One of the newest and hottest items to be part of football training has been the incorporation of strength vests. As a featured item at www.touchdownskills.com the strength vest (http://www.touchdownskills.com/products/strengthsuit.html) is a very popular piece of workout equipment that can be incorporated in several phases during your daily workout regime. The vest provides a unique way to increase explosion, strength, and agility while at the same time reducing the risk of injury through an even distribution of weight throughout the entire upper body. As a former NFL player and a current workout aficionado, here are a few ways I would recommend a football player at any level can use the strength vest to better himself or herself as an athlete.

Upper Body Development – One thing I try to do when I work on my punch and upper body explosion is I use the weighted vest in conjunction with variations of the standard push up. First I like to use it when I do the push up and clap (3 sets of 10-20), single arm medicine ball push ups (2 sets of 10) and in combination with stability ball core punches (3 sets of 25).

 Lower Body Development – Instead of doing the standard squat or power clean, which can be very stressful on your back, hips and knee, I like to use the weighted vest as a safe substitute.  I primarily use it to do lunges, single leg step ups, single leg squats and split squat jumps. For each of the lifts I do 3-4 sets of 6-8 repetitions. For each consecutive set I add another weighted vest. During most workouts I can have up to 3 vests strapped over each other, thus giving me enough resistance to increase my strength and explosion.

Core Development – This is where the weighted vest can be best utilized. Since it is made out of neoprene, the vest is flexible and does not provide discomfort. As I result I use it in almost every core lift I perform. My favorites include, stability ball work, stability abs, and hyperextensions.

Even though I did not mention the many benefits the weighted vest can enhance your conditioning regime, it is safe to say it is a very effective, efficient and safe tool increase your strength, power and agility.

You can purchase yours at www.touchdownskills.com and clicking on the following link http://www.touchdownskills.com/products/strengthsuit.html.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 12:47 am and is filed under Speed/Agility, Strength/Power, Training Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.