A Dynamic Four Star Plan - By Jim Duggan

I have written many articles about the old Ironman magazines, the Peary Rader version of Ironman, to be precise.  What a great magazine! It covered every facet of the Iron Game.  And it did it in a way that did not rely on fancy advertising, hawking overpriced bogus supplements.  It didn’t glorify steroid-bloated bodybuilders.  What it did was put out a magazine containing quality training information.  Whether you were a weightlifter, bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just someone interested in gaining size, strength, and vigorous good health, there was something for you.

     One of the very best things about Peary Rader’s Ironman was the fact that he utilized some of the very best writers to contribute to his wonderful magazine.  I’ve mentioned the many quality Ironman writers in previous articles, but I wanted to devote this month’s article to one of the very best writers of his time.  

     The September 1974 issue of Ironman had a very selection of articles from which to choose.  David Willoughby, Arthur Jones, and Dr. Ken Leistner all contributed to this special issue.  I could have easily chosen one of these gentlemen to be the subject of this month’s article, but I chose I man who I have written about before.  Bradley J. Steiner’s contributions to the world of strength, health, and self-defense cannot be adequately described in one article.  He was simply one of the very best Iron Game writers.  After Dr. Ken, he is my favorite writer of all time.  

     In the September 1974 Ironman, Mr. Steiner wrote an article “The Dynamic Four Star Plan To The Build You Want.”  A casual look at this title would seem to give the indication that it is a bodybuilding article.  While I have nothing against bodybuilding ( drug-free bodybuilding to be exact), I have always preferred to read about, write about, and participate in the development of STRENGTH.  

     However, very early in the article, he states that the “Four Steps” to success that he describes can be applied to any and every area of your life.  Successful results are inevitable if you follow the four step plan in the article.  So let’s take a look at this successful plan, which was first published fifty years ago.

     The first step is to VISUALIZE YOUR GOAL.  You must “Believe in the realization of what you want to become.”  Negativism has no place in this plan.  No matter what you present condition, you can overcome it if you believe wholeheartedly that you can, according to Mr. Steiner.  One of the best quotes of this section is as follows:  “There is more power in honest, determined, positive self imagery than you can begin to imagine.”  

      Mr. Steiner is not trying to be a cheerleader in these words.  It is simply a matter of visualizing clearly and consistently the goals you wish to achieve.  You can’t expect to have faith in yourself if you have no idea of what you wish to attain.  Naturally, you have to have a plan to achieve these goals, and that will come later in the article.  

     The next step is to be wholly absorbed in the attainment of your goals.  Whether it is to gain twenty pounds of muscle, or add 25 Lbs to your Bench Press, you must become obsessed with achieving that which you set out to accomplish.  And Mr. Steiner makes a very interesting point:  “ You can’t be unusual and physically superior to the average without becoming ‘different’ from other people.”  Sometimes we lose sight of that fact.  But if you wish to officially Bench Press 400 Lbs, then you must reasonable accept the fact that you are NOT normal.  After all, how many people can legitimately bench 400?  Not many.  So naturally, the training required to achieve that goal will be different from that being done by the average person in the gym.  When Bob Whelan had his training facility in Washington, DC, I remember visiting him there one day, along with Drew Israel.  One of the things I distinctly remember is a sign on the front door which read: “If You Train Here, You Are NOT Normal.”  And, if you are truly devoted to getting stronger, then truer words were never spoken!  Why be normal, when you can train to be as strong as possible?

     This kind of thinking can also apply to your everyday life.  Don’t be afraid to be different than your co-workers, friends, and others you may encounter in your day to day existence.  “Seek out those individuals who share, or at least who genuinely respect, you for what you are.  “Cultivate the habit of seeking those surroundings, those people, and those interests and pursuits that will ENHANCE and ADD to your central goals in life.”  

     The third step is to seek out “Good Instruction, Education, and Knowledge that will teach you how to reach your goal.”  Study your subject, and seek out quality sources of information.  Become a student of strength.  If you can seek out people who have achieved great strength, by all means do so.  “Developing the body is as much a process of education as is developing the mind.”  Mr. Steiner even mentions several authors who he considers to be the finest Iron Game authors.  The names he mentions should be familiar to many readers.  Peary Rader, Bob Hoffman, and Harry B. Paschall are mentioned by Mr. Steiner.  I’m sure humility prevented him from mentioning his own expertise and skill as a writer, but any impartial reader would recognize the greatness that Mr. Steiner possessed.  

     Another point that I’d like to mention is something that was not an issue fifty years ago, but should be obvious today.  Do NOT rely on internet experts, influencers, or other self-proclaimed experts.  If somebody is claiming to be a champion, but never states what he lifts, then perhaps he is a more chump than champ and should be ignored.  And, of course, the muscle magazines of today, those that are still in existence, are nothing more than comics than sources of information.

     The fourth step is probably the most important:  “NEVER GIVE UP!”  You are the ultimate ruler of your life, and you cannot let others discourage you from pursuing your goals.  To reach any worthwhile goal takes a long time and a lot of hard work.  You must be ready to give before you get, according to Mr. Steiner, and that neat phrase encapsulates what is wrong with many people who train today.  How many aspiring lifters are willing to give of themselves to attain their goals.  

