Spring break is coming up quick for a lot of you! This is super exciting, but a lot of you are asking the question “How am I going to train without any equipment?” We used to ask the same thing and spend $20 a day going to a local gym or a Gold’s Gym on a 3 day pass. There’s NO NEED to do that! Today, we want to give you the perfect weekly plan for a quarterback to sit back and relax a little during your break, but also be able to get some good work in to maintain all the gains that you have worked so hard for during the winter months. Check this out!
Before we dive into this plan, you are going to need minimal equipment for this workout that you can either borrow from your team’s weight room, or buy for around $15 to $20. You will use these items a ton so it is well worth your $20 if you have to buy them. You are going to need a light jump resistance band, a moderate jump resistance band, and a jump rope. Let’s take a look at Day 1.
Assuming that most of you are going to be gone for nearly a week, here is what the layout will look like:
Day 1 (Super Set Day)
– Dynamic Warm Up
1a. Band Resisted Rows- 4×12, use moderate resistance band
1b. Single Leg RDL’s- 4×12, no weight
2a. Band Pull Aparts- 4×15, use light resistance band
2b. Body Weight Lunges- 4×12, no weight
3a. Plank Hold with a Plus- 4×15, use light resistance band
3b. Cossack Squat- 4×12, no weight
4a. Dead Bugs- 4×15
4b. Side Plank- 4×40 seconds
This is to be performed the day after a traveling either in a car or plane. Notice that there’s not any explosive based movements in this workout. The rest times in between going between exercises within the two movements is minimal as each pairing of exercises is a super set together. The band will have to be anchored to something solid when performing the band resisted rows. If you have questions regarding some of the exercises above, we have included some videos below on how to perform some of these the right way.
Day 2 (Explosive Day)
- Dynamic Warm Up
- Band Resisted Broad Jumps- 5×6 jumps, 1:30 min rest break in between (tie moderate and light resistance bands together)
- Sprint Work
- 6, 10 yard sprints (1 min rest breaks)
- 4. 20 yard sprints (1:30 min rest breaks)
- 3, 30 yard sprints (2 min rest breaks)
- Cool Down Walk
Many of you are saying, “well, why so much rest time in between bouts of jumping and sprinting?” Your nervous system needs this time to recover fully in between sets. We are training your body to be more explosive. The rest times in between is the most essential piece to this equation. Once again, you will need to anchor the band down to something solid and place the band around your waist when performing the resisted broad jumps.
Day 3 (Super Set Day)
- Dynamic Warm Up
1a. Band Resisted Push Ups- 4×12, use light or heavy resistance band depending on strength
1b. Single Leg Squat- 4×6, no weight (hold on to something if necessary)
2a. Tricep Pressdown- 4×15, use heavy resistance band
2b. Band Good Morning- 4×12, use heavy resistance band
3a. Hammer Row- 4×12, use heavy resistance band
3b. X Band Walk- 4×15, use heavy or light resistance band depending on strength
4a. Pallor Press- 4×1 min, use light resistance band
4b. Side Plank- 4×45 seconds
We wanted to have a little fun on this day. We don’t like our quarterbacks to usually do any bicep curls, but you have to show off the guns a little bit on spring break right? This morning pump will be perfect before you hit the beach all day. There’s also a lot of quarterback specific exercises here that are great including the pallof press and x band walk. Check out the videos below if you don’t know what those are.
Day 4 (Aerobic Capacity)
- Dynamic Warm-Up
14, 55 yard tempo runs (make each run in 9 seconds), 30 second rest breaks in between each tempo run
We know that y’all don’t want to do any conditioning over spring break, but this is a great way to maintain some of your aerobic capacity so you are ready to crush the weight room again the next week once you step foot back in there. One of the worst things that can happen is that you treat your body poorly during the week of spring break and then have this 2 week period where you are very average once you get back into your program. You don’t want this! Spend the time to get this done before you go have your day of fun.
For those of you that truly care about your craft, you will take these small workout tools and apply them to these workouts over your spring break. Is it good to take a de-load week during this week? YES! Is it alright to just sit on your butt and do nothing? Absolutely not! If you want to get better while others are getting worse, then this program is for you. Only 5% of you will read to this point, but this article was written for you! Go get it done!
-Drew Kiel PT, DPT, CSCS