The lumbar area is initially worked by performing hyperextensions without weights, or with pauses. This must be mastered before an athlete can ever add weights on their backs or over their heads. For athletes such as football players, too much distance work should never be done, as that will retard both strength and speed. Once an athlete shows they can actively demonstrate running tempo runs, have improved core strength, good joint mobility, improved body composition, aerobic and anaerobic skills and are going through the warm- up series efficiently, they are now ready and able to go onto the next phase, the strength phase. This phase also continues to help body composition.
Joint mobility is critical now as the athlete has to be able to perform movements with added weight.
As discussed earlier, if an athlete has restricted movement without additional weights, problems will occur once weight training is added to the program. There are 3 sub-categories in the strength phase. Relative is the amount of weight an athlete can lift relative to body weight. The ratio governs the amount of weight best tolerated by the athlete s height and weight. This ratio, along with the position a player plays, will determine the amount of weight used in strength training.