Football workout Programs

January 6, 2016
Workout Program

Football can require strength, speed, agility, endurance and explosiveness. To achieve all these different qualities one needs a complete workout.

What is the best workout for a football player looking for maximum strength, speed, agility, endurance and explosiveness? Be specific.

Is this workout too intense for the average person?

Who else would benefit from this type of workout?

Bonus Question

How does football training differ from other sports training? Which sport has the most similar training to football?

Show off your knowledge to the world!

Workout

What Is The Best Workout For A Football Player Looking for Maximum Strength, Speed, Agility, Endurance, And Explosiveness? Be Specific.

Football players require all around athleticism no matter what position they play. Certain aspects may be more important to one position than another, but still plays a large role in the abilities of a player.

Everyone always say things like linemen are all about size and strength (both defensive and offensive), but when you see a big play by a lineman it's usually because they show what they can do with other talents as opposed to simply using size.

Football Is About More Than Just Size

Football is played as an explosive sport; plays often last between 2-and-15 seconds. In most cases all the strength and power is put out in a few shots then you get a chance to rest up and do it again.

For this reason, the best system to use is a 5x5 program allowing the body to exert maximum force in multiple sessions. In addition, I aim toward getting between 20 and 40 seconds of rest between each set. It is important to make sure you work every muscle, when athletes avoid this they often end up seeing injuries and torn muscles.

The following workout is what I used over the past off-season and I also plan to use this year to prepare myself for semi-pro football tryouts. I would not suggest doing this routine during season as it may be too taxing on your body and CNS, which would result in overtraining.

Before beginning, I always suggest doing a proper warm-up consisting of dynamic stretching to get the muscles warmed up and running; and also, always workout with a partner.

Speed/Agility/Acceleration

Warm up with a 5-minute jog and dynamic stretching.

**It is important to have proper rest between sets when working on speed and acceleration. Always rest until you can run the sprint again between 90-100% of what you accomplished on the previous run.

We first start with acceleration sprints; these focus on shorter distances focusing to hitting top speed.

Acceleration

3x10m Sprints
2x25m Sprints
2x20m Uphill Sprints

Now we focus more to maintaining that speed and trying to build on it. I don't really suggest using more than 60-meter sprints, because realistically, it's not everyday you will be running the length of the field at full speed.

Speed

4x40m Sprints
3x60m Sprints

Agility plays a large role in many positions. Agility is the ability to make cuts and run side to side on the field, and preferably without losing balance.

Agility

Never do multiple speed and agility trainings one day after the other as it will be very taxing on your body. Also, refrain from doing cardio after a speed workout as they are opposite working forms of running, and doing long distance cardio may slow down the progress of your speed training.

, this can be done on the same day as another workout, just not the same day as the speed training, nor the day before or after. So what can plyometrics do for you? Plyometrics help build elasticity within the muscles; they play a large role in improving strength, explosiveness, speed and jumping ability.

*One thing to note with plyometrics is to not perform them until failure. Also just as in speed training, do not perform cardio after a plyometric session.

The best way to set up this routine is to do upper body on Monday, lower body on Wednesday, full body on Friday and speed training on Sunday.

Intensity

Is This workout Too Intense For The Average Person?

I personally believe there is no workout too intense for the average person. The only situation is, can the average person benefit from this entire workout? Probably not, because the average person is not concerned with speed and agility.

Who Would Benefit

Who Else Would Benefit From This Type Of Workout?

How Does Football Training Differ From Other Sports Training? Which Sport Has The Most Similar Training To Football?

The biggest difference in football training in comparison to others is that most other sports will require more training in the endurance department. Although a football game often can last 3 or more hours, there are not only 20-second breaks between plays, but times when you are on the bench while the opposite part of the team (offense vs. defense) is on the field.

The sport with the most similar training style to football would be rugby. I play both the sports, so I have always looked for a way to train for both sports, and it did not take me long to find that almost everything I did to prepare for rugby prepared me for football and vice-versa.

Vivak P. (AKA Veeshmack)

2nd Place EAGLES56

Football can require strength, speed, agility, endurance, and explosiveness. To achieve all these different qualities one needs a complete workout.

What Is The Best Workout For A Football Player Looking For Maximum Strength, Speed, Agility, Endurance, And Explosiveness? Be Specific.

Football players are athletes which must be at the pinnacle of physical prowess in order to become successful. Amounting to anything requires a long list of physical capabilities.

Important Factors

Strength
Size
Power
Speed
Agility
Explosiveness
Technique

To improve or achieve the above factors, one must set aside time not only for weight training, but specific workouts which translate to improved performance as well as strength. A successful football player devotes his time toward separate strength, speed, agility, endurance and explosive training sessions.