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Constant strength and conditioning is now a necessity for
any football team that is seeking a high level of performance.
The mission of a strength and conditioning program is to raise
the physical ability of an athlete, letting him show his complete
technical and strategic potential on the playing field.
Periodization is perhaps the most important concept in strength
and conditioning for football. This theory proposes that there
are three major body adjustment stages to a specified stress:
• Shock – when the body is exposed
to a training stimulus, there is micro-cellular damage and
performance decrease.
• Stimulus adaptation – a process
where physiological adjustments occur and performance increases.
• Stagnation – where the body
adapts itself and becomes used to the stimulus.
A strength and conditioning program should prioritize the
importance of agility, speed, aerobic endurance, strength,
power, flexibility, balance and coordination. The program
should take the position you play and your training history
into consideration. Neuromuscular adjustment takes place in
the first six weeks of a resistance-training program, thus,
in the untrained individual, major strength gains and skill
enhancements are made with little change in body composition.
Trainers ought to have baseline information on each athlete
in order to assess the usefulness of any |
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| strength and conditioning
program. The trainer has to take into account the age group
of the athletes he/she is training, for safety’s sake.
He/she may need to administer a pre-participation physical
exam to identify any physical problems in players. The testing
procedure should be described in advance, if possible, and
the exercises to be performed should be demonstrated. |
Drills
Four Corners
This is a drill you can do every conditioning/practice session.
Line 4 cones up 10x10 to make a 40 square foot area. Start
with the back pedal, and go into the karaoke drill when you
reach the second cone. At the third cone shuffle your feet
without crossing them, and push your hands outward in a full
shoving motion, and at the last cone go into a full sprint.
Overspeed
Begin this drill at the top of a hill. Run down the hill as
fast as possible but be careful not to run out of control.
Michigan State
Two coaches stand 40 yards apart, and players line up alongside
one coach. All players should start this conditioning drill
by getting on their knees, with their feet beneath them, in
preparation for squat jumps.
1. On the coach’s signal, the players are to rock back
on their heels and do 10 squat jumps.
2. The players then sprint to the other coach where they will
do 10 sit-ups upon crossing the line he represents.
3. After this, the players sprint back to the first coach
for 10 up-downs or burpees.
4. Sprint followed by 10 push-ups.
5. Sprint followed by 10 mountain climbers.
6. Sprint followed by 10 heel touches.
7. Sprint followed by 10 jumping jacks.
8. Sprint followed by 10 push-ups.
9. Sprint one 40-yard dash to finish the drill.
Getting Your Priorities Straight
Strength, size, agility, explosiveness, and perhaps most important,
speed, are the athletic qualities that make a great football
player. The forty may not be the best gauge of athletic skill,
but it definitely looks impressive to the desired audience
and is usually a better indicator than bench press numbers.
Why, then, do so many football players train like bodybuilders
year round? All those slow repetitions merely train your body
to be slow.
Although body size is important, reaction time and strength
can overcome differences in size. To build strength, football
players should focus on performing squats, leg presses, bench
presses, dead lifts, power cleans, and other resisted movements
that develop strength of large muscle groups of the trunk
and legs. Athletes must also be educated on the need to drink
fluids before, during and after exercise, especially if they
are playing in hot weather.
Off-Season Training
A solid off-season training routine can give you an edge and
help prevent injuries when the next season begins. You can
start training as early as eight weeks in advance of the pre-season.
Off-season training has a lot of advantages, including having
the body primed and adapted to the specific demands of football.
There are a lot of useful techniques for training in the off-season,
and general calisthenics, football specific drills, flexibility,
and interval sprints are all first-rate choices to begin with.
Your training program can comprise four weekly high intensity
workouts, with equal concentration on all the body’s
musculature. The conditioning portion of this program can
consist of four weekly “track” workouts that are
designed to condition the primary energy systems used in football
as well as to improve each player’s speed, agility and
overall “recovery” time.
Strength Training For Kids
Parents of athletes have acknowledged the importance of keeping
their child injury free, and the anticipated progress in athleticism
achieved from sports training. Here are the criteria you should
use to select a strength training coach for your child:
1. Specific formal education
2. Professional certification
3. Professional experience
4. Personality
5. Ethical practice
6. Cost
It’s okay for children to strength train as long as
it’s done properly. Strength training workouts that
are supervised, safe and age-appropriate offer many additional
benefits to young athletes. The American Academy of Pediatrics,
the American College of Sports Medicine, and the National
Strength and Conditioning Association all support strength
training for kids, as long as it’s done correctly.
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