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Texas Tech finished as one of the eight-best teams in college football last season. Part of the Red Raiders’ success stems from their work in the weight room, where there is a ban on any dumbbells that weigh less than 40 pounds.
No exceptions!
I cannot say for certain but I do not know of any other team in college football that takes this kind of approach to strength training. There are a lot of benefits to lifting lighter weights!
Texas Tech does not allow players to lift weights lighter than 40 pounds.
Texas Tech is coming off of the best season in program history. The Red Raiders went 12-2 en route to the quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff, won their first-ever Big 12 championship and finished ranked No. 4 in the country. They had only won 10 or more games one other time since 1975 and just six other times dating back to 1932. Joey McGuire — with the help of oil money boosters — built a legitimate powerhouse in Lubbock.
It seems like Texas Tech is here to stay!
At the forefront of any good college football program is strength and conditioning. That effort is led by head strength and conditioning coach Lance Barilow. He takes a very unique approach to training.
The Red Raiders are not allowed to use any weight lighter than 40 pounds in that part of the team facility. You will not find a 10-, 15- or even 25-pound dumbbell anywhere in that specific room. Check it out:
The goal of this dumbbell ban is to force the players to work as hard as possible when they are in there. There are no shortcuts. They have to lift heavy. They don’t have another choice when they use that weight room.
Now, I would imagine there are other weight rooms within the facility that have a set of lighter dumbbells, but I do not know that for certain. Just not in the area shown in Adam Breneman’s video.
Is this a good way to strength train?
As you could imagine, this surprising revelation is met with a lot of backlash.
Barilow obviously knows what he is doing but there are a lot of benefits to weights that are lighter than 40 pounds. I find it hard to believe they don’t lift lighter and that they don’t use a different facility with 10-, 15-, etc.-pound, dumbbells on those days. The caption to Breneman’s video likely leaves that part out.
Lighter dumbbells allow athletes to strength the smaller stabilizing muscles around the shoulders, hips and knees. Those muscles support joints and help to reduce risk of injury.
Lighter dumbbells also help to build functional strength. Lifting heavy is great for getting big but lighter weights can help to improve balance and coordination, as well as to increase speed through fast, explosive movements that improve power output.
Perhaps most notably, lighter weights help to increase muscular endurance. Troy Polamalu is one of the best defenders in NFL history. He famously swore off heavy weightlifting in favor of the Marv Marinovich Method, which focused on high-reps of low weights. Rarely did the 207-pound safety lift anything heavier 20 pounds. And yet, he still hit harder than most other players in the league.
Texas Tech takes the exact opposite approach on days when the team uses that specific weight room. Players cannot lift anything under 40 pounds.
Not only would it put players at risk of an injury to only lift that heavy, it would take away from functional strength and endurance. That is a trade-off the Red Raiders are clearly willing to make on those days, which got them to the quarterfinals.
My question is — how are the punters, long-snappers, etc. supposed to lift that heavy?! I know I couldn’t do shoulder flys with a 40-pound dumbbell. My shoulder would fall off of the bone.
There must be some nuance to this dumbbell ban. Perhaps it is not as strict as the Adam Breneman video suggests. Otherwise, I am truly baffled by this approach.