Common Sense Suggestions To Train Effictively and Safely for Football

Football Strength Training

Being part of a collision sport, football players clearly need to build muscle mass to protect themselves from the repeated trauma of running into people at full speed over and over during the coarse of games and practices.

With that in mind, a common mistake made by many in this sport is to over-focus on getting as big as possible while neglecting its potential negative impact on speed development. The bigger you are, the harder it is to play fast.

I am not going to sugarcoat this by saying it is easy to get bigger, stronger, and faster all at once. It is probably the hardest set of goals to achieve altogether, but with a smart training plan it definitely can be done.

The key here is to split up your goals into smaller parts of your off-season, with the right combination of set and rep schemes. Closely linked to this is proper nutrition, because you'll need to eat enough to get bigger, but you cannot pack on the unwanted extra weight that will slow you down.

Workouts for football often overlook drills emphasizing balance and athleticism, but you shouldn't make this mistake. Athough this is particularly true for skill positions, linemen can also benefit by increasing their leverage and protecting themselves from injury.

Football Speed Training

There are clear positional difference with respect to speed development needs between linemen and backs & recievers.

For those on both sides of the ball playing in open space (backs, receivers, linebackers, etc), they need to maximize literally every aspect of movement training. Backpedaling, shuffling, crossover runs, cutting, sprinting are part of almost every play in football for these positions. You'll need to be able to cut on a dime, accelerate away from or towards an opponent, and must posess lightning quick reflexes for a sport that changes during every second of play.

For linemen, multi-directional first-step quickness is critical. Although they may ultimately be assessed at combines with 40-yard dash times, game success is far less dependent on sprint speed for these players. Acceleration, and good footwork in a small space are your keys. This includes lateral movement, an often overlooked aspect of playing well on the line. Quick feet can be greatly enhanced with a simple tool like a jump rope, along with more advanced agility and footwork training.

Injury Prevention for Football

There are so many potential areas to cover here that it would be impossible to go into detail on all of them, so what follows is a review of the most critical areas for injury prevention.

Neck and head injuries are probably the scariest category. There is no program that can lower your risk for concussions, but training that builds up neck strength can lower your risk of upper spinal injuries by increasing your neck muscles ability to absorb forces.

The shoulder girdle takes on the brunt of most collisions, and is highly susceptible to bone, ligament, and tendon problems. Stability work and muscle mass development can really help to lessen the strain on this fragile region.

Knee injuries are also common in football. Suprisingly, the best way to protect the knees are to make sure your hips are strong and flexible. Additionally, great footwork while cutting also lowers your chance of tearing an ACL/MCL in a non-contact situation.

Sometimes a loss of flexibility through poor weight training technique can increase your chance to get hurt. For those who limit their range of motion on key lifts in order to use more weight, these athletes should consider the impact of this strategy on movement skills, and how it can turn you into a player who plays 'stiff' on the field as the cumulative effect of your training takes hold over time.

Youth Football Training Considerations

Many outstanding college and professional football players spent their younger years playing soccer. And there is a clear connection - soccer spends more time developing footwork, coordination, and continuous movement.

Younger football players would do very well for themselves by incoroporating as much movement, balance, and coordination-based activities as they possibly can.

A foundation of bodyweight strength would also be of great benefit, as this would begin to protect them from future injuries. Strength is the foundation of speed, power, and explosion, key traits for future success in football.

Young players should also incorporate target practice, catching, and other fundamental skills into game-based activities. Sports vision development and balance can be combined with them to really build athleticism at an early age.

Football Position-Specific Concerns

Even though about 90% of their preparation will be the same, there are definite differences in training needs between backs and receivers.

For backs, multi-directional speed is the #1 concern. Strength is also important, but muscle mass development will be more based on individual needs. Backs should always be aware that overemphasizing getting big can have a negative impact on speed and agility.

For linemen, they need high levels of mass and power, balanced by great footwork in tight spaces to be successful. Whichever category they are most deficient in is where their training focus should be.

Football Game Intelligence

Imagine being able to get your quarterbacks to make better, quicker decisions.

Or getting all 11 players on your defense to buy into your system, and play as a single seamless unit.

These are just 2 of many examples where our Sports Axiology program can make impactful changes in the mental approach of your players, and your team as a whole.

Keep an eye out for the Fall 2010 launch of this new program, which will be offered to Massachusetts athletes exclusively through Power Source.

Football Training at Power Source

Although traditionally run through school or team programs, football players in Central Massachusetts have a unique opportunity to receive a personalized strength and power training experience that targets their position, age, injury concerns and top developmental needs. A sport with such diverse needs should always individualize workouts, which is what we do in both our middle school and high school/college programs.

Youth football players ages 7-10 can maximize their athletic potential in our age-specific young athlete program.

Speed wins in football, which is why teams in Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire would get a lot out of our Game Speed Clinics, which can even be broken down by position for even more sport specificity.