Rock Solid Team Training On A Budget

As promised last week (and started in our newsletter last month) I’m interacting more with the Synergy readers.   This first question comes from a football coach that needs help training a complete team of beginner athletes.  Don’t worry, if this wasn’t your question (and I got a bunch after my 2nd email) Iwill be doing four or five more quickly.

Watch the video to hear the full question, but here are the basics:

• Full team
• Not much equipment
• Mostly beginners to the sport
• Young training age

I would not take a group like this and expect to bench, squat, and dead lift.  Football season is 4 weeks away so it is time to get a big bang for buck in the time they have available.  If you start with the power lifts, you will barely have sufficient form in this short window.

Here’s 3 days broken down for you.

Day 1:  Sled Pulls.  Lots of them.

Use the equipment mentioned in the video below to get yourself 2 or 3 tire sleds.  If you can’t stack it with weights, put a board across the bottom and fill it with DBs, rocks, other kids, ANYTHING for resistance.

Sled Workout:

1.  Forward Sled Sprints 10 x 15 yards with near complete rest (60 – 90 seconds, low weight)

2.  Backward Sled Sprints, same as above

3.  Heavy Sled sprints, 4 x 20 yards (60 seconds rest)

4.  Team Sled Relays.  Create something and have fun with it.

Day 2:  Gym Day – Full Body

Since the assumption is there is not a lot of equipment in the gym, we have to keep this super simple and practical.

Here’s what I mean by “goblet” position with the DB.

1.  Dumbbell Goblet Squats 5 x 8

2a.  Supine Rows 4 x 12

2b.  Push Ups 4 x 12

3. Goblet Hold Walking Lunges 3 x 10 yards

4a. Partner GHRs (shown in this video) 5 x 5

4b.  Renegade Rows w/ Push Ups  5 x 6 rows ea arm (12 push ups)

Sure there are lots of other fancy exercises, but this will set you a rock solid base.  Add core (planks with great form), or other accessories exercises only if you have time and your squad isn’t beat up.

Day 3.  Upper/Lower Outdoors

This day is simple and I just prefer to get outdoors with teams.

1. Rotational Tire Circuit (as shown in the video) x 4

2.  Forward Bear Crawls 5 x 20 yards

3.  Sideways Bear Crawls 5 x 20 yards

4.  Backwards Bear crawls 5 x 20 yards.

5.  Sprints (position specific.  Big boys 5 – 15 yards with 30-45 sec rest)  Quality over quantity.

On this day feel free to finish with a tire tug of war or any team builder.

Team Training On A Budget Video

Good luck with your seasons!

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -

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