

Written by Chad Wesley Smith

Football is often called ‘the ultimate team game’ and it is a game filled with ultimate athletes. Every year players get bigger, stronger and faster and if you want to compete you need to not just keep pace with your competitors, you need to sprint past them. Take these 7 tips into account when looking at your training, or your athlete’s training and help them become the most powerful players possible…

1. Football First

There is one thing that no football player can be great without…PRACTICE! You can run the fastest 40, do the most bench reps, have the biggest power clean or do anything else great but if you aren’t mastering your craft in films, meetings and practice then you won’t be great. I’m not a football coach, so I’m not going to go into things too much here, but coming from a strength coach, know that the most important part of your training is on the field, not the weightroom.

2. Weights Follow Speed

To steal one of my favorite axioms from Coach Charlie Francis, ‘weights follow speed’ isn’t just a reference to the chronological order of your training but also priorities and hierarchy of stimulus. Football is a dynamic game and you have to be able to move quickly, regardless of position. True max speed sprinting is the most powerful stimulus for the athlete, putting upwards of 5x the athlete’s bodyweight force into each step. A great sprinting session, one where you are at or near PR times, can and should call for a reduction in either volume or intensity of lower body weights. The body has a finite amount of stress it can recover from and more doesn’t always mean better. Sprint training with full recoveries, should be part of all players programs and of course it will vary by position, but understand the speed AND strength gains it will yield and the high priority it should have in your training.

3. Fix Your Movement

Mobility training is certainly a hot topic in the fitness and sports training community these days and there is a reason why, because it works! More than just stretching and mobilizing, a well designed movement program will improve your ability to express power efficiently, as well as keeping you healthy. Mobility/stability deficiencies are a sure fire way to inhibit your strength and speed, as well as eventually leading to injury. I know movement work is boring, I don’t like doing it, but suck it up and take 10-15 minutes per day for some breathing drills and self myofascial release and you will be moving and feeling better and your performance will reflect it.

4. Jumps and Throws for Maximum Power

Football is a power sport and if you want to succeed, you need to be able to generate great force in a small area. Jumps and throws (medicine balls, weights, shots, sandbags, etc) will force you to learn how to turn on as many motor units as possible in as short a time as possible to maximize velocity. Jumps aren’t just for the legs other, upper body jumps aka explosive pushup variations (clapping, onto boxes, off boxes, etc) will bring some more pop to your punch. Throws are a great tool to build explosive power through multiple planes of movement.

Check out this video to learn more about how to implement medball throws into your training…