     There will always be temporary setbacks. Injuries, illness, school/job issues.  But like any other obstacles, they must be dealt with.  Lifting, especially drug-free lifting, will always have its ups and downs, but if you persist and stick to the basics then the reward will be strength, health, and happiness.  

     The four-step plan works, according to Mr. Steiner.  But in order to make it work, “You must try it, live it, believe it.  That’s what makes any success.”  It’s not difficult to see how an article written fifty years ago can describe a plan for success, especially when you consider the magazine in which it originally appeared and the fact that it was written by the one and only Bradley Steiner.

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How To Strength Train Australian Rules Football Players - By David Sedunary

Editor's Note: David Sedunary has done it all in the sport of Aussie Rules football. As a player, coach and administrator for his hometown team in Broken Hill with a span of over 50 years! Broken Hill even named the Gates to the playing field after him. (See picture below.) David knows the value of weight training to improve performance in ARF.  Players: Take his advice! 

One of my pet annoyances is how Australian Rules Football coaches and players fail to put a high priority on serious strength training. I’m not referring to the highest level of the Australian Football League (AFL) who are professional players and employ their own strength and conditioning coaches, but the clubs below this level, in which most are 40 years behind the times, and do not take it nearly as seriously as they should. I have pounded my head into the sand over this with my local Australian Rules Football Club, whose coaches and players fail to listen and fail to implement. My aim is to convince Australian Rules Football coaches and players that strength training has the greatest effect on the improvement of athletic performance, more than any other variable. Muscular strength is one of the most crucial factors to a footballer.

Why? One may ask.

Strength training provides the power behind every movement.

Strength training plays a huge role in protecting the footballer from injury.

Football is push and pull; therefore it makes sense to work the legs, chest, shoulders and back using compound exercises.

Stronger muscle enables a footballer to kick longer distances, hit the ball harder, tackle harder and not get knocked off the ball so easily.

Stronger muscles also provide increased joint stability- whether it is ankle, knee, shoulder, hip, neck, elbow, or wrist. I have known many footballers in my hometown who have strength training programs of some form or fashion. The results that are gained from the vast amount of training time and effort fall short of what they should be. They lightly scratch the surface of their potential.

Why do players fail and give it away so quickly or become uninterested? It can be from faulty training techniques, which limit results and contribute to injuries. Lack of understanding, such as what is the right way to build strength, how should I train, which methods should I use, what exercises are best, how many days a week should I train. I will provide football players with some basic guidelines to use so they can establish sound strength training knowledge and programs. Most Australian Rules footballers train their skills and game tactics twice a week and play once a week, and I am referring to the non or semi professional football players. It is important to understand that only dedicated players will devote another two nights to strength training, and if they do, they need to be supervised. Therefore it is my recommendation that the two strength training sessions are conducted on the two scheduled training sessions which entail skills and game tactics. Players who are unable to train on scheduled days can always be trained under supervision on non-training scheduled days. The aim would be to ensure all players strength train twice a week. 

The preseason, which is normally 14 weeks, could include a skills and game tactics session on Saturday. Before the season starts work on 2 work sets, to expand work capacity, and develop muscle growth and base strength.

In season maintain 1 work set, competition is the focus and do not exhaust the nervous system of players by training to hard and too long. In season is normally 20 weeks which is as follows:

Monday rest

Tuesday: Strength training supervised, conducted in groups of 6 players 30-minute sessions one warmup set and one set to failure, basic vertical push and pull, horizontal push and pull and one compound exercise, calf, grip ab and neck work one set to failure. Plus skill and game tactics training total time 2 hours.

Wednesday rest or Strength training for players who miss training nights.

Thursday:  Strength training supervised, conducted in groups of 6 players 30-minute sessions one warmup set and one set to failure, basic vertical push and pull, horizontal push and pull and one compound exercise, calf, grip ab and neck work one set to failure. Plus skill and game tactics training total time 1 hour 30 minutes.

Friday rest

Saturday Play Football match day, 

Sunday rest, recover, massage, sauna, eat big.

Remind yourself you are training to get stronger.

To implement strength training sessions as part of the training, the football team would need a well-equipped gym at the club near the playing or training field or oval. Once the training schedule is established and agreed upon the following principles, need to be ingrained into and followed by all football players and coaches, under experienced supervision.

1.Strength training must be progressive; you should constantly attempt to increase resistance or reps at every workout.

2. The higher the intensity the better the muscles are stimulated.

3. Each repetition should be performed with controlled speed movement. Take approximately 2 seconds to raise weight and 4 seconds to lower weight. I prefer to rest the weight for 2 seconds at the bottom before raising and 2 seconds at the top before lowering. This creates great form and focus and far lessens the chance of injury.

4.Select exercises that involve the greatest range of movement of the major muscle groups.

5. Strength increases are best produced by very brief and infrequent training.

Football matches can be tough and exhausting, and need plenty of rest, sleep, and nutritious food to recover adequately.

