Summer workouts prepare high school football players physically and mentally for the upcoming season. PLT4M took a road trip to Schuylerville High School in New York to get an inside look at what the football players and coaches are doing for their summer program. Schuylerville football summer workouts focus on strength, power, speed, injury prevention, and more. See what a typical workout looks like at Schuylerville!
Two Big Goals for Football Summer Workouts
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John Bowen, Head Football Coach and Athletic Director, has been around the sport of football his entire life. Also the strength coach, John knows that football summer workouts need to do a good job of preparing football players to compete at the highest level. For John, he says that Schuylerville football summer workouts center around two driving factors:
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Athletes need well-rounded workout programs focusing on strength, speed, power, flexibility, mobility, and more to be football-ready. In addition, high school football players need to be well-conditioned and in great shape because most players will end up being two-way players and spend most of their time on the football field on Friday nights.
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In this preparation, football players can also work towards pre-hab and injury prevention that will keep them on the football field. Football players are only as good if they can compete and avoid getting sidelined throughout the season. While every injury cannot be prevented entirely, strength training, conditioning, and working on proper technique and movement mechanics can go a long way in avoiding injuries.
Weight Room Workouts Powered by PLT4M
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As part of Schuylerville’s football summer workouts, the coaches and football players utilize PLT4M. When the team is in the weight room, they turn to PLT4M to access their workouts.
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John says that the addition of PLT4M has helped elevate the intensity, energy, and results for the football team,
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“PLT4M for us has been critical for our growth over the last three years. It’s been something during the off-season that really helps to level out the curve.”
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When John mentions curve, he is referring to the wide range of experiences and abilities student-athletes have with strength training. But the Schuylerville Football summer workouts help to meet athletes where they are.
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At the middle school level, the students work on fundamental movement patterns to set a foundation for future years of strength training.Â
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Once at the high school level, John says that PLT4M has helped to build and develop overall strength for a wide range of students,
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“At this level, we see the untrained kid or inexperienced kid whose technique starts to come along, and strength and development starts to come along just through natural maturity.”
But at the same time, the more advanced athletes are ready to start adding weight,
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“We’ve got guys that are highly trained who, when we utilize the PLT4M workset capabilities of the program, it really helps them angle up and start to make those gains.”
Additional Benefits of PLT4M
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On top of the benefits for athletes, the coaches can also gain insights about progress and improvement,
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“For us as coaches, it helps us to track their progress over the course of a month, year, duration of their time with us.”
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So it’s been really helpful for us, from a coaching staff standpoint to monitor progress and from a player’s standpoint, to really help to develop them based on what their specific needs are.
Key Takeaways on Schuylerville Football Summer Workouts
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What stands out from Schuylerville Football summer workouts is the investment that both coaches and players have made to excellence. While many schools typically have one coach running summer workouts, Schuylerville has anywhere from 5-7 coaches in the weight room at a time. In addition, the wide range of athletes showing up know consistently helps to build not only physical development, but a team culture that is infectious.
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As Schuylerville Football summer workouts come to a close, and training camp is right around the corner, watch out for this team come game day on Friday nights!
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