Carson Palmer was traded to the Oakland Raiders after saying he would rather retire than play for the Cincinnati Bengals ever again.  It seems like both sides got what they wanted.  So the strength coach in me was wondering what Carson Palmer was doing in his “retirement” to keep him in football shape, just in case this thing were to happen.  The following article is my thoughts on what I would have done to get Carson Palmer in shape with an off-season training program that would have got him close to game-ready as I possibly could.

Upon researching workouts that Carson Palmer does, the only thing I could find in the 15 minutes I spent doing that was his affinity to pilates.  I guess after his knee injury in 2006, his wife (a pilates instructor) talked him into doing it and he loved it.  It helped with his flexibility, range of motion, and balancing of his body.

Since I’m not an expert in pilates, I am going to talk about what you guys like me to talk about which is a speed and strength program fit for an NFL quarterback.

I would have probably started with a normal strength periodization peaking around the time their summer training camps were to begin.  So, you’re looking at around the end of July.  All the training would have peaked then meaning he would have been lifting his strongest, conditioning would have been at an optimum, and his speed would have been as fast as he could go.

Then we would have gone lax for the next few weeks to let things shake out.  Meaning, lifting very light loads, not doing as much running, and taking stress off the body.  Everything is where it needs to be and just to make sure that he isn’t too fatigued, we would spend the next few weeks deconditioning.  That way we hit it a little to maintain what we got, but we aren’t taxing the body that much so it can recover a lot quicker.  This would all be in the hopes that Mike Brown would have changed his mind and dealt him during training camp.

Once the season started getting underway, we would have to get back into the lifting and conditioning.  We would also look for someone to throw with as well, to keep the arm ready.  There is no way that we would be able to get him into game shape.  The only way you can truly get into game shape is to get pads on and play the game, make the throws, and take the hits.

What we need to do is get as close to that as possible and keep him there until a deal gets made.  Or worst case scenario, the season ends and he doesn’t get picked up then we would have to recreate a new workout plan.

With the lifting, I’m hitting the major lifts.  I’m going to do some cleans (various versions of power and hang), push presses, squats (single leg and double), hamstring work, chest press (dumbbells so as not to put too much stress on the rotator cuff), back work (maybe pull-ups or bent over rows), and lots of core work.  I also want to work the rotator cuff and shoulders, to keep that strong and help prevent injury.

But, I’m going to keep the volume rather low.  Meaning, I’m going to have a high percentage of his max (maybe 85% – 90% or a little more) with lesser reps.  We want to tax the power and explosiveness.  We want to keep that sharp because we don’t know when he will start playing again.  In fact, now that I’m thinking about it, I might just have him do mini 3 or 4 week periodization plans.  Meaning, maybe I have a medium-low volume start and then progress it down to lower volume, decondition for a week (go lighter), then start the mini-cycle over again.

For speed work, I would do some plyometrics (at this phase probably doing single leg work, but once again with a lower volume – i.e. not as many foot contacts).  Do some resistance and assistance runs as well, then follow it up with some quickness drills.  The goal here is not to try to improve on his speed.  Carson Palmer’s game is not predicated on his speed, but keep him training at his speed at a high level so it isn’t a shock to him when he has to do it in a game.

Basically, I want his body to feel explosive movements as much as possible.  I want him doing cuts at full speed, doing explosive jumps forward and laterally, so his body feels those forces and is prepped for them when the games come.

For conditioning, I would probably do some sprints in an interval format.  So maybe he runs a windsprint or suicide drill for 5-6 seconds, roughly a little longer than a play lasts.  To make it more specific, after he runs it and while he is winded, call out a play, then take a 5 step drop to throw a pass, then rest 35 seconds, and repeat the sprints.  This would help him get closer to game speed, conditions, etc.

One last variation I might make would be to toss a heavy medicine ball at him, have him catch it, throw it out in some plyometric movement, and then sprint out 10-20 yards.  Once again, all this is designed to not get him faster (even though if it does, that would be a bonus), but get his body moving at full speed, feeling those forces, and being able to handle those forces.

Ultimately, that is what I would have designed for Mister Palmer if he had come to me.  A program that keeps him strong, powerful, able to recover quickly, and as game ready as we could possibly get him.  Then if he wanted to do his pilates, go for it.  Remember, you don’t have to be an NFL quarterback to keep your body in great shape.  It is effective at all levels.  Hopefully, you will take some nuggets from this to formulate your own workout program for whatever sport you are playing.