Good Cross-Training Sports for Football

Almost any sport can be used to cross-train for football. There are programs and coaches that use everything from ballet to swimming to made-up games that combine elements of football and basketball to change up your routine in ways that can be physically and psychologically useful. Ballet instructor Patricia Moreno creates programs for football players to enhance their core strength and balance. She tells the Natural Awakenings website, "The best way to train for your favorite sport is to complement it with movement patterns that aren't emphasized in that activity."

  1. Track

    • Running track is a logical cross-training sport for football players, especially for those at skill positions that reward speed, such as cornerbacks, receivers or running backs. Oakland Raider cornerback Stanford Routt, who ran the 60-meter dash in college, performs track-inspired workouts 4 days per week during the off-season. As Routt details at the STACK website, his cross-training workouts includes a series of track exercises before weightlifting sessions. Routt runs 40, 60 and 200-meter sprints, jumps rope, broad jumps and goes for a 2.5 mile jog on a non-lifting day.

    Pool Work

    • Swimming and aqua workouts offer football players a method of cross training that is low to no-impact, a big departure from the joint pounding full-contact sport of football. As STACK explains, you can swim, run or do other exercises in the water. Long-distance swims can boost your endurance and interval sprints can enhance your anaerobic capacity. Ndamukong Suh of the Detroit Lions, and a number of other pros, feature hydro workouts in their cross-training.

    Sports for Flexibility

    • If you are a football lineman, you're strong but not necessarily very flexible. Sports that promote functional fitness -- where your body moves as a whole instead of moving muscles separately -- improve performance while reducing the risk of joint injuries. STACK lists Pilates, yoga, dance, gymnastics and dynamic warm-ups as examples of such cross-training activities.

    Games

    • Football coaches sometimes make up innovative sports for their players to play during the off-season. For example, Mark Roozen, a strength coordinator with the Cleveland Browns, outlines a game at STACK that is a combination of football, basketball and tag. Teams try to score points using a combination of running and passing a ball without being tagged. It's designed to "provide a fun break from your regular routine," while helping improve football-related skills. In the Amherst, New York area, high school football coach Mike Masters created a new game that became an entire league during the off-season. A cross between football and basketball, you advance the ball by throwing it, which develops good hands, quick decision-making and team camaraderie.