"Black Knightmare" Test And Summer Workout Pushes Players To The Limit
By Brian Jackson, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Crestwood High School, Sumter, S.C.
WHEN GOING OVER our summer workouts, I often find myself contemplating whether or not our athletes are ready to endure a full game. It seems like they are, when I take into account all the strength training, agility work and conditioning that takes place four days of the week — but being in good physical condition doesn’t always equal the physical stamina needed for a full 4-quarter football game.
At Crestwood High School, home of the Black Knights, I’ve had the pleasure of coaching some of the finest athletes anyone could ask for. Our strength team won three consecutive state championships in 2001, 2002, and 2003 and finished second in 2004. I have had 8 athletes’ full squat over 600 pounds without a power suit and have sent over 20 athletes to college on football scholarships. Until recently, however, we did not test our players for “game readiness.” We’ve developed what we consider to be a highly effective test to establish a player’s “game-readiness” conditioning.
Breaking Conditioning Into Parts
When you break down a football game into specific movements, you come up with three major movements that are repeated by almost every player on an play-by-play basis.
1. The Stance (full squat).
2. Hand-To-Hand Combat (partial squat/clean).
3. Tackling (power clean).
These three positions — along with running and sprinting — basically make up the majority of the movements of a football game. In high school, games are broken up into four, 12 minute quarters for a total of 48 minutes. This got us thinking, “What if there was a 48 minute test to show athletes what playing an entire 4-quarter game feels like?” The “Black Knightmare” test was our creation to do just that.
“Black Nightmare” Test: Phase 1
Throughout the Black Knightmare test, athletes must face adversity and make the decision to overcome it or quit. This test is not for all players and it’s not designed for all players either.
The test involves athletes performing a full squat and a full power clean every minute for 48 straight minutes. The only rest a player gets is from the time between “sets.” This simulates the physical nature of a game, where a player’s only break comes between plays when he’s in the huddle preparing for the next play. The idea here is that each play involves both the squat and the power clean whether it is offensively or defensively. After the first 24 sets are completed, we give each player a two minute lift-free break for water or to use the bathroom. At this time, we’ll also give them the chance to quit. Throughout the duration of the “Knightmare Challenge” athletes are not permitted to sit down — placing stress on the legs — just as it would in a game.
“Black Nightmare” Test: Phase 2
After all sets have been completed in the weightroom, the athlete immediately sprints outside to the rest of the challenge. Once outside, the athlete straps himself into a harness hooked to a pulling sled loaded with 300 pounds and sprints for 50 yards.
Next, the player must run to a 500 pound tractor tire which must be flipped for another 50 yards (rolling the tire does not count for distance). After the tire flip portion of the test, the athlete only has one more obstacle to overcome.
Black Nightmare” Test: Phase 3
Phase 3 is “crunch time” for the challenge. While the players takes a short break, he’s met with a stiff challenge by the coaches. The coaches ask him to imagine that it is now the fourth quarter of a game and our team is down by 5 points. We tell him to imagine that a touchdown sends us to the state championship game and a loss sends us home. We ask him to imagine that as a senior who is playing in his final game, how is he going to handle this situation? This is how he must attack the last phase of the test.
To perform this last challenge, the player needs the entire football field. Starting at the left sideline, the athlete must sprint diagonally to the right sideline at the 30 yard line, where he drops to the ground and immediately does 20 pushups. He then gets up and sprints diagonally to the left sideline at the 50 yard line and does 20 sit-ups.
With the player’s legs already soggy and weak from all the squats and the sprints, this is where you find out which of your players is man enough to play football. From the 50 yard line, the athlete breaks into a full-speed, straight-ahead sprint to the goal line. He must complete the sprint in under 8 seconds.
Set Time Limits
All of the described exercises must be completed within a one hour time limit to be considered a “Black Knightmare” test completer. Completers are awarded with a complimentary lunch buffet, t-shirt — and most important to the athlete — their names are inscribed on a plaque in the weightroom. The plaque is important because everyone knows that not all players can fulfill the requirements of this challenge, and that everyone who comes into the program will see that no matter how many tackles, pancake blocks or touchdowns a player had, only a select few can claim to have met the Black Knightmare challenge.
“Black Knightmare” Test Session
A test session for this challenge will look like this on paper:
Start (00:00): Full Squat (00:15). Full Power Clean (00:32). Set 1 Complete.
Set 2 (01:00): Full Squat (01:16). Full Power Clean (01:34). Set 2 Complete.
Set 3 (02:00): Full Squat (02:14) Full Power Clean (02:33) Set 3 Complete.
Halftime (25:00 – 27:00). No lifting.
Set 25 (27:00): Full Squat (27:22). Full Power Clean (27:44). Set 25 Complete.
The time between the completion of the power clean and the next set is rest time for the athlete. They can use the rest time however they want, but they aren’t allowed to sit down and they must start the next set at the full minute mark. The challenge stops when the athlete does not meet the fulfillment of the squat or clean rep or time limit, or when an athlete simply states that he cannot go on. Remember, there is an overall time limit of 60 minutes to complete the entire challenge.
As for the amount of weight to be used for the squat and clean, we break it up depending on position. Linemen, for example, are required to use a squat weight of 385 pounds and a power clean weight of 225. Those were calculated to be averages of the opposing players’ weights and strengths. It seemed light at the time, but after multiple sets and after seeing how fatigued the players were becoming, I knew it was the correct weight. For all other players, the squat weight was 315 and the power clean was 185. We will not go lower on any of the aforementioned weights for players. As mentioned earlier, this test is not for all athletes. If a player wants to try the challenge, then he must work up to the required strength standards to meet the minimums needed.
Test Has Helped
This past season, our football team had a remarkable year. We went undefeated in the regular season (10-0), averaged 425 yards rushing per game, and went to the semi-finals of the state playoffs. From this team, we had 10 make All-State, and six have signed major college scholarships. Of these great successes on the field, only 12 players wanted to try the “Black Knightmare” test, and of those 12, only eight succeeded. Of those eight, there were four players who will not be continuing their football careers in college, but they will always have their name on the plaque in our weightroom — signifying to all that they completed the Black Knightmare.
If you have additional questions about this article or others pertaining to strength and conditioning, you can contact me at: bjackson@scsd2.k12.sc.us
