Jan-May: how much?

Not much. Ours get to do it in class. No reason to over-saturate

85-90% of our guys are in lacrosse, baseball or track. We lift 3 days per week. Starting in late April, we do QB workouts for one hour per week. It's mostly mechanics and arm strengthening. We do Trench Warrior Wednesday after lifting every week where we have special workouts for just our linemen that last maybe 40 minutes (skill work, whiteboard, and/or film).

We don't have spring football.

Football is year-round in FL. We have a month of full pad practice and a live game in May.

We start workouts at the end of January, 4 days/week. That includes study hall, lifting, running/agility, and indy/team install. We have 7-on-7 starting in march, going all the way through April. Kids who do other sports fit football in around their in-season practices, and then join once their season is done. We get 40-60 kids each day. Regular attendance is one of the teachable moments in accountability that we preach.

Yes, it's a lot, and a GRIND, especially this time of year. However, it's necessary for 2 reasons. 1- it's FL, we need to do this to stay competitive. and 2- we are an inner-city school. We'd lose (and we do lose) a majority of our kids if they would be allowed to roam the streets once school ends. Our school day runs from 7-1:30, so our kids are still home by 5:30 every day.

Ours are required to lift 4 times a week. We get 2 lifts before school and to lifts during school. During school on non lift days we do mat and agility drills.

If they are a FB / Bsb player they lift with the FB players, modified somewhat depending on whether they are a pitcher or not. FB/Track players do the FB workout.. FB/BB players will lift with BB until the season is over. FB players in other sports will lift with FB.

Ya Florida standard model in lifting starts once you get back from Christmas break. Most places i've seen go 4x a week. 5th day is usually some kind of player 7on7 deal. Spring ball starts the last week in April. Baseball is done by then unless you make it to the regions. Full padded practice for a month and then a full spring game against another team (if youre interested you can find the games here). Its real nice. Good for college recruiters too. So much turnover though that its always kind of hectic anyways. Serious advantage for the programs with stability.

There has been a lot of talk around here of "less being more", could a team not do this and still win come season? Are there any examples of a coach choosing to do less and not wearing down the kids yet still winning? Or would it be seen as blasphemous for a coach not to do this (gotta keep up with the Joneses) and no program ever given it a try?

By remaining competitive, do you also mean that if you didnt do this other coaches would come in a poach your players? 

Good questions, I'll try and answer..

-YES, poaching is alive and well. 2014 6A Championship game was 2 teams under investigation for recruiting, both had all wins removed 2 months after the game. To go with umpteen smaller issues, 1 team had a kid from 90 minutes away, who's parents ended up legally separating during the investigation to try and prove they had moved, and to keep the kid eligible. Other school had a starting QB who's address was a hotel on the edge of their school zone, a teacher swung by and picked up the kid every day after a parent drove him to the hotel.  A private school in our county had 23 kids transfer to their school last spring.  And then that whole IMG debacle going on an hour south of us.

-Less can definitely be more, but again, we are an inner-city school.  The draw of the streets, coupled with our odd school hours, means we have a similar duty as an after school rec program, or a PAL.  We have to give our kids something to do.

-As far as the workouts, the things we do are to build up our kids, and not wear them down physically.  We work hard, as coaches, to change, adapt and improve our off-season workouts, to maximize the benefits we see during the season.  2 lower body days, 2 upper body days, 2 days of agility, 1 day of 7-on-7, 1 day of competitive games, some sort of team/install every day.  Wednesdays off.  We do more than a lot of other schools in our area, and it shows, no more so than during the post-game handshake line.  Our opponents limp through, nothing but ice, crutches, and no shoulder pads.  Our kids, while sore, end games looking about like they did at the start.  We go through great pains to ensure our kids are built up, strong, and peaking in time for the season, so we dont show up for game 1 looking like the Junction Boys.

There is some measure of keeping up with the jonses, but there is also a big need to play year-round.  Playing a full, live game in May means that we have to be prepared to play, both mentally and physically.  We can receive a big off-season boost with a win, which can encourage underclassmen to come out.  A bad loss does nothing but makes us a running joke on social media during the summer.  


I love what we are able to do, both physically and scheme-wise, by playing year-round.  Bad programs dont receive an advantage with extra time, but we usually win 2-3 games each year based solely on our off-season preparation.  And thats not to say I dont think 15 times a day about how nice a few months off would be.   

We do not have a class for our football kids to lift in, so our multi sport athletes lift 3 day a week before school. Those not in a sport lift 4 days a week after school. Each position coach usually takes a group out for 30-45 min after lifting once a week (for those not in a sport).

No spring football here in Utah. Kids are lifting during powerlifting with the head coach. Other than that, QB's have 2 meetings a week starting beginning of 4th quarter (today was our 2nd meeting), OL meet once a week, RB & WR will meet once a week starting next month.

All playbook install and information. No actual football work. Just rules for things in the system. 45 minute maximum per meeting. Hope is that by the time we can actually have coaches on the field with kids (June) they can already know the scheme and we can focus on executing the scheme.

We do like most; what the Jones are doing. Lift in school, pick up this not able to afterwards. Make use of the off season rules as our association allows. We do 10 days is of spring ball, throw twice a week in the summer, lift 3 days a week in summer, use our 10 days of competitive 7-7, etc....

I'd love to do something less, but you have to meet the perception as reality full on. As soon as you take the minimalist approach, their will be somebody tearing you down.

By the way, regardless of what we do spring wise we get 5 scrimmages/jamborees in the fall.

I amazes how many schools have "in school" lifting class. How much of a benefit do you think it is?

We lift 3 days a week: Monday-Total Body, Wednesday-Upper, and Thursday-Lower

We encourage guys in a sport to come from 6:30-7:20 in the morning and guys not in a sport come from 2:50-4:15 after school.

And if you're on the block schedule you have all the time you need.

I know a school that has 'freshman PE" class that has all the football players in class during the fall. They practice then leave when school dismisses.

At how many schools is the football coach in charge of the in school lift (what percent%)?

I'm curious if you're in NorCal or SoCal? In the NCS, I know that they have laid out an entire season for what is and what is not allowed and at what times of the year.  They are big on offseason remaining the offseason with no sport specific activities, other than training.