powerlifting team?

Fairly certain by "power lifting" He is talking about the sport of powerlifting (competing in bench, squat, and deadlift) and by team and am fairly certain he means having athletes from different weight classes comprise a team that attends meets and competes against other teams (which are comprised of athletes from different weight classes)

Personally I think it is great. I was a pl in high school and I was pretty good, it really just gave me goals and real time competition in the offseason. In all honesty, what would it hurt? You lift weights in the offseason anyway. Aside from wearing suits and knee wraps at meets it's raw power. For me it was a bonus and kept the competition high in the offseason.

We have a weight lifting team(Florida) and 5-6 meets a year. You qualify for state with a certain total of your bench and clean. You get 3 lifts of each and you combine your totals. 250 bench, 250 clean=490 total
We have 10 classes
119
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154
169
183
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Heavy

Coach, our head football coach does the weightlifting team. It really helps schools who don't stress lifting anyways out of season. Just gives the coach a reason to get kids in there. We have a lifting class so our kids lift no matter what. All of our kids who aren't playing baseball or track lift during meets. If its a big meet or someone we really want to beat we will have those other kids lift in the meet. We just work it out with the other coaches.

250+250=490? Is there a multiplier somewhere?

Lol. It's the same setup as Olympic weightlifting except Pause Press replaces the snatch.

Pause Press is done first, then Clean and Jerk.

You don't have to be USAW certified or anything to be a coach. Many times a football staff member is the weight lifting coach. 

It's nothing but a benefit for football programs.

I'm the head powerlifting coach/o-line coach at my school (Texas). I think it's an awesome thing for players to get in to; especially your linemen. I use it as a way for them to go out and compete in the off-season while the athletes are playing basketball. During our athletic period our football players basically do a powerlifting style of workout but I have my guys come in and do extra either before or after school.

I think it's beneficial because if your boys up front are stronger than the other team you can control the line of scrimmage. Plus, if you can help a kid go from a 250 bench to a 300 bench what does that do for his confidence? We have an association here that does it state wide and the teams that are winning regional powerlifting competitions and are coming home with state powerlifting trophies and medals are usually playing 2-3 rounds deep in the play-offs consistently. There are some schools here, however, that are great powerlifting programs but poor football programs and it's not because they're too cumbersome to move, they don't have a lot of athletes.

Also, from my experience, here in Ohio power lifting is not all that big as far as all schools doing it. Mostly it seems to be the really rural schools who fully embrace it as it's own sport and entity. Some schools well dabble in meets here and there but not really embrace it. The schools that really excel at power lifting that place at the state meet every year are almost all terrible at football. I can only think of 2 exceptions of the top of my head who are routinely good at both. Take that for what's its worth.

I'm only speaking as an observation through what I have seen where I work and when I was in school. And as I said, I'm just offering a different perspective.

In my opinion IF you were at a school large enough or fortunate enough that you could have a power lifting team that was it's own seperate entity from football and you ALSO had football lifting going on then that would be great. OR, as I said if it is secondary to football then it is great. The kids know that power lifting is fun and can help them but they don't see it as the end all be all to their athletic careers. The reason being is that training to do a 1-rep max of anything does not cross over to the sport of football. Sure, their are maximal efforts put forth in football, but when you break down the energy demands speaking in terms of energy pathways and oxygen and ATP consumption, the demands are entirely different and don't cross over.

At the school I was referencing though, they have kids that do "power lifting training" as opposed to football training and it doesn't translate.

As far as how can I tell people what sports they can and cannot play, I think that you are right, it is none of my business to tell a kid what to play. BUT, if I am a football coach and the power lifting team is done within the framework of my already established football program, then I think I have every right to say that kids who do not play football are not welcome to work out with us. Hypothetically, they are welcome to train seperately and compete in meets with us but if it is "football lifting" and not "all-sports lifting" then I think it should be only football players. Outsiders will only disrupt the team dynamic that we are trying to create. Again, if power-lifting is it's own seperate entity then come one come all but if it is a football thing, non-footballers should stay out. Just my opinion as I have seen 2 diferent scenarios play out and one worked and the other didn't.

I kind of like the comparison of power lifting to cross country. It is great for what it does (absolute strength for power lifting and absolute endurance for cross country) but it does not build a wide foundation of skills that are transferable to the athletic field. Neither a cross country runner nor a power lifter could be expected to perform as say a RB or Safety or basketball player or shortstop or whatever, unless they had other major components to their training. Both sports however would be great supplements for any athlete who is already engaged in a well-rounded training program.

