American Football Workouts

Football involves tremendous physical strength and conditioning. Throughout the course of a game, players must endure physical trauma and maintain peak performance, so training workouts must emphasize speed training and muscle endurance. Football plays usually last less than a minute, so players should focus on training movements that improve their quickness.

  1. Strength Training

    • Strength training routines should focus on all muscles in the body.

      Strength training is vital to football success. However, it is important to tailor the regimen to the demands of the sport. Football players do not play continuously for the length of the game. Rather, they move at full intensity for short spurts. The strength training routine should emphasize explosive power movements that train fast-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch fibers are responsible for strength and aerobic endurance. They are trained by lifting heavy weights for few repetitions. Conversely, fast-twitch fibers are responsible for quick and explosive movements and are trained by performing many repetitions of a lighter weight. Perform exercises such as the bench press, dead-lift, squat, lunge, power clean, and shoulder press at high intensity with slightly lighter weights.

    Speed and Agility Exercises

    • Running builds leg strength and stamina.

      Football requires its athletes to have great speed and lateral quickness. Speed and agility allows offensive players to avoid defenders and score touchdowns. It allows defensive players to deflect the ball and disrupt the play. Warm-up with a light jog and a full-body stretch. Then perform varying sprints that emphasize different muscles in the legs. Perform four 100-yard sprints in a straight line. Next, perform the same workout up an inclined hill. In addition, lateral sprints increase quickness and lateral movement. A common lateral workout involves moving sideways to catch a tennis ball as a trainer randomly throws it to one side of you.

    Circuit Training

    • Circuit training can be performed using only your body weight.

      Circuit training is a workout routine that combines several exercises into one continuous drill. Circuit training builds muscle endurance and increases conditioning. Furthermore, it increases explosiveness and overall core strength. Essentially, several workouts are performed in a row without rest between sets. Proper circuit training routines incorporate exercises that train the entire body. For instance, a common workout would include squats, push-ups, pull-ups, jumping jacks, dead-lifts and bicep curls. Circuit training is extremely intense, and weights should be incorporated gradually. Beginners and younger football players should begin the routines using only their body weight.

    Heavy Bag Training

    • Incorporate kicks into your heavy-bag routine to increase the intensity.

      The heavy bag is a common piece of boxing training equipment that's also effective for football training. The heavy bag improves stamina and muscle endurance. Players should punch and kick the bag at full intensity for a 30-second time interval. As their conditioning improves, players can increase the routine to one minute. Punching and kicking increases full-body strength and explosiveness. Before beginning any heavy-bag routine, football players should receive instruction on proper punching and kicking techniques. It is easy to break a small bone in the hand or foot if you hit the bag incorrectly.