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Good Morning! Tomorrow is the National College Football Championship, Ohio State vs Notre Dame! And today, I will be doing a GIVEAWAY to one lucky subscriber. Here is what you have to do.
Before kickoff on Monday (7:30 EST.) get 1 person to subscribe to this newsletter.
Have them sign up with this Link
Then, respond to this email with who you think will win (have to get this right to win), your predicted final score of the game, and that persons email!
Side note, you have unlimited entries. For every subscriber you get to sign up, you get one game winner and score prediction. Just make sure to let me know who you got to sign up and have them sign up prior to kickoff!
The winner of the giveaway will receive a copy of one of my favorite books as well as a $35 gift card to one of the following brands of your choosing:
Good Luck and Go Bucks!!
Heres the break down of today’s newsletter!
Weight lifting for football and how the gym transfers into the sport
Weight lifting for running and how the gym transfers into the sport
Weight lifting for golf and how the gym transfers into the sport
If you’re interested in getting a customized 12 week program tailored to your needs you can apply here with this link!
Weight Lifting for Football
Weight lifting is crucial in football. Not only to prevent injury but also to improve your skills on the field. There isn’t the “perfect lift” for football players that many influencers on Instagram and Tiktok (RIP) say, but there are some exercises that will transfer onto the field to better your performance. But before I get into that, lets talk about lifting throughout the year and the importance of power training.
Periodization
Periodization is breaking down workouts into phases to optimize performance, prevent burnout, and to ensure steady progress. This is important for every sport.
Lets start at the beginning of the off season. This is generally high volume and nonspecific to football movements. High volume meaning high sets and high reps. The intensity (amount of weight) isn’t high during this phase. We want to build up your conditioning and increase you strength with high reps.
Then we get into the first transition period. This is your preseason. In this phase, you’re shifting training focus to strength and its translation into power development. Power, in my opinion, is the most important training aspect in football, because the sports is based off of explosiveness.
Next we get into the competitive phase. This is in season when we try to maintain or increase strength and power and are very sports specific. This phase is important because throughout the season, you lose strength playing the sport. This loss of strength can lead to decrease in performance and possible injury.
Lastly, we get into the second transition period. This is Immediately after the season for about 1-4 weeks. This is where you want to recoup and rehab. This can include low volume non specific sports movements or even participating in another sport.
Power Training
Power is the ability to produce a force quickly, combining strength and speed. This is the heart of football and extremely important to train and to train properly. This is a mistake I made as a young athlete. Because often we try to stay high in weight all the time because its “cool” to be stronger than everyone else. But remember, the best athletes aren’t the strongest athletes on the field. In football, the best athletes, especially looking at skilled players, are the ones best at producing power. Here is how to train power in the weight room.
We want to do 3-5 sets of 1-2 reps of 80-90% of your 1 rep max. Or 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps of 75-85% of your 1 rep max. The importance of these exercise is to move the somewhat heavy weight FAST. This will train your muscles to be explosive. It is extremely important to go down in weight if your not moving the heavy weight fast enough when training for power. Remember, you are training to be a better football player, not to be the strongest in the weight room. This is where the strike in blocking is produced. Or acceleration off the ball to blow by the defender. Or Jumping for a jump ball in the endzone. Power is the heart of football and that development starts in the weight room.
Weight Room → Performance
Like I said above, we lift weights to perform better on the field, not to be the strongest person in the weight room. A key point to remember in the weight room because temptation to just lift heavy weights and lose the focus of performance benefits always appears.
As far as the weight room transferring to the field, here are some of exercises that can translate better onto the field for some positions. Again, this is not “the perfect exercise everyone needs to do” nor is it only specific to that position. But definitely can be incorporated during training at some point. More specifically during the first transition period or competitive period as a progression from the pervious off season non sport specific exercise to more sport specific exercises.
It is very important to point out that the topics spoken about is not being referred to as an on/off switch but rather turning the dial. Meaning, your making gradual adjustments towards that training goal rather than completely going all in or stopping. For example, in the off season, it is not all high sets high reps non sport specific movements for every single exercises. Instead the majority of these exercises fall into this category.
Never be a prisoner to your past. It was just a lesson, not a life sentence.
Weight Lifting for Running
If you are just getting into running, weight lifting is an essential piece of the puzzle to help your performance but to also help prevent common injuries. These common injuries can include patellar tendonitis, IT band syndrome, or shin splints and they often present in new runners because their body isn’t used to the new style of stress. Weight lifting can help prevent and resolve some of these issues.
Here are the main muscles I would make sure to hit in the weight room as a runner (and beginner). Also included is one exercise you can do for that muscle group. The rep count should be higher to build aerobic capacity, 2-4 sets 12-20 repetitions lower weight.
If you are a more experienced runner and would like to run faster in your next race, weight lifting will build up the muscle capacity to allow you to run fast for longer periods of time. Including a designated rest break of 45 seconds- 1 minute and 30 seconds will increase your aerobic capacity which will additionally build your ability to run at faster and harder paces for longer periods of time.
Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill
Weight Lifting for Golf
Before we know it, golf season is will be here again. Preparing your body for the golf course can start here in the winter. These are some of the main points to hit in the weight room to perform better on the course to impress your coworkers, your boss, or even just some friends at the next golf outing.
First, making sure you have a good amount of rotational mobility in your spine and in your hips. This will allow you to not only go further back in your back swing, but also allow you to feel more comfortable at that end range and through the swing. Additionally you will be smoother through this movement producing a smoother swing.
Once you have this mobility, strengthening these muscles throughout this range of motion can allow you to have a more powerful and efficient swing. Golf is another explosive sport, therefore, training explosive rotational movements can translate well onto the course.
If you want a 12 week program to get ready for golf season, you can apply for a consult and get a customized plan just for you!
There are two kinds of people in the world: Takers and Givers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better
Podcast of the Week - Serendipity with Inky Johnson, the plan
In Episode 45 of Serendipity with Inky Johnson, "The Plan," Inky dives into the unpredictable turns that shape our lives and how moments of adversity often set the stage for our greatest breakthroughs. This isn’t just about motivation—it’s about recognizing the beauty in life’s detours and discovering purpose in the process. Whether you're an athlete navigating transitions or someone seeking clarity in the chaos, this episode offers a grounded perspective and practical insights. Don’t miss this powerful conversation.