What Offseason Weight Training Program Looks Like for 2021 LSU Football

Strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt updates football school

LSU's offseason for the 2021 season is in its infancy but the grind doesn't stop for strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt. 

Moffitt, who's entering his 21st year with the LSU program as the strength and conditioning coach, is someone everyone in the program has immense respect and admiration. Coach Ed Orgeron said Moffitt's role is so important that, starting this year, he wants the assistant coaches to be in the workout room and coordinating with Moffitt on each and every player. 

After balancing an untraditional offseason ahead of the 2020 season, LSU is hoping for more of a normal schedule in the future, but Moffitt said on Off the Bench, the early part of this offseason is getting the player's bodies right. 

"At the end of the season you always have a small group of guys who are banged up because of all the work we did," Moffitt said. "We're doing rehab with those guys and then the rest of the squad is squatting, benching, power cleaning, dead lifting, speed improvement drills."

For much of the 2020 offseason, because of the COVID-19 protocols in place, the Tigers were forced to work in smaller groups and were also restricted on what they could and couldn't do in the weight room. That's not been the case as the team heads back for conditioning this go around.

"This freshman class that played football for us this season, a lot of those guys were kicked out of their high school weight rooms in March and health clubs were closed," Moffitt said. "We have a lot of freshman and redshirt freshman on this team that haven't been through a rigorous offseason program. We were playing catch up but we've got an incredible schedule this spring."

Moffitt also said that football school has started and that the team is meeting on Tuesday's and Thursday's to start talking fundamentals and the early stages of the offense and defense. With LSU returning multiple veterans this season including the entire starting offensive and defensive line, Moffitt said the leadership in the first few weeks has been stellar. 

With LSU coming off a 5-5 season, Moffitt said that leadership is extremely important to the psyche of the locker room.

"When you get your nose rubbed in the dirt, you have a little edge to you," Moffitt said. "It's unfortunate that sometimes it has to come down to that but we know from the greatest athletes that we all learn through failure. These guys have been phenomenal."