Saturday to Saturday. College football is a full-time job.
When I made my transition from high school to collegiate football, one of the most significant differences I noticed right away was the immense amount of detail that went into preparation for each week’s game.
Here’s a quick glance at the week of preparation leading up to a regular season game in college or the pros…
This is a conversation that every athlete needs to hear…
Entrepreneur: Steve McCollum
Brand: TFT Fitness
Website: http://www.TFTFitnessFamily.com
Instagram: @TFTFitness
The Story…
…no matter what position you play, you’ve gotta Run to Win!
Some call it punishment. I like to think of it as putting Money in the Bank!
Conditioning drills play an enormous role in the physical preparation that athletes need to do before the season begins.
As a pro, I have to make sure that I show up for training camp in great shape, so I work on my conditioning for months before the season starts.
Once the season has begun, the teams who are in the best shape will undoubtedly have an advantage over their slower, sluggish competitors.
Scroll down to read about some of my “favourite” conditioning drills.
Continue reading “5 Killer Conditioning Drills for Football (…and other Sports)”
Be the leader that you would want to follow.
It’s hard to win when you’re beating yourself.
On most losing teams, that is that case. The players have talent, the coach knows the game, but the pieces of the puzzle just aren’t fitting together the way that they should.
This is true in both sports and business.
When all of the players on a team are working in harmony, together they can achieve much more than they could ever hope to alone.
On the other hand, in the absence of strong chemistry groups lose synergy and struggle to reach their potential.
Anyone can have occasional flashes of brilliance, but there can never be true greatness on any team without first developing a winning team culture.
Here are my 3 Keys to Creating a Winning Culture:
As the head of the team, you have to be the one who sets the tempo. You are responsible for creating the environment that your assistant coaches and players will learn in, perform in, fail and succeed in. So think carefully about which behaviours you want to promote and which you want to punish.
On the first day of practice outline the expectations.
Here are some of the ground rules that I give the athletes on my youth football team:
What do you do before you workout? Here are 4 tips to get your body ready for action!
Before a game, I always hit the field early to get ready.
I start by running lengths of the field with my headphones in, visualizing the plays to be made. Then, I stack sprint drills with yoga flows and sport-specific movements to get my body into game mode.
Over my career, I have developed a personalized warm up routine that can put me in the high-performance zone physically and mentally.
But…
Considering that I play professional football, my warm up should look a little different than yours.
Even though there are thousands of different exercises that you can include in your warm up routine, there is nothing wrong with keeping things simple.
Here are four tips that you can use to maximize your athletic performance and decrease your chances of injuries.
Take a look behind the scenes and see how we produce our podcast every week.
About a year ago, I barely knew what a podcast was.
Now, I host a weekly personal development show call The Come Up Podcast with my partner, Jimmy.
Listen to the TCU Podcast on iTunes
This week, we released our 10th episode of TCU!
In honour of this milestone, we decided to take you behind the scenes and show you how we put it all together each week.
Take a look…
Resources from this video
Laptop: MacBook Pro
Mic: Audio-Technica ATR 2100
Headphones: Sony MDR-7506
Recording Software: Garage Band (Comes with the MacBook)
File Sharing: DropBox.com
Production Software: Logic Pro X
Thanks for watching!
If you want to know more about how we produce our podcast, leave a message in the comments.
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A good coach has to be well organized. Here are the templates that I use to plan my team’s practices.
Coaching youth football can be incredibly rewarding. It offers an opportunity to be a positive influence while doing something that you love.
But, to be a great coach you can’t just show up to practice and improvise.
You cannot afford to waste time by being disorganized. As the coach, it’s up to you to lead the team and make sure that everyone is prepared for game day.
What is a Practice Plan?
A practice plan is a script that college and pro coaches often use to manage the schedule within their team’s practice. It is useful because it outlines how every minute will be spent for the duration of practice.
When I am coaching at Overtime Football, I always use a template to script practices. This way I don’t have to start from scratch every time.
Building Blocks of a Perfect Practice
The 7 Period System is based on simplicity. To make things easy, all of the drills and activities that can make up a practice are divided into seven categories.
Here is a breakdown of each category and how some coaches might fit them together.
Continue reading “The 7 Period System: How to Plan a Perfect Football Practice (with .PDF Template)”
Regardless of which drills you are working, Focus On The Techniques & Fundamentals!
Movement skills are essential for players at every position in the game. As a defensive back, I rely on my agility and change-of-direction skills to chase down shifty running backs in space and cover blazing fast receivers all over the field.
Agility ladder drills are my favourite, hands down. I’ve used ladders and cones in my workouts for over 15 years to develop my speed, coordination, balance, and explosiveness.
A quick YouTube or Instagram search will return countless drills for developing quickness and stop-on-a-dime cuts. So how can you separate the helpful from the hype?
Try not to get caught up in the idea that you need to do something highly complicated to get the high-level results you need.
Regardless of which drills you are working, Focus On The Techniques & Fundamentals!
Here are 3 Tips that I keep in mind whenever working on my feet:
Work on these 3 things during your next workout or practice.
Do you have any agility tips? Leave your coaching points in the comments below.
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The best results are reserved for those who are well prepared. So, why not set yourself up for success and take the time to build some positive routines?
