You cannot expect to do well as a football player if you are weak and out of condition. Fortunately for many, the days of endless laps around the field and mindless drills are long gone. Specific drills and focused training will help you get not only bigger and stronger, but faster, more agile and more explosive. A good football player is not just good in one area, he is a master of them all. Consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.
Build a Strength Base
Learn the basics of key exercises, and work on developing good technique. You need to get everything you can out of every movement that you perform, even if this means sacrificing the amount of weight you lift. Trying to lift too much weight with poor form leads to injury, and then someone else is playing your position while you are warming the bench. Focus on developing your squat through a full range of motion, a smooth pull and rack on the power clean, good technique with no leaning back on the military press and strict form on rows. Using only these four exercises, you are working almost every muscle in your body. Train only three days a week on non-consecutive days to give yourself plenty of time to recover.
Improve Your Conditioning
Your conditioning should be specific to your play. There is no reason to run gassers, as you do not run multiple trips across the field. Begin by adapting your training in the weight room. Start by keeping every set you perform under 30 seconds, and then resting no more than 30 seconds. Eventually cut the rest periods down to 15 seconds, shaving five seconds a set per week until you can move at this pace. Change your conditioning runs to intervals. Start by sprinting for 50 m, turn around, walk back and repeat. Continue this practice tracking both time and number of intervals. Jumping rope is a great exercise, and in addition to its other benefits, it will strengthen your ankles which cuts down on the playing time you will miss on the sidelines getting taped up.
Improve Your Agility
Cone drills are a great way to build lateral movement. You do not need anything fancy; just set some cones up in various patterns and run around them. The key is not how quickly you move forward, but how quickly you learn to move from side-to-side. Do this with proper foot-strike, striving always to accelerate off the ball of the foot. You are faster this way, and less likely to injure yourself. Ladder drills are another basic exercise, and you do not even need a ladder since you can chalk one in place on the ground. Work your feet through a variety of patterns up and down the ladder, shifting position quickly.
Improve Your Explosiveness
Learn to accelerate on the squat and power clean, as both exercises are premier power-builders. Both can also contribute to your vertical jump, and you never know when the extra half-inch can be enough to intercept the ball. Another method of improving your explosiveness is through plyometrics, or rebound training. You can start with push ups, by pushing yourself explosively off of the ground, working up to the point where you clap your hands together in mid-air. Depth jumps are exceptional for learning to rebound and build power, and are done by jumping backwards off boxes of various heights. Start with the balls of your feet on the edge of a platform, and push yourself off of it, moving back just enough to clear the box. When you hit, land on the balls of your feet and rebound as quickly as possible, attempting to use the stretch reflex to launch yourself back up onto the box.
References
- "Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise"; Biomechanics of the Knee During Closed Kinetic Chain and Open Kinetic Chain Exercises; Rafael F. Escamilla et al.; April 1998
- "Electromyography and Clinical Neurophysiology"; Electromyographic Validation of the Muscles Deltoid Pectoralis Major Military Press Exercises with Open Grip; Bull et al., July-August 2010.
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; Nonfunctional Overreaching During Off-Season Training for Skill Position Players in Collegiate American Football; Fry & Moore, August 2007.
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; The Effects of Training History, Player Position, and Body Composition on Exercise Performance in Collegiate Football Players; Miller et al., Feburary 2002.
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; Characteristics of Sprint Performance in College Football Players; Brechue et al., May 2010.
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