I think you are describing a scenario that very few can comprehend here.   I know I am having a hard time understanding what you mean by "the powerlifting team is done within the framework of my already established football program"...

To offer a different perspective on YOUR perspective, I don't think you are describing a powerliftting team at all.  You are describing having your FB players enter a few meets for $hits and giggles during the offseason.  It honestly would be NO different than a baseball or basketball coach having his players do the exact same thing.  Less likely of course, but the same nonetheless.  Also not any different than if you took your FB players and entered them into some Crossfit competitions.

Your post has the undertones of  an attitude that unfortunately seems to rest in many coaches.  "Athletes should constantly be trying to get themselves prepared for "my sport" 

Also, keep in mind that STRENGTH is functional. Being STRONGER will make one a better football player than if they were weaker.  It doesn't make one a  GOOD football player, just better than he/she was when they were weaker. 

You are a little off point when you start to discuss energy systems.

I guess you are right that what I am trying to describe would not be a true "powerlifting team."  My overall point as I said is that I don't think it is as functional of a training model as more Olympic style training.  For example, if you go in a college or NFL weightroom they are going to be doing completely different set and rep patterns and even exercises as a whole then what you would see in a power-lifting gym.  For instance, I want my football player to have explosive hips, good leg drive, and be able to get into and out of athletic positions versus varying resistances during the course of a practice or game.  He has to be able to repeat this for 4-6 second bursts head to head against other athletes 50-100 times over a 2 hour game.  A power lifter has to lie flat on a bench, completely stabilized and control massive amounts of weights and lock out and hold the bar.  Bench, squat, deadlift are all controlled in a weightroom.  Football is uncontrolled, outside, wearing equipment.  So I will train that athlete differently.  A football player (or any other traditional athlete) should base their program around the Olympic Lifts, clean especially. The core is important for all athletes including power lifters.  But in power lifting the core remains stabilized mostly in a static manner if you are using correct form and keeping your back flat.  In other sports however, stabilization is more dynamic.  That's why things like tires, heavy ropes, sand bags, plyo boxes, etc. are huge for most athletes but not the most effective training tools for power lifters.  

The scientific Principal of Specificity essentially states that the body will adapt to the demands placed upon it.  If you place power-lifting demands on the body, you will become better at power-lifting.  If you place running demands on the body, you will become better at running. etc.  It is just too specialized in my opinion to create safe, efficient athletes.  Anything that is too specialized really is not good to base a program around.  For instance, I LOVE Crossfit.  But I would never base a program around it or have a crossfit team.  I would potentially do 3 standard lifting days and 1 crossfit day but never would I solely rely on crossfit, or power lifting, or insanity, or anything else for a program. 

If a kid is going to power lift or sit on the couch, power lift.  PLEASE POWER LIFT.  But for the above reasons there are more efficient ways to do it.  In addition to being an AT I am a certified Performance Enhancement Specialist and would be glad to share any literature or info I have via PM if anyone would like a different perspective. 

It is a tough decision because as you mentioned, it could end up as being just "S's and G's" which you wouldn't want but it can go too far both ways and any time you can get your kids motivated and competing in the off-season is something that should be considered obviously.  Back to the OP, I think the decision should be made based on culture and your ability to keep kids motivated for football and working hard in the weight room.  Also, whether you have school wide S&C which I believe is optimal due to the benefit of the entire school program and multi-sport athletes. 

nickferguson58   and kylem56

Regarding the original post-- I think most can say you are probably correct in that creating a powerlifting team for the sole purpose of bettering your football team would be less productive than other forms of Strength and Conditioning.   I don't think people will dispute that trying to maximize your success in powerlifting is less productive for football than trying to maximize your success in football.

Odd that someone who is a "certified PES" would use the term "crossfit" to describe a model of working out ("3 standard lifting days and 1 crossfit day" Metabolic Conditioning is not universal to crossfit.

Also odd that you don't feel increasing absolute strength would benefit ALL athletes.  Again, That doesn't make it the optimum training for football necessarily, but your WR/DB etc still benefit from benching heavier, squating heavier, deadlifting heavier.   This coming from someone who is a certified USWA coach and proponent of Olympic lifting.

As others have stated it's how you approach your program.  We still do our core lifting 2-3 days a week.  Skill kids go through a track workout on non lifting days, linemen go through plyos, grass drills, ladders, etc.  All powerlifting work is done after school.

We were somewhat successful this year taking 6 boys and 7 girls to regionals.  One boy, a 198 lb. weight class kid is advancing to state.  This same kid ran a 23.3 200 meters last night at a track meet.  Not sure where you are getting "not the most mobile kids" comment from.

It's how you structure your program and what you emphasize.