9//10/19 Javalina Is 1/3 Of The Way Through His Football Season?

    Seems like just yesterday we were talking about whether Akins or Crockett would be better for him and now here we are, four games down and eight more to go.  The games have been a little rough but this week they are getting an actual quarterback to run the offense.  He said the guy from the first scrimmage is back, he had not played because of an injury or something.
    Javalina has settled into his roles and though he still says he would rather focus on being a good offensive guard/lineman, he will continue to participate on defense as needed.  I keep telling him that defense can give you more notoriety.  Everybody loves watching a good quarterback sack, or even a tackle behind the line of scrimmage.  He was much more active this past game even as the team as a whole got destroyed, he played one of his best games with some very good solo tackles.
    I was worried he would have fallen behind the other linemen/big boys in lifting weights which correlates to power on the field.  He claims that the stronger guys are lifting about 135 or so, and that is about where I got him to during the summer.  He was barely doing sets of 5-8 reps when I was helping him but this last time he was getting up to 10 reps, which tells me he is getting stronger.  A new exercise he wanted to get into with the weights this weekend was the deadlift.  This is similar to a squat in that you bend down at the legs and most of the benefit is for the legs, glutes and back.  The difference between a squat where you put the barbell on the back of your shoulders and literally squat down until your legs bend 90 degrees and the deadlift is that the weights start on the ground, one has to bend down to grab them and then lift them up with a strong back and the force of your legs.
    Sunday, I was napping and he came and called me to spot him and give him feedback.  By the time I came down he said he was done with the weight on there.  It looked too easy for him, he was doing 205lbs.  I told him to add about 50 more pounds and then he tried it again.  This time it looked like he was doing something.  He was deadlifting 255, which is good because it is more than what he weighs.  After this I told him to stop as he was going to be all spaghetti legs the next day and he did say it felt funny running around.  I am just hoping he continues because he could have been much further along over the start of summer camp and ahead of all the boys.