2008 Woodie Awards
Football team trains hard for the upcoming season
Alex Voigt
Issue date: 7/2/07 Section: Sports
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Freshly off work for the day, the junior linebacker is anxious to begin his workout consisting of sprints drills followed by a solid hour in the weight room.
"I want to put everything I can into into this program so that when the season comes, I'll be able to do what was asked of me," McLagan said.
McLagan is one of more than 30 players participating in the team's summer weight training program.
Beginning May 21, the program consists of four 90-minute sessions of weight lifting and conditioning a week, in addition to another day of light running.
"We usually have them do about 20 to 30 minutes of general conditioning to work on their speed and agility and follow that up with full-body weight lifting with some sort of emphasis, depending on the day," said Travis Zins, the strength and conditioning coordinator for SCSU sports who, in coordination with the football coaches, makes up the workouts for the players.
The emphasis of the workouts, Zins said, are also based on the needs of the athletes.
"In general, we're trying to make better athletes. So depending on what that athlete's goals are, we shape the workout to fit their emphasis," Zins said.
The stipulations for the program are laid out for the players in a comprehensive summer training manual, given to the players at the start of the summer.
The manual contains guidelines on everything from weight lifting to stretching to nutrition, as well as a week-by-week progress chart for the athletes to record their workout numbers.
Head Coach Randy Hedberg said such an emphasis on summer workouts is needed simply because of when football's regular season is.
"The thing about a fall sport is that we need guys to stay in shape throughout the summer so that when preseason rolls around, we can go straight to work and not worry about injuries and fatigue," Hedberg said.
On top of the workouts during the week, players run their own unofficial practices every Sunday, consisting of football drills put together by the team captains.
"The Sunday practices are good because they're more football-specific and help keep those skills fresh," senior defensive back Phil Hedlof said.
This is the first summer McLagan has been able to participate in the program, as he normally returns home to Minneapolis for work in the summer. Within the first few weeks of the program, McLagan can already see a difference in his training.
"The differences aren't just in the weight lifting," McLagan said. "It's creating an environment of teamwork, trust and accountability for the guys participating in it. I'm glad to be a part of it this summer."