Football players must train differently depending on the time of year. The off-season is an ideal time to hit the weight room hard to build strength, speed and stamina. You can lift during the season, too, but at a lower intensity to avoid potential injury, such as muscle strains. Areas of the body you need to focus on, the MyFit website advises, include your legs, chest, hip flexors, back, shoulders and abdominals. Consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen.
Circuit Training
Football players can use circuit training as a way to build strength, certified strength and conditioning specialist Phil Davies writes for the Sports Fitness Advisor website. He suggests that experienced weightlifters perform a circuit training workout two or three days a week, while novice lifters should aim for three to four days each week. Experienced lifters should pick eight to 12 exercises for a full-body circuit; novices need just six to eight. Complete exercises one after the other, with no more than 90 seconds of rest in between. Do a total of about three circuits. Use dumbbells, push-ups, crunches, the weight bench and other gym equipment to get a full-body workout.
Mass-Gain Program
Davies recommends building your muscle size --- biologically known as hypertrophy --- to get bigger on the field. Spend six to eight weeks in the off-season on this. Work out three to four times per week, using weight that is 60 to 80 percent of your one-repetition maximum. Do three to five sets of each exercise, with six to 12 repetitions per exercise per set, and rest for two to four minutes between sets. Only work each muscle group once or twice per week. For instance, work the chest and back on Monday, arms and calves on Wednesday and upper legs and shoulders on Friday. You can do crunches every workout to tone your abdominal muscles.
Compound Exercises
You can work all of the aforementioned essential muscle groups using compound exercises to maximize your time in the weight room. MyFit suggests four key exercises to help improve your overall strength, power and core strength: squats, deadlifts, bench presses and wood choppers using a medicine ball. Complete three to five sets of these exercises three times per week for an effective full-body workout.
Isotonic Weightlifting
This weightlifting regimen is much like traditional weight training programs, Davies explain, with the exception of using lighter weight --- 50 to 80 percent of your one-rep max --- and using quick, explosive movements to increase your power. On the football field, you need power to stiff-arm, block and tackle. Spend about four to six weeks in the off-season performing an isotonic training regimen. This includes two or three sessions per week in which you do three to five isotonic exercises, performing three to six sets of one to four repetitions each. The key to this training technique is to use explosive movements. Use proper technique with each exercise to avoid injury.
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