If you're looking to make the football team and don't have access to weight machines, a gym or fitness center, you can still get in shape before the season starts working in your home. If you don't have heavy weights, you can still do bodybuilding exercises, as well as work on muscular endurance, cardio stamina and speed and quickness. Planning your workouts to move from strength to speed is the key to creating a home training program for football.
Step 1
Lift the heaviest weights you have to build muscle strength. If you don't have free weights, use dumbbells, resistance bands or you body's weight using exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and chair dips. Perform five reps of each exercise and five sets of each, starting with two warm-up reps of less than your maximum weight.
Step 2
Perform bodybuilding exercises using concentric, eccentric and isometric muscle contractions. When you contract your muscle, such as during a biceps curl uplift or lift during a chin-up, that is a concentric muscle contraction. When you lengthen your muscles, such as lowering your weight, that is an eccentric contraction--don't let gravity drop the weight, use your muscles. Hold weights steady to create isometric muscle contractions. Eccentric muscle contractions are the most beneficial for building muscle, followed by isometric contractions, according to fitness expert and author, Dr. Gabe Mirkin.
Step 3
Build cardiorespiratory strength and stamina with aerobic exercises. Work hard enough that you're sweating but can talk during the workout. Jog in place, jump rope, run up and down stairs, do jumping jacks or follow along with an aerobic exercise workout on the TV.
Step 4
Lift lighter weights to improve muscular endurance. Decrease your weight load after several weeks of bodybuilding to less than 50 percent of your max and perform more reps. Perform eight to 10 reps and three to five sets per workout, taking less than 1-minute breaks between sets. Circuit training exercises can include curls, push-ups, chest presses, pull-ups, squats, lunges, chin-ups, sit-ups, crunches, chair dips, flyes and triceps extensions and kickbacks.
Step 5
Work on quickness with jumping exercises. Stand in front of a box and jump onto it with both feet. Put one foot on the box and push yourself up as high as you can go. Stand on the box, jump off, then jump off the floor as high as you can. Jog or run in place, lifting your knees as high as you can.
Step 6
Sprint train to improve post-play recovery ability. Work close to your maximum intensity for 30 to 90 seconds, taking a 2-minute break between sprints. Start slowly as you build anaerobic strength and stamina. A jump rope, jumping jacks, rope ladder or bicycle are good for sprint training. Buy a bicycle stand to turn your bike into a trainer.
Tips and Warnings
- Warm-up, cool down and stretch each time you exercise. This will improve the quality of your workouts, decrease soreness afterward and improve your muscle flexibility, according to UK Athletics performance coach, Brian Mac.
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