Preparation for playing football requires a commitment to conditioning. Football coaches always want to have bigger, stronger and faster athletes on the field. Drills can be done to build speed and quickness, and players who take part in regular weightlifting in the offseason will get stronger by the time they take the field in the fall.
Speed Training With a Parachute
Nearly every player will improve his productivity on the field by getting faster. It obviously will help running backs and receivers in the open field, but it also helps linebackers and defensive backs when tackling or covering receivers, and linemen on both sides of the ball improve when pursuing opponents or evading blocks. Attach a running parachute to your back to build speed. The chute will provide resistance when it unfurls, forcing you to expend more energy and build the explosive muscles in your glutes, hamstrings and calf muscles. Do this with a teammate or a coach who will hold the chute while from a sprint start to help the chute fly correctly behind you. On the coach's whistle, sprint 100 yards. Once you have reached the 100-yard mark, gather yourself, have your coach gather your chute, and run the 100-yard sprint again. Do this three times per week in the offseason to build speed.
Weightroom Training
Strength training has been a significant part of football since the 1970s. Coaches have asked their players to get bigger and stronger in the offseason to gain advantages against opponents. Although some of the methods have raised eyebrows -- steroid use in football predates other team sports -- strength and power have clear benefits for blocking, tackling and avoiding tackles. Free weights almost always provide the best workouts, since you must demonstrate the strength to balance the weights as well as lift them. The bench press, arm curls, leg press, leg curls and clean-and-jerk are just a few of the lifts you can do to prepare for football. Most players who are serious about building strength are in the weightroom three to four times per week in the offseason.
Shuttle Run
Building speed and quickness are different things. Quickness will help you evade tacklers in short areas, such as a running back who is attempting to get through the line of scrimmages and might have only 24 to 36 inches of open space to work with. Set up shuttle runs to improve your quickness. Go to the basketball gym, and place a football at the free-throw line and a basketball at the mid-court line. On the coach's whistle, take off from the baseline, and sprint to the free-throw line, pick up the football, and return to the starting point. Place the football on the ground, then turn quickly, sprint to mid-court, pick up the basketball, and sprint back toward the hoop. Try to dunk the basketball. If you don't possess that ability, a layup will suffice. Shuttle drills help increase quickness and the ability to start and stop with minimal delays.
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