“If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” – Will Smith
I always keep my gym bag by the closet door, packed and ready to go.
All of my life I have loved playing sports and working out, but even as a pro athlete, sometimes the hardest part of being active is just getting started.
During my career, I have noticed that the best results are reserved for those who are well prepared. So, why not set yourself up for success and take the time to build some positive routines?
One of the most productive routines I have involves packing my gym bag long before my next workout. This lets me grab my stuff and go when it’s time to put in work, no hesitation, no procrastination, no time wasted.
Check out my gym bag gear guide and let me know what you think.
Do you keep all seven of these tools in your gym bag?
Proper Footwear
Gym Workouts: The exercises that you do and the surface that you train on will determine which shoes you should wear. Whenever I’m in the gym lifting weights, jumping or changing directions I wear cross trainers because they offer more lateral stability than traditional running shoes. Running shoes are perfect for jogging, cardio equipment or anything that is only linear.
How can you tell the difference between running shoes and cross trainers? Running shoes have more of a curve at the front to help you roll off your toes. Most cross trainers, on the other hand, are flatter with a more rigid arch to better support your feet when you are changing directions quickly. (Don’t believe me? Ask Asics)
Field Workouts: When I am on the field doing football drills I always wear cleats. Anything else is going to limit the quality of the workout. Last season I wore the white and gold Nike Huarache Lacrosse cleats, but this year I’m rolling with the low cut Nike Vapor Untouchable Pros.
My Foam Roller
Stretching is great, but there are other great ways to get deep into your muscles and loosen them up. My Trigger Point Foam Roller is a life saver. I try to foam roll at least once every day because it helps to keep me feeling fresh and flexible.
An Agility Ladder
This is my secret weapon. I never leave home without it. The Agility Ladder is extremely versatile for training speed, agility, coordination, balance, and explosiveness. You can get one of these ladders in the sporting goods section of WalMart for about $30 and it will worth every penny.
A Stack of Disc Cones
Cones are used as landmarks in movement based drills. Since I play football, the majority of my workouts take place on the turf, so cones are a huge part of what I do.
Disc Cones are really good to keep in your gym bag because they are stackable and don’t take up much space. I usually bring more than I need just in case. The average drill will require six to eight cones, so bring 20.
A Shaker Cup filled with BioSteel “Pink”
If you have sports drinks, protein, or other supplements to mix then your best bet is to use a shaker bottle instead of a regular water bottle. That way you can mix up the powders completely, so they aren’t chalky or lumpy… yuck.
As for fueling your body, everyone has heard that it is important to drink water and stay hydrated while you exercise. This is completely true. However, when you sweat during a workout you lose much more than just water.
Personally, I like to drink BioSteel High Performance Sports Mix during my workouts. It replenishes the B-vitamins, BCAAs, and electrolytes that you need to make it through a tough workout. Also, BioSteel HPSM is sugar-free, made using natural flavours and non-GMO ingredients. Unlike Gatorade, which is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, “The Pink Stuff” is sweetened with a plant called stevia and coloured with beets.
Wireless Head Phones
I love to listen to music during a lift or run. It helps me block everything out and really lock-in on the session. For the last year, I have been rocking the PowerBeats2 wireless earphones. They are perfect for being active. I love em, but it’s almost time for an upgrade.
My next pair will probably be the completely wireless Apple Air Pods or the PowerBeats3. Not 100% sure yet.
A Football
Coaches and trainers make sports more complicated than they really need to be. With all of the high-tech equipment and expert strategies, we can easily lose track of the real goals we are working towards.
Football is a simple game when you really look at it. Get the ball, keep the ball, move the ball across the goal line. So, I like to catch the ball and practice carrying it whenever I get a chance. That’s why I never leave home without my football.
This is what my gym bag looks like. I always keep the essentials with me which helps me to get the most out of every workout. You might not be training for football season, but you should still take some time to figure out what tools can help you hone your craft.
Keeping my bag ready to go makes it easy to get up and go when it’s gym time. Try packing your gym bag before you go to bed so that you can hit the ground running in the morning. This trick always helps me avoid procrastinating.
Let me know what you think of my list. What other things do you like to bring to your workouts? Leave me a comment and let me know.
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P.S. – For more fitness tips listen to Episode #2 of “The Come Up” Podcast here: How to Make Gains in the Gym.
It’s Here! Listen to my new Podcast “The Come Up: Steps to Success”
With the tools that are available on the internet these days, it has never been easier to share your story.
This year, I’m setting out to explore the world of podcasting with my man Jimmy Lawson. Together, we are launching a mini-series called “The Come Up: Steps to Success” on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Google Play.
After listening to a bunch of podcasts myself, I realized that the best episodes provide useful information and helpful advice, not just small talk. So, on The Come Up, we are going to share valuable tips that you can use on your road to success.
The Come Up Podcast is all about personal development and becoming a better athlete, student, parent or professional.
Listen to our first episode on SoundCloud, iTunes or Google Play right now.
This is my first time ever doing anything like this, so I’d really appreciate it if you gave me some feedback. Leave a comment on iTunes or Google Play.
For more information about The Come Up visit the Podcast Website.
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Courtney Stephen 