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Adam Archuleta
at the Senior Bowl
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Working out in front of NFL scouts in Indianapolis this past February, St. Louis Rams
first-round draft pick Adam Archuleta posted some of the most impressive results for a
safety in the 17-year history of the NFL Draft Combine. The 6-foot, 211-pound Archuleta
ran a 4.42 40, had a 39-inch vertical jump and bench-pressed 225 pounds 31 times.
The reason Archuleta was drafted with the 20th pick in the 2001 NFL draft
was no accident. Archuleta’s numbers are the result of years of sweat and training in
preparation for this opportunity. As a 172-pound high school junior, Archuleta became
intrigued by an article written by Jay Schroeder, founder of Evo-Sport, and felt compelled
to contact him.
Schroeder developed Evo-Sport based on a principle that is widely regarded in strength
and conditioning literature but rarely practiced — plyometrics. Nearly every part of
the program involves absorbing and rapidly propelling force.
Rather than perform a standard bench press, Schroeder teaches athletes to explode
through the movement, release the bar from their hands at the top of the lift, drop their
hands to their chests, catch and explode back into the bar as fast as possible. Schroeder
keeps his hands ready at all times, watching athletes to make sure they catch the bar.
What impresses Schroeder about Archuleta’s ability to bench-press 530 pounds is
not the sheer mass being moved, but that it is moved in 1.09 seconds. Force on the
football field is the product of mass and acceleration. Traditional weightlifting programs
concentrate on moving mass regardless of how much an athlete struggles to perform the
lift. Schroeder emphasizes performing lifts quickly, which increases the amount of force
produced and has turned Archuleta into a havoc-wreaking machine on the football field.
When Archuleta began the Evo-Sport program, he benched 265 pounds in 2.76 seconds in
the concentric or ascending phase of the lift. He squatted 273 in 3.47 seconds, ran the 40
in 4.79-4.81 and had a 26-inch vertical jump. Today, his personal best in the bench press
is 530 pounds in 1.09 seconds and in the squat, 663 pounds in 1.24 seconds. At an
individual workout for NFL scouts, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds and jumped 39
inches vertically.
As a walk-on football player at Arizona State, Archuleta quickly earned a scholarship
and became Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year last season as a senior. In his five years
at ASU, Archuleta trained with Schroeder in addition to completing the workout program the
rest of his team performed.
"The will to prepare for success is more important than the will for
success," Schroeder said. "If you want to be the best football player or the
best safety or the best center or the best bench presser, then be willing to work that
hard, not just put in the same work that everyone else is putting in."
Archuleta said he paced himself through ASU’s workouts so he could concentrate on
Schroeder’s program.
"You could jump and you could exercise all day long, but that doesn’t mean
you are going to get any better," Archuleta said. "Everyone squats and everybody
runs and everybody jumps and everybody benches, but it’s the way that you do it.
There’s no secret exercise. It’s the way it’s applied. And that’s
where Jay’s expertise comes in."
While Archuleta was accustomed to receiving compliments for his football prowess in
high school, Schroeder challenged Archuleta. Schroeder evaluated how Archuleta compared
with other athletes and gave him a program to complete before he would agree to work with
him. After Archuleta showed signs of progress over several months, Schroeder welcomed him
into his gym. Not long afterward, he kicked Archuleta out for not working hard enough and
told him not to come back. The next day, Archuleta showed up and waited in the doorway of
Schroeder’s office while he completed office work. After ignoring him for more than
an hour, Schroeder told him, "All right, let’s work out."
"He challenged me to come in here every day, and he really put me through some
beat-down workouts," Archuleta said. "He really tested my intestinal fortitude
and really taught me what it was like to work hard. He put me through a lot of tests and
was constantly trying to teach me and mold me and get me to understand what it took to be
a good athlete and what kind of sacrifices it was going to take."
