Our off-season program is designed to develop strength, help put on weight, and develop and maintain your level of anaerobic conditioning. This program is based on Joe Defranco's modified Westside Barbell template he uses to train high school, college, and pro athletes. Some of Joe's accomplishments:

-31 of Joe's athletes have been drafted to the NFL
-Joe's training techniques have been featured on HBO's Inside the NFL, MSG, CNNSI and various local news channels
-Joe has personally trained NFL football players from 22 different teams
-Joe's NFL Combine video has become a worldwide success in 6 different countries
-Joe has been a speed, strength & flexibility consultant to the New York Giants
-Joe has co-authored 2 best-selling training manuals, "The 40-Yard Dash- Advanced speed & strength methods" & "The Vertical Jump- Advanced speed & strength methods"
-Joe is a contributing writer for the online publication Testosterone.net
-Joe has lectured nationally on the topic of Strength and flexibility training for enhanced sprinting speed
-Joe has trained over 500 high school and college athletes from various sports. This includes All-State and All-American performers in football, baseball, wrestling, basketball, track & field, lacrosse and hockey

The program combines three days of lifting with one day of running. The week is divided as follows (descriptions taken in part from www.defrancostraining.com):

Max Effort Upper Body Day- The max effort method is the best method for developing maximal strength. In my opinion, max effort work should be the "nuts and bolts" of any strength-training program. If you're weak, you're dead! Remember that most athletic qualities (sprinting speed, jumping power, etc.) rely heavily on your foundation of maximal strength. This is because maximal strength builds the foundation for all other strength qualities such as speed-strength and strength-endurance. Your first exercise on this day will be your max-effort exercise. Traditionally, most advanced lifters will work up to a one-rep max on this exercise. This is very neurologically demanding on your system and it takes great coordination. Because most beginner and intermediate lifters are less neurologically efficient, we'll shoot for a 3-5 rep max on our max-effort lift in this modified program. This still enables the lifter to train with maximal loads, but it's much safer than going for a one-rep max. The extra reps also increase the time under tension, which can lead to greater hypertrophy (size) gains. I recommend rotating your max-effort exercise every two to three weeks to prevent your nervous system from getting burned out. Whether you shoot for a 3-rep max or a 5-rep max, the goal is to break your previous record every week!

Lower Body Day- Unlike a traditional Westside template, you'll notice there's only one major lower body day in this modified program. There's a reason for this: most beginner/intermediate athletes couldn't recover from two lower body days a week in conjunction with their running and conditioning work. Their legs would never fully recover and it would take away from their speed and conditioning workouts. One day has worked out much better for many of my athletes. You will add a conditioning day in place of the second leg day. The first exercise on your lower body day will be a max effort lift. You'll work up to a max set of five reps in this lift. This lift will be rotated every two to three weeks as well. On this modified program you'll always follow your max effort exercise with a unilateral exercise. I incorporate unilateral movements for many reasons. Fir?t of all, most athletes develop muscular imbalances between limbs. Unilateral exercises are a great way to overcome these imbalances. They also improve flexibility, balance, and overall conditioning. The unilateral exercises I prescribe are mostly quad-dominant exercises. Yes, I said the four-letter word, quad. The quads have gotten a bad rap lately, while the posterior chain has taken center stage. We must remember that the quads are extremely important for athletes and you can't neglect them. The quads are very active when an athlete accelerates into a sprint due to their forward body lean. The quad muscle on the inside of your knee (vastus medialis) also plays a major role in stabilizing the knee.

Repetition Upper Body Day- I've substituted dynamic-effort days with repetition days for the upper body. This may be the biggest change from the traditional Westside template. I've also found it to be one of the keys to success for muscular growth in my younger athletes. Remember that this modified program was put together for athletes who lack muscle mass. Well, the repetition method is an incredible way to elicit muscular hypertrophy. Compared to a smaller muscle, a bigger muscle has a better chance of becoming a stronger muscle. Packing on some muscle mass by means of the repetition method lays a great foundation for the more advanced dynamic days to come. I even substitute dynamic days with repetition days for my NFL football players during the initial stages of the off-season. This is because repetition work is easier on the joints following a grueling season and it's a great way to pack on any muscle that was lost during the season.

Conditioning Day- The conditioning day will serve partially to develop but mostly to maintain a base level of anaerobic conditioning required by hockey players. About 3 weeks from tryouts, an additional conditioning day can be substitued for Repetition Day.