By Charlton Azuoma
After the football team’s disappointing season record last fall, Coach Greg Bishop has implemented a new testing system, where players go through different athletic tests and get an overall score. The testing is done every six weeks, four times a year.
As a result of this testing system, there has been a raise of competition between players to get higher scores, and players say that it’s extra motivation to push themselves and each other.
“It’s cool because the kids can compare themselves to each other,” Coach Bishop said.
The testing includes exercises like barbell back squats, bench presses, hang cleans, 10 and 40 yard sprints, the pro-agility shuttle, 5x10x5 sprints, and the vertical jump.
“The lifting for the football team definitely challenges your body physically. The improvement is a lot quicker and it works all the core muscles you need for any sport,” defensive back Cameron Komisar ’12 said.
The new lifting program, just like the old one, will be headed by strength and conditioning Coach Bishop.
He says the scheduling and rotation of the lifting has changed a good amount. They tried to start a little bit earlier than last year by two weeks and shortened the preparation phase as well.
In the past, the team underwent two main exercises in a four day cycle, but now they do three exercises (barbell bench press, hex-bar deadlifts, and barbell squats) on a two day cycle.
“It just feels like we’re doing more exercises in our lift now,” Nick Nathanson ’13 said.
Along with giving rest to the player’s lower backs, Bishop added that, “There’s more variation during exercise in hopes of providing more rest to all the muscle groups.”
The players seem to appreciate the new lifting program and some of them have said that they’re already feeling the benefits of the new innovation.
“Now that the football team is constantly lifting, practicing , and testing, it only motivates me more to keep working so I can do well when we test and know that the hard work is starting to pay off,” running back Correy King ’13 said.
