Alex Willcox oversees MSU's off-season workouts
Photo by: MSU Sports Information
Bobcat Gridders Making Gains in Off-Season
1/31/2013 8:53:00 AM | Football
Alex Willcox's strength and speed program improves team physically, mentally
It might look a little odd at times, but that doesn't matter to Montana State University Strength and Conditioning Coach Alex Willcox.
“Pushing sleds, swinging ropes, med ball throws, plate carries,” Willcox says, ticking through a list of the work done during the GPP (General Physical Preparedness) phase of the Bobcat football team's early-morning, off-season workouts, “it's all designed to build work capacity. And it has a good carryover to what guys are asked to do on the field every day.”
The three-time defending Big Sky Champion Bobcats hit the tartan surface of Worthington Arena in the early morning hours since the semester began, and Willcox said the goal is simple. “Winter is meant for building strength and speed,” the second year Bobcat strength man says. “This is our chance to get ourselves stronger and faster.”
The Bobcats have transitioned out of the GPP phase into a speed and agility segment of the off-season program. “We're moving toward speed work designed to increase acceleration in the first 10 yards and the ability to change directions faster,” Willcox said.
Willcox took over MSU's strength program late in the 2011 football season. In fact, the first Bobcat game he saw was the team's home loss to Montana. With that disappointing day as a starting point, he has reconstructed a program to improve players' minds as well as bodies.
“Compared to this time last year we are mentally stronger, more together, more focused,” he said. “I feel like everybody is on the same page and everybody believes in what we're doing. It's a good feeling. I feel we're a lot stronger as a group, a lot faster, a lot more agile.”
Willcox, who played football at Iowa and cut his teeth as a strength coach there and at Drake, insists that because of the program's collective work ethic there is more improvement to come. “It's a tough bunch of guys,” he said. “They're willing to pay the price of success.”
“Pushing sleds, swinging ropes, med ball throws, plate carries,” Willcox says, ticking through a list of the work done during the GPP (General Physical Preparedness) phase of the Bobcat football team's early-morning, off-season workouts, “it's all designed to build work capacity. And it has a good carryover to what guys are asked to do on the field every day.”
The three-time defending Big Sky Champion Bobcats hit the tartan surface of Worthington Arena in the early morning hours since the semester began, and Willcox said the goal is simple. “Winter is meant for building strength and speed,” the second year Bobcat strength man says. “This is our chance to get ourselves stronger and faster.”
The Bobcats have transitioned out of the GPP phase into a speed and agility segment of the off-season program. “We're moving toward speed work designed to increase acceleration in the first 10 yards and the ability to change directions faster,” Willcox said.
Willcox took over MSU's strength program late in the 2011 football season. In fact, the first Bobcat game he saw was the team's home loss to Montana. With that disappointing day as a starting point, he has reconstructed a program to improve players' minds as well as bodies.
“Compared to this time last year we are mentally stronger, more together, more focused,” he said. “I feel like everybody is on the same page and everybody believes in what we're doing. It's a good feeling. I feel we're a lot stronger as a group, a lot faster, a lot more agile.”
Willcox, who played football at Iowa and cut his teeth as a strength coach there and at Drake, insists that because of the program's collective work ethic there is more improvement to come. “It's a tough bunch of guys,” he said. “They're willing to pay the price of success.”
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