Oakland University Football 6-Week GPP Training Program Review
The handful of committed and hardworking football players from the Football Club at Oakland University have just wrapped up their initial 6-weeks of training and they had some awesome results to share with you (see below).
The Training Program : Results
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Chris was able to add 50 pounds to his bench press in 6-Weeks…that is insane.
I asked him previously how much he had benched and the best he had hit was 275…
I’ll take it.
The cool thing about the results is obviously the majority of the athletes strength levels have increased in both the Squat and Bench Press even though strength was not our primary focus.
We were just introducing a specific stress to get these guys prepped for a more intense Strength, Power and Peaking phase leading up the Football season.
The Training Program : Explained
I decided to implement Cal Dietz’s GPP training methodology from his book TriPhasic.
Also, since I was not entirely clear on how to utilize his GPP method, I found William Wayland’s Blog which were VERY helpful on how to structure their training block as well as clarify how to implement it with the team.
Why begin with GPP?
The primary goal and objective of their training block is to simply raise their general conditioning, address movement quality / technique and essentially build a strong and solid foundation for the preceding phases of training so they can handle a higher intensities of training stress to maximize their performance for the upcoming season.
When we have a solid foundation (general strength and energy system) then everything else we put on top of it (the athletes sport skill) will have a more stable and broad base to build off of.
The Training Program : Breakdown
The 6-Weeks were broken down into 3 phases dictated by their energy system category:
- Aerobic : 2-Weeks
- Lactate : 2-Weeks
- Alactic Anaerobic : 2-Weeks
These guys trained 3x/ week. Tues & Saturday they lifted and did resisted sprints with the Rogue Dog Sled.
On Thursday, they did some resisted sled sprints and also some medicine ball throws.
1. Aerobic Program – Weeks 1-2
We set up 3 to 4 stations of paired exercises for the football players. Typically 1 lower body strength movement and 1 upper body strength movement to create a more systemic / global (entire body) training effect.
=Sample Day=
1A – Barbell Bench Press – 60% of 1RM x 1 Rep
1B – TRX Rows – BW x 5
*Repeated continuous for 5 minutes*
== Active rest in-between circuits ==
Band pull aparts, core or mobility work
2A- TrapBar Deadlift – Roughly 60% of what I would expect them to be able to do x 1 Rep
2B- Push Up x 1 Rep
*Repeated continuous for 5 minutes*
== Active rest in-between circuits ==
Band pull aparts, core or mobility work
3A- Incline DB Row x 5
3B- Football Bar Floor Press x 1 – 60% of 1RM
*Repeated continuous for 5 minutes*
2. Lactate Program – Weeks 3-4
We set up 3 to 4 stations of paired exercises for the football players. Typically sticking with an upper or lower emphasis to the paired exercises.
In this phase, the loads are very light, but reps are raised to increase the muscle’s work capacity. Many of the athletes for the first 2 mins are like “this is light! let’s get it” and by the time the end of the training they were shaking…so stick to the prescribed loads and do the work!
=Sample Day=
1A – Bench Press – 35-45% x 10
1B – TRX Rows – BW x 10
*Repeated continuous for 5 minutes*
== Active rest in-between circuits ==
Band pull aparts, core or mobility work
2A- DB Step Ups (Left Leg) x10 / leg
2B- DB Step Ups (Right Leg) x10/leg
*Repeated continuous for 5 minutes*
== Active rest in-between circuits ==
Band pull aparts, core or mobility work
3A- Barbell RDL’s x10
3B- Barbell Curls x10
*Repeated continuous for 5 minutes*
3. Alactic Program – Weeks 5-6
We set up 2 to 3 stations of paired exercises for the football players. Typically alternating an upper and lower exercise.
In this phase, the loads are very heavy, and we hold an isometric contraction (not moving) for 10 seconds. We hold it for 10 seconds to ensure that we are holding it for the entire duration of that energy system and provide maximal tension within that muscle at a very high intensity.
=Sample Day=
Sprinting : Rogue Dog Sled Sprints (heavy x 3-5 reps / light x 3-5 reps)
1A – Bench Press – 90% x 10 seconds (hold at bottom of chest)
1B – DB Split-Squat – x 10 seconds (hold at bottom of squat)
1C – 2 Point DB Row – x 10 seconds (hold at top of row)
*Repeated for 3 rounds*
== Active rest in-between circuits ==
Band pull aparts, core or mobility work
2A – Pull-Up – x 10 seconds (hold at bottom of chest)
2B – DB Split-Squat – x 10 seconds (hold at bottom of squat)
2C – 2 Point DB Row – x 10 seconds (hold at top of row)
*Repeated for 3 rounds*
We are pumped to help out hard working athletes and will post the results as their off-season training progress so make sure to check back for the following phases.