Penn State Sports Magazine
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A P R I L 2 0 2 5 3 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M W inter has typically been one of the quieter portions of the college foot- ball calendar, a period in which the ex- citement of the postseason has subsided and the intrigue of spring practice has yet to fully take hold. While teams around the country are under less scrutiny from late January through early March, those weeks are a critical part of the athlete performance cycle. It's a time of year in which play- ers make important strength gains for the fall. During winter workouts, players go through a process called hypertrophy. Essentially, this form of strength train- ing creates micro tears in the muscle fibers. The body then goes through a regenerative process by repairing the muscle, making it larger and more dura- ble so that it can withstand the beating. Modern sports science has hacked the human body by forcing it into a plan of designed stimulus to elicit a specific response — muscle growth in this case. Hypertrophy is the scientific term for "no pain, no gain." The other half of this process is nutri- tion. You cannot recover without the right nutrients, and sports science has cracked this code, too. It's the reason Penn State head coach James Franklin fought so hard to get a modernized training table for his program. Winter workouts are critical to an athlete's progression, because there's no competition on the immediate horizon. You can't break down muscle fibers to an extreme degree and then turn around and perform on Saturday. With its 2024 season extending into the second week of January, Penn State found itself dealing with a shortened hypertrophy window this year. Strength coach Chuck Losey gave players two weeks off after they concluded their 16-game season, then he took a differ- ent approach when they returned to the weight room. "We concentrated a little bit more on recovery and regeneration for those first two weeks, really getting their bodies and legs back under them and getting them primed back up for another really aggressive four weeks," Losey explained. The fancy term for this window is "periodization." It's a time when players are able to build muscle mass. Due to the length of the season, that window was compressed this year. Penn State had to dial back on strength pro- gression in advance of spring practice. It's too taxing on the body to practice hard, lift hard and still gain mass. Losey expressed confidence that Penn State can make up that time elsewhere on the calendar. The difference is between the ideal and the necessary for 2025. Anyone who has ever lifted weights regularly knows that you never stop progressing in strength as you work out. For the average person, missing a few weeks in one month is fine, because the general goal of self-improvement is an infinite process. The difference for football players is that there are added demands through- out the year. The goal is to maximize performance improvement for a set time each year, and hypertrophy is a building block in the process. At a certain point after spring foot- ball, the focus shifts from muscle build- ing to muscle training. "Power" is the translation of new muscle growth into a single concentrated, explosive move- ment. Power and speed training begin the final preparations for fall camp and the upcoming season. After lifting weights from January through May (with a few breaks built in), the focus shifts to channeling that growth into new, heightened abilities. This is also the time of year when some players are cleared to return to action if they were slowed by injuries the previous season. There's still time to grow and develop, but the timeline is tight, and it's unrealistic for dramatic gains to occur in just a few months. When looking for players who could take a step forward this offseason, we should first look to those who are able to fully participate in the strength program after missing some of this crucial work in previous years due to injuries. Coach James Franklin highlighted senior run- ning back Kaytron Allen as one of those players this year, while Losey praised senior offensive tackle Drew Shelton. "Drew was coming off of his shoulder injury last winter," Losey said. "He was limited on a lot of things in here with us. To see him get through a full winter healthy, and the impact that it's made on the team — obviously having him in there from a physical standpoint to lead the guys, but also from an emotional and a mental standpoint — I think it's only bolstered his role as a leader." The proof is clear that Losey and his staff are skilled at identifying an ath- lete's needs, tailoring a performance- oriented routine for him, and then developing him into an elite player. They've already figured out the best way to augment their traditional time- line to accommodate the shortened offseason. ■ O P I N I O N THOMAS FRANK CARR T F R A N K .C A R R @ O N 3 .C O M Penn State Makes Critical Gains In Winter Program Senior offensive tackle Drew Shelton earned praise from strength coach Chuck Losey for his performance in win- ter workouts. PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT UPON FURTHER REVIEW