Improve your Football Fitness
By Zach Bashore
Many people like to call football a game of inches. However, I
believe that in order to turn these inches into touchdowns,
many aspects are necessary in order for this to take place.
This article is an in-depth guide to improving your abilities
as a football player. You are going to learn how to increase
your speed, acceleration, agility, balance, and the most
important, strength.
There are three ways in which to practice increasing your
speed: Improving running mechanics, improving technique, and
strengthening your legs. Most players don`t have great running
mechanics and if they would just improve their technique, they
would run alot faster. Leg strength is important because the
more force applied to the ground, the faster you will run. You
simply cannot reach your full speed potential by just running
sprints. A number of elements must coincide with each other if
you want to reach your maximum speed potential. From a
scientific standpoint, speed is the by product of two elements:
Stride length and stride frequency. Stride length is the distance
you cover during each step of your run. Stride frequency is
basically the number of steps you take per socond. By using the
following training methods, you can increase your stride length
and frequency; hence, increase of speed.
* Shuttle sprints - Start in your preferred position, run 10-15
yards, run backwards to starting postion, and then repeat.
* Pylometric circuit - Use this drill no more than once a week
and not on days before the big game, since this circuit may
take a couple of days to recover from.
Speed and acceleration go hand-in-hand. To improve your
acceleration, repeated sprints of more than ten seconds,
performed with a standing start will be most useful. This will
help the neuromuscular and metabolic qualities of the muscles
involved. Another way of improving acceleration is to practice
accelerating as fast as possible during practice. A slow
acceleration topped with a quick burst is another good method
that can be used. One of the best utilities you can train with
to increase acceleration is using the PowerBlast gauntlet.
Practice with this equipment and you're well on your way to
increasing your acceleration.
Ladder drills are best performed in increasing your agility.
In sports competition, the body is constantly asked to perform
movements from unusual angles. The main purpose of the agility
ladder program is to promote a wide range of different foot
and movement patterns. These movements become second nature,
and the body is able to quickly respond to the various angles
required. You can improve your agility by practicing the
movements in training and the agility ladder is a useful tool
in a good agility program. The common ladder is roughly ten
yards long with 18 inch squares, but you can make your
own ladder just using tape or even sticks. When you start
the agility ladder program, introduce your body to two to
four different movements. Once you get good at these movements,
introduce yourself to new patterns to keep your body guessing.
Many of today`s athletes are using balance training as a
crucial part of their overall training program. Balance is
needed by runners in wooded areas, soccer players need balance
when taking the ball on a volley from just behind themselves,
and even tennis players need balance when reaching for a drop
shot. Each of these situations requires the exercise of just
the right amount of flexibility at the right time. With balance
training, the idea is to recreate and manipulate what you would
do in a game situation. Maintaining balance means having the
center of your mass within the middle of your base for support.
In the past, people believed that perfect balance was best
illustrated by standing on one leg and staying as still as
possible for as long as possible. This method still works but
there are also other methods in which are useful. Exercises
such as the one-leg punch and jump steps are both perfect for
improving your balance.
Another point to remember is that maximal strength training
should be a progression from general strength training with
maximal loads. Heavy maximal exercise is only used for advanced
strength trainees. Good abdominal and lower back strength is
crucial if heavy lifting exercises are going to be used.
Pylometric exercises are classified into bounding, hopping,
and jumping movements. These exercises demand a high force of
contraction in response to a rapid loading of lengthening the
muscles. For this reason, they should be renamed rebound or
reversible action exercises. The training effort increases
the force production in the muscles, but the movements are
performed at faster speeds than that of weight-training
exercises. Rebounding exercises are more common to the
sprinting and jumping reps on each leg, with at least one
minute of rest between sets. Endurance should not be a
factor. Running with weighted jackets and sprinting uphill
are also useful exercises because it adds resistance to
the sprint movement, which places greater load on the
muscles.
Football is not an easy sport by any mean, but being
physically prepared of its tough demands is half of the
battle. The other half is using what you know and a little
of bit of luck as well. You have learned the five most
important areas of physical fitness needed to be a good
football player.
