A Must Read
Without a clear understanding of the requirements of the game, methodologies used to develop a football player will be lacking. To administer the appropriate regime you must understand and be able to articulate your job description.
The NFL’s first Strength Coach and now retired, Kim Wood, has shaped the exercise world like no other. He has coached in Super Bowls and coached some of the strongest players to have ever played the game. There is possibly not one Strength Coach in America who hasn’t trained on equipment that Kim developed or adopted exercises and methods he taught.
Kim is also a strength training historian and surrounds himself with probably the World’s greatest personal collection of weight lifting memorabilia. Below, Kim clearly defines that his job was to develop “football strength” for a combative sport and explains the skills of the game are learned on the field and the “raw material” developed in the weight room.
An excerpt in Kim’s own words taken from Muscle Smoke & Mirrors… by Randy Roach
Kim Wood Explains….  “I’ve always believed that football should be seen as a form of hand-to-hand combat–and I trained my players accordingly. Of course when I prepare a football player I train his whole body…but I always pay special attention to training the hands and forearms, an area that very few strength coaches include in their program. Strength training for football is an interesting subject.  Many coaches focus their training on the bench press and “powerlifting” strength. For many years, I’ve felt that the key to strength training for football dealt with improving a players “football strength”—-the strength that is used in the playing of his football position. Football is really combat, so you train the whole body especially the muscle structures of the hands. Hands are your “shock absorbers” and “weapons.” I try to get every major muscle structure stronger and in balance in preparation, for playing the game. Of course, while general all-body strength is the goal of the strength program—the skills of football combat can only be developed on the field. You build the “raw material” in the weight room. You develop the skills on the field. Your “mental set” as a coach is to train your players for a fight…a tough one and long one! EXTRA-ORDINARY STRENGTH”
