Getting in Shape for Football

Article by Phil Tucker

You’ve seen all the movies. The entire team gets on buses and goes away to football camp, where a battery of grizzled and tough coaches put the players through months of physical training, honing them to their very best, pushing them to their limits so that when they take the field they are the toughest, strongest and most enduring theam there is. Yet how can you mimic that training if you don’t have access to those coaches? In today’s article we’re going to take a look at the basics of football training to help you get in the best shape you can before the start of your own games or seasons.

The first thing to understand is that football requires a wide array of different physical abilities, and that particular array will depend on the position you play. A linebacker will have a different training regimen from the wide receiver, and you need to take that into account when figuring out your own workout regimen. Simply adjust the following advice so that you are getting the right amount of each to suit the position you intend to play.

Football games are long. You need to be able to last on the field, and that involves depending your cardio. Toward that end, you need to practice a combination of running drills and swimming drills to build your core cardio and get in the best shape possible. Interval training is key here, during which you run set distances or for set times over and over again, pushing hard so as to be able to do your best within the given parameters. Examples of this are running three sets of ten minutes, with a five minute break inbetween, or swimming four sets of ten laps, working for long term endurance. You can also do the same with sprints, and should do so so that you develop your anaerobic abilities.

Second, you need to be strong, and toward that end you should look to do the most basic barbell exercises in the gym. Your regimen should consist of squats, dead lifts, shoulder presses, bench press, clean and jerk and pull-ups. Don’t mess with isolation machines or anything else, but stick to the bar and really work on your strength.Finally you need to work on your speed, and that’s where High Intensity Interval Training comes into it’s own. Work on brief bursts of extreme effort with minimal breaks inbetween for maximum results.