At the time of this blog coming out you have seen me showing more content with how I am training athletes using the Difference and Hawkin TruStrength. I am having so much fun with this and I think I am trying to make up for lost time. Back in 2016/2017 at Iowa we bought these for the football team. I didn't feel like I had the creative juices flowing then as I do now. But what I am doing is using my education from 2016-2018 working so closely with the football team to my work in 2025. Let me show you.
Difference x TruStrength Compared to Force Plates
Before we dive into how I am using the Difference with all position groups in football, lets compare this device to the Force Plates. With the force plates you can do a CMJ and get data on one jump. With the Difference and True Strength you get this with the Single Strike Test.
With the force plates you can get RSI with the multi jump test. With the Difference and True Strength you get this with the Multi Strike Test.
With the force plates you can get DSI with IMTP (remember IMTPush) and CMJ. With the Difference and True Strength you get this with the Single Strike Test and Upper Body IMTPush or Plyo Push Up on Plates.
With the force plates you can get single leg metrics with the unilateral force plates. With the Difference and True Strength you get this with single arm Single Strike Test.
One of the best parts is you can set a threshold number of the strike on the Hawkin app. This means any strikes above the threshold turn green and those below turn red. This is especially helpful because of the different spring levels associated with The Difference Striking Machine (the higher the spring number the more resistance it provides, and thus you will get a lower N force read out for the same athlete).
How to Use The Difference x TruStrength for All Football Positions
Your mind is the thing slowing you down here. Get creative. Don't be like me in 2016-2018. Be like me now. Here are a few ways I am using this and the groups it helps:
Shuffle laterally into - LB, TE, FB
Come out of Three Point Stance - OL, DL, TE
Back Pedal then run fwd - DB, LB
Just because this is used in the weight room does not mean you have to stand still and strike it. Let the kids move around. Let em hit it and rip off like they were going to make a tackle. Or mount it to the wall in your indoor facility and let em hit it before practice (we all know they get out there early and mess around - might as well mess around with something that will help them).
Difference x TruStrength for Other Sports and Contact Prep
Lucky for me I use this Difference x TruStrength with other athletes. As far as Post Activation Potentiation and lifting - use this with all athletes. However, for the contact but not collision sports check this out.
Soccer, basketball, rugby and lacrosse athletes all can benefit from this with respect to contact prep. You can let them get next to the machine and hit it sideways for their shoulder contact prep.
Is this "perfect" contact prep? No.
Does it work to prepare the shoulder joint, muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc...for contact with another person? YUP!
So use it this way.
You can also use it this way for RTP and be able to show the docs that Player X was able to produce X amount of force into their shoulder for X number of reps, over X number of days and weeks. You know this type of info paired with the other excellent RTP data and work you do will help any upper body RTP get back sooner.
How to Use The Difference x TruStrength for Conditioning
Stick with me on this. In the same way the Tribe Test and SCN Football Conditioning Test allow for specific measurement on each rep within a 5 sec sprint and 25 second rest, do the same for upper body striking.
Set the multi strike for the number of reps you think is 5 seconds (maybe 10 reps).
Then you use the same protocol from our blog on the SCN Football Conditioning Test for the number of reps. Let say you pick the 4x4 with 2 min rest I mention in the blog. In this way you can see how your linemen do or don't fall off by the final 4 reps.
Or let's say you use the Tribe test 12 rep protocol. You can see if your players pack the same punch at the end as they do in the beginning. Now, you can better program their upper body work to match the demands for game.
Wrapping it All Up
Yes I am biased but that does not mean I am wrong. You are also biased, just remember that ;)
This combo has made me have more fun coaching some of the icing lifting in the weight room. I did not say this before, but know that this is just the icing on the cake. It is not the cake. The cake is all the other training you do with the team:
Ground based explosive
Lower body knee dominant
Lower body posterior chain (hip and knee dominant)
Upper push/pull horizontal + vertical
Torso
Accessory
Accel
Max Velo
Curve
C.O.D
Agility
Jump
Hop
Leap
Jop
Reverse Jop
Conditioning
Grapple
This combo with The Difference x TruStrength just allows your icing to be better than others. In doing so, you can have a better cake and icing then your competition, and at the end of the day the best bakers want the best of both - so you as the S&C coach should want the same for your athletes.
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