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Linebacker Off-Season
Linebacker Off-Season is an intermediate football program that runs 12 weeks at 4 sessions per week. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster.
What this program is
A 12-week off-season program for linebackers, four days a week. Three of the four sessions start with speed: acceleration and skipping drills on day 1, lateral shuffles, backpedals and the 5-10-5 shuttle on day 3, flying sprints for top speed on day 4. Then jumps or throws and the main lifts: squat, bench press, hang power clean in sets of 2 or 3, trap bar deadlift and push press. Neck work twice a week in four directions, isometric holds included, Nordic curls on a gradual ramp, Copenhagen adductions, and conditioning that moves from tempo runs to sled pushes to repeat sprints. Three blocks build, strengthen, then sharpen power, and week 4 of each is a deload.
At a glance
| Discipline | Football |
| Experience level | Intermediate |
| Length | 12 weeks |
| Training days | 4 per week |
| Equipment | Barbell + Landmine + Trap Bar + Dumbbells + Cable + Pull-up bar + Medicine ball + Sled + Band + Neck harness + Plyo box + Open field |
| Season phase | Off-season |
| Loading | RPE targets on the lifts, with sprints set by distance and jumps counted in ground contacts. |
| Price | Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes |
Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.
How it works in Ægir Iron
Inside Ægir Iron the plan is real Cycle, Block, Week, Day structure. The 12 weeks are grouped into 3 blocks, and the sets, reps and effort targets change from one block to the next. Lifts carry RPE targets rather than percentages, and you choose the weight. If you would rather run a lift off a percentage of your max, switch that row to a percentage in the editor. You load it in a couple of taps, then adjust any session, and a coach can push it to an athlete's account in real time.
Original source
Ægir Iron's template is built from these sources. Under each one is what the template takes from it.
- Petersen J, Thorborg K, Nielsen MB, Budtz-Jørgensen E, Hölmich P (2011). Preventive effect of eccentric training on acute hamstring injuries in men's soccer: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39(11):2296-2303.The football Nordic ramp: 2 x 5, 2 x 6, 3 x 6, 3 x 8, then three sets of 12, 10 and 8, twice a week before the season (the twice is ours; the off-season's last block runs it once a week) and once a week in season
- Harøy J, Clarsen B, Wiger EG, Øyen MG, Serner A, Thorborg K, Hölmich P, Andersen TE, Bahr R (2019). The Adductor Strengthening Programme prevents groin problems among male football players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(3):150-157.The football Copenhagen build: one set each side of 3 to 5 reps, then 7 to 10, then 12 to 15, twice a week in the off- and pre-season (the twice is ours), and one set of 12 to 15 once a week in season
- Chen A, Zhuang M, Huang Z, Zhao L, Wang L (2026). The effects of field-based repeated sprint training on physical performance in soccer players: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis. Front Physiol. 2026;17:1745959.The football repeat-sprint rows, inside the same ranges: 2 to 6 sets of 4 to 10 sprints of 10 to 40 m, 20 to 30 s between sprints and 1 to 5 min between sets
- Daly E, Pearce AJ, Ryan L (2021). A Systematic Review of Strength and Conditioning Protocols for Improving Neck Strength and Reducing Concussion Incidence and Impact Injury Risk in Collision Sports; Is There Evidence?. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2021;6(1):8.The football neck dose: three 10 s isometric holds in each of four directions, twice a week, in every football program
- Fownes-Walpole M, Heyward O, Till K, Mackay L, Stodter A, Al-Dawoud M, et al. (2025). Combining evidence and practice to optimise neck training aimed at reducing head acceleration events in sport: a systematic review and Delphi-consensus study. Br J Sports Med. 2025;59(15):1027-1042.Neck work as a year-round, periodised part of the programme, so every football phase keeps it, the post-season included
- Elliott MC, Zarins B, Powell JW, Kenyon CD (2011). Hamstring muscle strains in professional football players: a 10-year review. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39(4):843-850.Football: over half of NFL hamstring strains come in the 7-week preseason, so the Nordic and sprint exposure sit in the off-season and pre-season programs, before camp
Start Linebacker Off-Season
Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick your discipline, then choose Linebacker Off-Season from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.