Keeping athletes fit and trim during the off-season can be a football coach’s nightmare. Successful programs, however, have a way of working with athletes, encouraging them to attain a serious level of conditioning that will carry them through until Fall arrives.

Three of western Maine’s most successful football programs all use different methods of off-season conditioning that have athletes pushing themselves to the highest levels.

“One of the things we are big into is core training,” Mt. Blue football coach Gary Parlin said. “We have all sorts of exercise and medicine balls. In our advanced physical education classes we have kids who use medicine balls every day.”

Many of the exercises used by Parlin were mainstreamed by the military for boot camp during the early 1900s while preparing soldiers for the rigors of war. Medicine balls used by the Cougars range in weight from six to 14 pounds and are used to develop team trust.

In one exercise, a student/athlete lies on the floor and throws a medicine ball into the air to a partner standing above which quickly lends itself to a trustworthy relationship.

“They get each other’s attention in a hurry,” Parlin said. “If not, you can imagine what happens.”

Parlin uses a plank position to test students in his classes. In the plank position, the students rest their weight on the forearms and toes, similar to a push-up position. After 30 seconds, students raise one arm, then a leg, rotating through a series of movements that test the overall core strength of the athlete.

“We have very few who make it through the testing,” Parlin said. “The kids’ responses to the program have been really good, but the workouts are strenuous.”

Nearby, Livermore Falls High School football coach Brad Bishop takes a different approach to off-season training.

“We can’t afford to buy medicine balls like the big schools,” Bishop said. “We’re lucky if we can get a new football every year, so we make do with what we have.”

With only a small weight room at his disposal, and an extremely limited number of weights, Bishop likes to focus on cardiovascular fitness for football team members – many are three-sport athletes for the Andies.

“Some of our kids get in the weight room, at gyms downtown, but we are more into conditioning than weight lifting,” Bishop said. “I think most of our kids are in good cardio shape. We do more running than most teams we play because a lot of our kids are on the field most of the game.”

Bishop’s approach with the Andies has many of the top-rated athletes playing key roles on teams in the winter and spring. To be successful in a small school, Bishop has taken the approach of less is more.

“If they are playing sports all the time, then they are doing what they gotta do,” he said. “We have a small enrollment and the kids need their time to do other things. When we get ready in the Fall, we run a lot before the season begins.”

Meanwhile, Mark Bonnevie, head coach at Jay High School, supervises a three-day-a-week weight-lifting program for all athletes at the school. Bonnevie has between 10 to 15 students working out each session.

“The kids come in and bench, squat and dead lift – those are the main three,” Bonnevie said. “We have soccer and football players working out with each other every session.”

Jay’s weight room is well stocked, with machines and weights to offer plenty of challenges for students.

“We don’t come in and throw a football at them,” Bonnevie said. “This is a supervised weight-room activity and we have good numbers.”

Each coach has adapted to the needs and facilities of their school environment and from it have developed a tradition of excellence and performance that makes for three successful programs.