Falcons lift plenty of weights as they wait for bowl

Air Force senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler pulled, stretched and eventually nudged his chin over the bar to complete the last of three sets of pull-ups.

As he slowly lowered himself back to the ground Wednesday afternoon, his fatigued eyes and sweat-stained shirt told the story of a nearly two-hour session in the academy weight room.

Then he summed up that story in one word.

“Pain,” he said, looking at a teammate.

On Saturday, Air Force held only its fifth practice for the Dec. 31 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. But the Falcons hardly have been taking it easy.

Starting when they returned from Thanksgiving break, Air Force players have been lifting and conditioning Monday through Thursday while coaches are on the road recruiting. And in the weight room, where the phrase “Winning Starts Here” is painted in several spots, the Falcons not only are preparing for Cal, their bowl opponent, but also investing a down payment on victories in future seasons.

The Falcons are treating what will end up being a 43-day layoff between their Nov. 17 regular season finale and the bowl as a mini-offseason.

“I want to lift heavy during this time, and I want to condition significantly,” coach Troy Calhoun said.

“They’re getting after us,” senior Chad Hall said.

During the season, Air Force spent approximately 20-40 minutes in the weight room four days per week. Strength and conditioning sessions now last up to an hour and 45 minutes and are far more intense.

“We’re training pretty hard right now,” first-year Air Force strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan said. “You can compare it almost to an offseason program. We’ll really be in an offseason mode about until we head down there (to Fort Worth on Dec. 26) and get to game week.”

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, players split time between the weight room and the academy’s indoor facility. These days include upper-body weight training and plenty of conditioning — “taxing the heart and lungs a bit,” McGettigan said — with timed runs and sprints.

Mondays and Wednesdays have been spent entirely in the weight room with players going through speed and agility drills before lifting.

On Wednesday, players pushed weighted sleds — “to train hip extension,” McGettigan said — did “lateral bounds” (essentially hopping sideways over an obstacle) and performed lateral cutting and agility drills.

After that, players went to lifting stations in groups of three. They did four sets of power cleans, three sets of inverted rows and then three sets of pull-ups. While one player was lifting, another was spotting or counting reps and the third was doing additional work —such as single-leg squats. That increases what McGettigan calls “workout density”

and “instead of two guys standing around, there are two guys working and one guy resting,” he said.

Players said the workouts are much different from the ones they went through at this time last year. For one, every exercise and lift Mc-Gettigan calls for prepares players for a specific move they will make while playing.

“Last year it was like we were doing a lot of Olympic kind of lifts, and you couldn’t really relate many things to what we did on the field,” junior outside linebacker Hunter Altman said. “This year coach McGettigan’s whole philosophy is getting us prepared for field strength.”

“I feel like each movement you can tell where it’s going to be used on the field,” junior nose guard Jared Marvin said.

In addition, the players work out together and stay on a rigid, timed schedule. Last year at this time, players were assigned workouts, but they did them on their own.

“We’d come in, and it’d be three of us, sometimes, in the weight room,” Altman said. “Now we’re doing it more as a team. We’re doing it more on time with the same amount of rest, all of us. Last year we’d do it and we’d take five-minute breaks sometimes.”

Players said they already are noticing results. Altman, who labeled the workouts “gruesome” in the first week of training, said he no longer wakes up sore.

“I feel stronger every day,” Altman said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0365 or jake.schaller@gazette.com. Check out our Air Force blog at gazetteafasports.blogspot.com