When strength conditioning for football, coaches prefer full-body exercises because you can work each muscle group three times per week without overtraining. Full-body workouts focus on large muscle groups instead of isolating each individual muscle. In competition it is the large groups of muscle that generate the most power. In four-day split routines you exercise your upper or lower body twice per week.
Sets and Reps
Complete several exercises in the course of a workout, so the number of sets and reps that you can perform is limited. Devote most of your time to the core lifts that incorporate the most muscle groups, and use isolation movements to balance out the development of muscle. Three or four sets of eight to 12 reps are ideal for your core lifts, and no more than three sets of 10 or 12 reps for isolation movements will suffice. Using a superset structure also increases the stress on muscles in isolation movements. This technique, which involves completing one set of two or three different exercises before pausing, can help you shorten the length of time needed to complete the workout.
Upper Body
Core upper body exercises are power or hang cleans, bench or incline presses, and military presses. Perform some form of each of these exercises during each workout. Treat cleans as a core movement in each workout, and perform them first. Twice per week emphasize bench or incline press, and once each week emphasize military presses.
Isolation upper body movements include dumbbell raises for the shoulders, bicep curls and triceps extensions for the arms as well as bent-over rows for the back. Maintain proper technique throughout the movements. If you are unsure of how to perform a movement, refer to your coaches for each exercise instruction and modifications based on the equipment you have available for the football team.
Lower Body
The primary lower body exercises are squats or leg presses. One of these two should always be your core exercise in a full body workout. Because leg presses have little possibility of injury when done correctly, increase the amount of sets or reps that you perform if necessary.
Lunges can also be used as a core movement, though it depends on your workout. You may prefer to consider lunges an isolation exercise for the hamstrings. Other isolation movements are leg curls and extensions, and calf raises. Detailed descriptions of each exercise can be given by your coaches if you are unsure of the technique.
Core
Exercise your core muscles in the same way that you exercise any other large muscle group. End each workout with a core period. Aim for at least 300 total repetitions of your core work, and superset movements as much as possible to speed up the time frame that these reps require.
Combine simple crunches and situps with overhead toe touches, Russian twists, leg raises and planks to build a grueling core routine. Include exercises such as supermans for your lower back as well.
References
- "Complete Conditioning for Football"; Michael Arthur, et. al.; 1998.
- "52-Week Training for Football"; Ben Cook; 1999.
Member Comments