A key component of Schroeder’s program is repetition. Typical football programs
train each body part twice a week and allow ample opportunity for rest. In
Schroeder’s program, athletes might train the chest 12 times a week. His clients
usually exercise twice a day, six days a week. Football players use their muscles
constantly during a week in practice and games. Why should their weight-room preparation
be any different?
A typical chest workout for Archuleta involves 100-300 repetitions with weight varying
between 225 and 275 pounds. Schroeder gives Archuleta a set number to perform, and he must
perform the concentric phase of each lift in less than a quarter of a second. If he
doesn’t explode fast enough, the repetition does not count toward the prescribed goal
for that day. For every 15 reps he completes, he has to do one to three supermaximal reps
from 500 to 600 pounds on his own.
Many strength experts would argue that Schroeder’s intense program neglects
recovery time, decreases strength and increases injuries, all of which are symptomatic of
overtraining. However, Schroeder says his program is specifically designed to overtrain an
athlete.
"We try to overtrain to a 3 to 7 percent deficit on purpose," Schroeder said.
"The longer we can maintain that level, the greater the supercompensatory effect is
later on. If we go deeper in the overtraining than that, it sets us way back, but if we go
at 3 to 7 percent, we maintain great results."
The game of football is played in 45-second spurts. On an average play, an athlete
expends his energy fully for five to 10 seconds, followed by a 35- to 40-second rest. A
series usually lasts anywhere from three to 15 consecutive plays. A long series of plays
leaves most players gasping for air and eager to hit the sideline for water and rest.
Compared to the stress placed on an athlete in Schroeder’s workouts, he believes a
15-play series is relatively easy.
Several NFL players have begun Schroeder’s program, only to leave the gym after 10
minutes and never return. Schroeder assumes they left because it was too difficult.
"It’s not for the faint of heart," Schroeder said. "It’s very
difficult training, both the mental and emotional training. We’ll bench sometimes 12
to 15 times a week. People aren’t mentally and emotionally in tune to doing that. So
just the sheer repetition of heavy, fast moving of loads is enough to make you tough.
Someone like Adam, he can go out and run near his max speed many, many, many times even
under duress."
While Archuleta’s strength coaches at ASU did not like him consulting
professionals outside of their supervision, Archuleta is a firm believer in
Schroeder’s program.
"(ASU coaches) didn’t like what we were doing and tried to make excuses that
it wasn’t good for me and blah, blah, blah and whatever," Archuleta said.
"The results don’t lie. And the kind of football player that was made
doesn’t lie either. So people have egos, and people get jealous, but I mean, the
bottom line is what’s happening. Am I getting results? Am I getting better? Am I a
better football player? Am I getting less injured? Am I stronger? Am I faster? That’s
the bottom line, and that’s all I’m interested in."
Archuleta is not the only athlete seeing results. Schroeder trains Arizona Cardinals WR
Rob Moore and QB Chris Greisen, San Francisco 49ers TE Brian Jennings and Kansas City
Chiefs TE Troy Drayton, in addition to many champion powerlifters, college softball
players and other clients aged 4 to 82.
Upon seeing Archuleta’s successful results from Evo-Sport, his agent, Gary
Wichard, began referring other clients to Schroeder. It took one visit to the gym to
convince Rob Moore of the value in Schroeder’s program. As an 11-year veteran wide
receiver, Moore has gained nearly 100 pounds on his bench press in five months and is now
benching 425.
According to Wichard, Schroeder’s training is certainly evolutionary, as the title
Evo-Sport infers.
"I’ve never seen anything as football-oriented as this kind of
training," Wichard said. "Everything is done with speed. I’m talking about
lifting 500 pounds with speed. Don’t give me pretty-boy bench presses that are slow.
He doesn’t even count those. You have to explode. If you watch Adam’s game on
the field, his game is about explosion and force, and that is what Jay is teaching."
While Schroeder’s program is innovative, the fundamental principle of his teaching
will always remain the same. It is best demonstrated by the words of his protégé,
Archuleta:
"I just try to go to bed every night with the attitude that nobody put in more
time or worked as hard as me that day." |
