those who train in a commercial gym.


If you are forced to lift at home, what equipment do you need? Can you get a real hard-core football training workout in at home?
A bar and weights.
If you can get your hands on a squat rack and a bench, great. But, if not, don’t sweat it. With just a cheap 300lb set (you can find these for $50 on Craigstlist or in the newspaper classifieds), you can do a ton of exercises, including:

Deadlifts
Rows
Presses
Curls
All deadlift variations (Snatch Grip, Sumo, Suitcase)
Cleans and Snatches
High Pulls
Floor Presses
Bar Push-ups

That’s just a small sample. Look at that list. Do you really think you can’t make progress on just those lifts? If you add some dumbbells you are set! Is there anything missing from that list that would hurt your football training goals? I don’t think so!
If you can’t get a bar and plates, get a sandbag and do every exercise listed above.

Check out any issue of MILO (a strength training journal which I often write for) and you’ll see pictures of guys training on cement weights, with sandbags, barrels, stones and whatever else they can lift.

If you are limited to the above tools, here’s a great workout to get started:
3 days per week do a training session with a Push, a Pull, and a Row of some kind. Throw in ab and arm work as needed.

Deadlifts – 5 x 5Rows – 3 x 8Presses – 5 x 5Curls – 3 x 8Sit-ups – 3 x 10The next session try:

Sumo DL – 6 x 41-arm Row – 3 x 10 (load one side of the bar and row it)Floor Press – 3 x 8 (just like a bench press, but lying on the floor: Please have a spotter! If you can not find a spot, use dumbbells or substitute Bar Push-ups)Behind the Head Extensions – 3 x 8Side Deadlifts – 3 x 10 (for the abs)

The third session you can repeat the first, but go a bit lighter. It’s a classic push/pull/squat with a heavy/medium/light loading scheme. Simple and effective.

In my home gym, I’ve trained countless athletes and lifters. On a simple platform, I’ve seen dozens of 500+lb Deadlifts, 300 – 425lb Benches (one 605, by your favorite strength coach), and slabs of muscle have been built. The equipment is basic.
Sure, I add to it when possible, but those add-ons are the sides, not the entree!

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