While coaches enjoy a little down time with their families over the next few weeks, strength and conditioning coaches around the country are drinking a little more caffeine and getting off season workouts amped up another level as they prepare their current rosters for the grind of the 2015 season.
However, as Sean Edinger (Bowling Green's director of strength and conditioning) explains, the summer workouts aren't necessarily aimed at preparing players for the actual season.
"People think that we train in the summertime for the season, but we're not. We're training in the summertime to go to training camp." Edinger explains.
"The rigors of training camp are so difficult that really, we're just trying to prepare them to be able to go into camp and get good, quality reps. Understand that the freshman and transfers aren't going to be the same as the guys who have been at it for 18 months, and that's fine, but we need them to uphold a standard and we need our returning players to help them uphold the standard."
Then Edinger reveals some of the philosophy behind their workouts. While some programs go for a position specific approach, the BGSU staff focus on developing the entire athlete, and leave the finer molding to the position coaches.
"We don't really do position specific work. We do general athletic work." Edinger notes. "All the guys on the team do the same stuff. Some guys may get more reps than other guys or we may change the drill around just a little bit, but in general, everyone is doing the same thing. My job is to try and get these guys in as many athletic positions as possible, to try and create the most agile, fastest, and most resilient athlete that I can."
"Then I can give them to the position coaches, and the position coaches can coach them up. I'm just creating the best athlete that we can possibly have. The most practice ready, and game ready athlete that we can have, so that we can maximize their potential when it comes to their actual skill set."
Hear more on Bowling Green's approach in the weight room from Edinger in the clip below.