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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


True Football Speed

by: Danny Arnold
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We can all agree, speed is one of the most important factors in football. And in recent years we have seen a huge increase in the availability to many effective and productive speed and plyometric training workouts. Unfortunately, most of these workouts are made to increase linear speed and not true football speed (TFS), a multi-directional, non-consistent type of speed that is determined by reaction to someone or something.

In this article, I will illustrate plyometrics specifically designed for football players that combined with your current speed development program, will help your players attain TFS.

Before we begin, let’s understand the basic theory behind plyometrics. Plyometric training is the stretch-shortening cycle when an explosive movement is done. As the muscle stretches and contracts eccentrically (lengthens while it contracts) it produces elastic energy, which it can store. If the muscle then contracts concentrically (shortens while it contracts) this elastic energy can be used to increase the force of the contraction.

Plyometric training places increased stretch loads on the working muscles. As the muscles become more tolerant to the increase loads, the stretch-shortening cycle becomes more efficient and the muscles store more elastic energy. It can then transfer from the eccentric or stretching phase to the concentric or lengthening phase more rapidly. This, in turn, generates more power on any movement requiring that particular muscle being used.

In football-plyometrics, we follow the same theory except we make them multi-directional, non-consistent type of movements or jumps that are started by some type of reaction to some thing or someone.

The following is a list of conventional plyometric drills with the newly converted football-plyometric (FP) drill next to it: 1A. Conventional Jump Squats – begin in standing position and lower (squat) down till the upper thigh is parallel to the ground. Accelerate upward quickly firing the hips, knees and ankles to gain maximum height with the jump. Upon landing, immediately begin the next rep. Spend as little time on the ground as possible. 1B. FP Jump Squats – while squatting down, listen for a command to tell you when to jump. If he is a skill guy, he holds a ball above him while performing the jumps. If he is a lineman, he staggers his stance to the same split he has in his football stance (See Photo l). Including a ‘W’ when all goes well. s

Photo 1. Jump Squat
2A. Conventional Standing Broad Jumps - Begin standing tall, with the feet hip-width apart and the hands at the sides. Face the direction of the jump. Begin the exercise by quickly pushing the hips back and flexing the knees. As this occurs swing the arms back from the shoulders. Move into a quarter squat. Without pausing in the squat, jump forward. Remember to swing the arms forward as you jump. 2B. FP Broad Jumps – Begin drill just as you do standing broad jumps, but this time listen for a command to tell you when to jump. Command might take up to three seconds in between reps. The command might also be called out left, right, forward or up. Meaning that besides the reaction of when you jump, you must also listen and control your jump to the direction. In either case, you always jump to your maximum to achieve the greatest height or distance possible (See Photo 2).


Photo 2. Broad Jump
3A. Conventional Single Leg Broad Jumps – Standing on one foot, bend your knee to 90 degrees or as close to it as you can just like you did on the earlier drill. Staying on the same foot, try to gain as much forward distance with each jump. Land softly and maintain control at all times. Keep ground contact time as short as possible and continue until desired number is met. 3B. FP Single Leg Broad Jumps – Begin drill just as you do single leg broad jumps, but this time you will have a person in front of you that you will follow while just using the same leg and performing jumps for as much distance as you can possibly do. The person you are following maintains an intermediate-to-fast walking pace until the reps are met. The walker (non-jumper) can maintain a straight line or go misdirectional (not too much) in a zig-zag format. Also, he can walk at different speeds when walking in a straight line (e.g., slow, quicker, fast). This will force the jumper to be under complete control at all times and be able to accelerate his explosiveness (See Photo 3).


Photo 3. Single Leg Broad Jumps
4A. Conventional Bounding – Just like the traditional skipping except this time you are trying to get us much height each time you leave the ground. Continue drill in a straight line until desired number is met. 4B. FP Bounding – Mark two lines with chalk or tape parallel to each other 1, 2 or 3 yards apart. Just like conventional bounding, you will perform traditional skipping and jumping for height except this time you are attempting to always touch, or be close to, one of the lines you placed with your outside foot. The further apart the lines are from each other, the more difficult it is. Remember to not get too wide on the lines you choose to train on because you will lose too much forward distance between each jump (See Photo 4).

Photo 4. FP Bounding
The use of a resistance vest is a plus. We use the X-Vest because it fits snug to the body and does not slide when you jump or land. Also you can determine the load that is on the X-Vest by adding or removing weight bars that insert into the vest. This is very helpful because you can gradually add the weight as your power develops. Pointers to Plyometrics: • Warm-up extremely well before any session. • Keep your total number of jumps for your FP workout between 120-140. This number might seem high but because on some of the jumps you do not go all the way to parallel. They require less energy to perform. • Pausing is more important at the bottom of the jump by lineman and not skilled position players because this type of pausing does happen to lineman and not skilled position players when playing football (e.g., right before the snap of the ball while they maintain their stance). With skilled position players, they should not pause at the bottom on any jump. • Two sessions of plyometrics per week is ample. Three is the maximum. • Try to land on your full foot, rather than the heel or toe. This helps the muscle to absorb the shock rather than bone and joints. • Do not do plyometric workouts for conditioning purposes. You should have ample rest time between each set. • Correct upper body posture is very important to maintain while doing any jumping. s





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