High intensity strength training must be very brief. It is impossible to have both high intensity exercise and a large amount of exercise. In my opinion many footballers make the mistake of performing far too many exercises, too many sets, too many workouts, in each period. Total recovery between workouts becomes impossible. I recommend performing no more than 1 hard work set of any exercise in the same session. There should be at least 48 hours rest between high intensity workouts, sometimes longer strength training breaks the muscle tissue down and you need to give it time to replenish and grow. Do not exhaust the nervous system by training to hard and too long. Less is always best. An advanced trainee /player does not need more exercise than a beginner, he needs harder exercise and, in most cases, less.

A well supervised, properly conducted, strength training session for a footballer in football season should not exceed 30 minutes and covers the whole body.

Program 1# Tuesday

Warm up 5 minutes

1. Bench Press or Dips

2. Dumbbell rows

3. Machine Squats

4. Calve raise, weighted crunches, neck. exercises performed of 1 warm up sets and 1 maximum set to the limit. 

Program 2# Thursday

Warm up 5 minutes

1.  Standing overhead press

2. Lat machine pulldowns or chins

3. Trap bar deadlifts.

4. Barbell curls

5. Side bends, neck, calve, grip exercises performed of 1 warm up set and 1 maximum set to the limit.

Remind yourself that you are training to get stronger for Football, so that you will no longer get pushed off the ball and bullied on the field. You will have the strength to handle anything that is thrown at you. 

Cardiovascular fitness, skill, and strength are the three main attributes I concentrated on when I coached. Get all three right and you are well on your way to success. They all go hand in hand. When you are strong you tackle harder, bump harder, you are never intimidated, have confidence, can kick further and do it more often. When you are fitter for football, your kicks and handballs hit a target more consistently, you are harder to chase down and tackle or stop, you chase down the opposition and weaken him, you go longer and stronger. Football is a game where you need controlled aggression, strength combined with cardiovascular fitness gives you ultimate football conditioning. I have spoken on strength and the importance of strength training. Now I will speak on cardiovascular fitness or football fitness which I prefer to call it. As coach I set a fitness standard for my players before they played A Grade football. Every player needed to run for 15 minutes at a good pace around an oval or field without stopping. This was the fitness standard all players needed to meet. Once they achieved this standard, they were instructed to further the distance.

 All players completed this standard at the beginning of the season and were tested every 4 weeks. Football fitness during a game is walk, jog, run, stride and sprint for the whole 100 minutes with very little rest. This combination is not always in this order and can be mixed up with longer and shorter distances of each. Combine bumping, tackling, jumping, pushing, pulling, and falling on the ground and getting up. One can now understand why football fitness and strength training is of the  utmost importance to increase your supremacy over the opposition. During all my training sessions, my players got very little rest between training exercises, therefore I increased the intensity. Boxing training was also introduced once a week to improve football fitness.

Australian Rules Football is a heavy contact sport, where no head gear or protective gear is worn, it is body against body. The players play 4 quarters with 25 minutes per quarter, with a 15-minute break at half time. The sport has a high incidence of knee injuries, resulting in knee re constructions: I put this down to continuous running and weakness of the connective tissue and muscular structure around the calves, knees quadriceps and hamstring muscles. The benefits of strength training far outweigh not doing it at all. Coaches and players need to have a firm belief that if they incorporate strength training, they will be successful. Strength training improves performance and prevents injuries. Football is push and pull, ensure your players train twice a week using the push and pull muscles. Also train compound movement such as Squats or Trap Bar Deadlifts, ensure to strengthen ankles, calves, grip, neck, abdominals, side obliques and the neck. During the season players need two, short volume intense workouts lasting no longer than 30 to 45 minutes. In the off season two full body workouts are recommended, lasting no longer than 1 hour. Ensure players are supervised and trained by a qualified person who encourages good form and focus, and always encourages your players to train progressively and get stronger. 

In conclusion, Strength training for football creates success.

I commenced coaching Australian Rules Football in 1985 and at that stage had my own well equipped home gym which was a large shed situated in the backyard of my home. The Team I coached was the North Broken Hill Football Club, most of my players strength trained with me in my backyard gym. I coached for 3 years, and each year we were successful finishing top of the ladder twice and second once. It was obvious to me and others because my players strength trained consistently, they were successful. In 1988 I coached the club I played 170 games for. When I started in 1988 the players were weak and easily intimidated and had not won a game for 2 years. I demanded that my players strength train twice a week and improve their cardiovascular fitness and skills. Each year their strength improvement was measured and noted, and feedback given to the players, ensuring to build their playing ability and confidence. Once I commenced coaching after year 1, they won 3 games, after year 2, they finished the top team, after year 3 they won the premiership/ the best team of the competition. First time a premiership (Championship) was won in 10 years. In 35 years no other coach has introduced his team to strength training or set a fitness standard and worked on skill improvement hence they have not won a Premiership or improved. I maintain strength training had the greatest effect upon my team’s performance, more than any other variable. The proof is in the pudding.

“THE ONLY PLACE SUCCESS COMES BEFORE WORK IS IN THE DICTIONARY”

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