Dear Snappers,

We are in the heat of off-season training right now! The main focus for football players, at this time of the year, should really be strength and conditioning. I have always been an advocate of long snappers being big time lifting guys. On social media, I love shouting out guys that are out there representing the specialist unit in the weight room! I have been lifting for ten years now, and I want to share the things that I have learned and experienced with all of you.

Upper Body

Obviously, upper body is the favorite of 95% of lifters all over the planet. Luckily for snappers, we have a great reason to focus on arms. There are a lot of benefits that snappers can experience from working arms that include reduced chance of injury, fatigue, and an increased speed and precision on snaps.

Some of my favorite, yet overlooked, lifts that I like to do for long snapping include:

• Tricep Rope Push Down
  • Focus on speed and extending your wrists as if you were snapping a ball.
• SkullCrushers - Lying Tricep Extension
  • An easy lift to set up with minimal equipment needed. I love to add a little chest press after each set of SkullCrushers to push yourself to hit another level.
• DDP Push-ups - (S/O to Dallas Diamond Page)
  • Any type of push-up is great for athletes to be able to push themselves and challenge their personal records. Push-ups require no equipment and can be done anywhere. NO EXCUSES!
• Standing Military Press
  • Long snappers should never take their shoulders for granted. Throwing a ball, whether overhead or #BetweenTheLegs, there is still going to be stress on the shoulders. We have to take care of them to stay at our best.

Lower Body

You will not find me in the weight room enjoying squats, never, ever, not once. I might not enjoy it, but it has to be done. Lower body strength and flexibility can add so much to your long snapping game. You need to have a strong base, explosive legs, and flexible hips in order to bring your snapping to the highest level. Working leg strength also improves speed. Snappers need that speed to get down and lay the wood on Punt!

Some of the overlooked lifts that can push your snapping to the next level include:

• Overhead Squat
  • A great exercise that helps strengthen shoulders, pushes your hips to flex, and helps build those stabilizing muscles all over the body. I've been told that some of the best strength trainers can tell if a person is a good athlete simply by their overhead squat form.
• Pistol Squats
  • I haven't gotten good enough at these to do more than my body weight, but trust me it will test you! It requires no equipment and can do wonders for your training. It is an amazing lift that builds strength, balance, and flexibility.
• Raised-Leg Lunges
  • Personally, I have found that doing these really opens up my hips more than a regular lunge, but both are great. They help build speed and strength without needing a lot of equipment. I recommend putting the bar on your back and working the lunges with some weight, but it can just as easily be done with just body weight.
• Single-Leg Glute Bridge (Preferably with a yoga/gym ball)
  • This workout was actually shown to me by a buddy that plays baseball at Upper Iowa. It's a tough body weight left that helps build those hamstrings. The last thing that a snapper wants is a tight hamstring that gives out halfway through the season.

"There is no secret workout to become a great Long Snapper. Work on your total body strength." 

-Patrick Mannelly

During the season, I prefer to work a hypertrophy phase to focus on lightweight, high reps, and great speed. When snappers are in season, we have to begin to dwindle down the amount of snapping we do and focus on getting perfect snaps with low volume. That means that to sustain those high volume movements and reduce injury, I like to hit higher reps in the weight room.

I want to remind all the snappers out there that I am not a physical trainer, I don't have formal education in the subject of weight-lifting, but I am surrounded by some of the best minds on the topic. At Northern Iowa, I have gotten to learn from some of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the industry. I want to pass along the knowledge that I have gained as a long snapper to all of you out there living the Long Snapping Lifestyle.

This blog post is just the beginning of our long snapping strength and conditioning section! We haven't even gone over some great workouts for core and back that are great tools to have in your bag. Make sure to check back every week for another bit of information on one of the many areas of long snapping!