Luke Day has fundamental values in the execution of a conditioning and strength program in football. The South Carolina strength coach wants his players to learn to breathe, move and use their hands.
As a guest at the JB and Goldwater Show on Monday afternoon, Day detailed what these three pillars of his strength and conditioning program mean.
“We are going to teach you to breathe diaphragmatically,” said Day. “All of your strength is coming from your breath.
“We are going to engage the gate pattern. We will load their gate. We are huge in shipments, crawls, sleigh pushes and sleigh trawlers. It’s great to stand on that platform in the weight room and lift a bar vertically, but the grid is still 100 meters long. You have to move. We will not be trained in bars for the demand of football.
“We are going to be a team that has a broad curriculum and movement menu and knows how to understand tension and relaxation. Mike Tyson is a threat to the rest of society because he knows how to use his hands. We will teach these guys how to use their bodies for violence (on the football field). “
Although Day will certainly use the Weight room / cardio deck 24,000 square feet at Gamecocks football facilities, working outdoors is something the team will also do. For example, take a look at the latest video from the Gamecocks ad campaign.
I LOVE the way our guys are attacking 2021 !!
Great energy out there?@GamecockFB? right now ?? pic.twitter.com/abULS43hqb
– Shane Beamer (@CoachSBeamer) January 25, 2021
“We are going to train to honor our design,” said Day. “We are a biped, right creature that walks on two feet. We need to train people to be able to take great command of their body. Now you have a child who stands horizontally playing NBA Live or stands up and plays SEC football at 100 miles an hour and we can’t understand where the injuries come from. Children do not climb trees and do not jump over fences and have good grip strength. They won’t work with their father, swing mallets or carry things. We are workers as people. We built walls and pyramids. “
When asked how he plans to be out of the box in training Gamecock football players, Day said there are ways to get tired mentally and physically.
“We will do a lot of things that are really difficult because beautiful things happen physiologically and psychologically when you try and do things that cause great difficulty,” said Day. “I know I am a great ‘early, frequent and consistent’ guy. I’m not familiar with some of the things that happened before, but what we do has to happen often. If it is important to your program, do it all the time. I value visiting people and getting a perspective on the world and understanding their sacrifice.
“We don’t want to avoid any difficulties. We want to learn to hit the face. You cannot make anyone knock until your body is subjected to your own mind. “
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From the first enrollment in the 2021 high school autograph class to transfers from other programs to Gamecocks that were on the 2020 list, Day says a lot is being played on the team a week in the off-season training program.
“These kids need to understand that we have their best interests in mind and really appreciate what it means to say ‘You’re working really hard,’ ”said Day.“ We have to set a new benchmark for what hard work is like, like one day whole, what is to wake up early, what is a whole night of rest, what is to eat and a good meal seems. Kristen Coggin, the director of nutrition, is incredible.
“They are drinking from a fire hose now, but you are back to consistency. They had their heads blown out this morning, but we will put them back together and do it again tomorrow. The body, mind and heart adapt a little more each week and we increase the dial a little more. Between 18 and 23 years is a change as drastic for humans as going from zero to five years. You enter here as an older boy and leave as an adult man. “