Football Speed
Improve variables in your drills for better reaction time on the field.
by: Danny Arnold©
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If you’re the fastest team on the field, great! If not,
you have a problem. So let’s prevent that from happening.
Sound easier said than done? Well, it’s easier than you think.
In most cases, when a linebacker gets beat by a running back around the corner,
we simply think the running back is just faster. But in more cases than not,
the running back didn’t get around the corner because he had more speed;
it was because the linebacker didn’t have football speed.
What do I mean when I say speed or football speed?
Although most teams measure and train players for speed (40 yard sprint), most
games are decided by football speed. Teams with more football speed, more often
than not, win the games. Having football speed or speed are two different things.
Speed is the measurement of time between two points on a straight line, not necessarily
the time between the linebackers getting to the running back. Easier to understand,
football speed is the measurement of time between two points with the addition
of more variables. And obviously what we want to improve is our football speed.
So how we do we improve football speed? By improving on the variables that take
place between the two points on the field.
The following is a list of four variables involved in football speed besides
the ones that most teams already work on:
1. Reaction: the time span between the signals the brain sends to the muscles
and when the muscles finally move or contract.
2. False-step (not a read-step) or step back: an unnecessary step taken to generate
momentum or movement.
3. Angles
4. Straight-line speed: the measurement of time between two points on a straight
line.
The following is a list of exercises or drills to improve each of the variables:
Reaction
Reaction is probably one of the easiest variables to work on; yet, it is the
least of the variables we ever do work on. Although in every play in the game
of football there are numerous reactions taken, we very rarely train with reaction
involved in our drills and exercises. How do you expect your football players
to possess superior reaction time on the field and yet your program hardly practices
it? Changing that is easy. All you have to do is simply add reaction to your
drills and exercises.
Weight room – Add commands to part of your lifting program. Commands can
be done both by a coach calling out or blowing a whistle and/or by the player’s
partner giving the command. In larger groups, the partner is a better choice.
Below are a few examples on how to implement this to your current program:
The squat – rather than the athlete always going down to parallel before
he explodes up, make him go up on your command. This will take anticipation away
and will in turn recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibers on the lift. In addition,
because the lift is harder, you may want to go with lighter weight. And don’t
worry, this will not sacrifice anything because you’re looking for power
(speed + strength) from your lifts, not just strength. The great thing about
this is that you also minimize the risk of injury. Also, when you give a command
rather than a depth where you change direction of the lift, you are teaching
different parts on the leg muscle to have explosion, not just when you’re
at parallel. Remember, you don’t always explode only when you are at parallel
on the field, so why should your squats be conducted this way to? Teach to have
explosion at all parts of the lift.
The bench – similar to the squat, add a command somewhere in the lift.
The goal is to not just have explosion at the bottom of the lift, but at all
times.
Plyometrics – normally we jump or bound at our own discretion. Why? Do
we get that opportunity on the field? No. So again, make some part of your plyometric
workout have commands or reaction to it. As the previous examples, it will teach
explosiveness through out the muscle and the drill. And again, it will recruit
more fast-twitch muscle fibers.
False-step or step back
False-step (not a read-step) or step back is another very important variable
but a little harder to work on. First, let’s understand why it’s
so natural to false step. The reason we false step or take a step back to move
the body forward from a relatively stationary position is because we are attempting
to move the center of mass in front (or the direction we are trying to go to)
of the support area. This is accomplished by displacing the support area (feet)
behind the center of mass (body). Contrary to belief, we can do this in another
fashion. We must rotate the body forward (or the direction we are trying to go
to) about the ankles and simultaneously tilt the body to the direction you’re
going while performing a semi-counter movement of the hips and knees. Once this
is accomplished, the knees and hips are extended, generating a force for acceleration
of the center of mass. In order to learn how to do this, we have a couple of
exercises that we use with all of our players (regardless of position) to help
to eliminate the false steps or step backs taken when reacting to a play.
Example 1: The 3 cone Drill
Place 3 cones approximately 2 feet apart, we name the cones from left to right:
1-2-3.
•
Start low to the ground and split the first cone.
•
Push off with outside foot and rotate the body by the ankles, tilt to the opposite
side of where you are pushing from and cross over the foot to the gap between
cones 2 and 3.
•
Immediately place the dragging foot outside cone 3 while maintaining a low center
of gravity.
•
Upon feeling the pressure on the outside foot, immediately push off that same
foot and rotate the body by the ankles, tilt to the opposite side of where you
are pushing from and cross over the foot to the gap between cones 2 and 1.
•
Immediately place the dragging foot outside cone 1 while maintaining a low center
of gravity and continue to the next repletion with out any pausing or hesitation.
This drill is generally started slow because the athlete will have a tendency
of lifting (a false step) the foot inside the cones in order to change direction.
Once he eliminates this, we speed up the drill. In most cases we have players
perform 5 sets of 10 repetitions. Note: Do not allow the hills to make contact
in any part of the drill.
Example 2: First step drill
Stand in a neutral position, don’t lean in any direction. (See photo 2.)
Upon command (left, right, back or forward) take a step towards the direction
called by immediately pushing off the opposite foot and rotating the body by
the ankles and tilting to the opposite side from where you are pushing.
After one fast and quick step, get back to your neutral position and repeat the
drill to the next command. Note: Do not lift (false step) the foot that you’re
not pushing from; rotate on it but leave it on the ground. And like most drills,
do not allow the hills to make contact in any part of the drill.
Angles
Angles is another of the important variables necessary for football speed that
is really never worked on. In order to do this we need assistance of cones placed
at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock. Place
the cones 20 yards apart from each other and begin the drill in the middle of
all 4 cones.
When given a command, ‘right,’ ‘forward,’ ‘left’ or ‘backwards,’ step
in the same fashion we instructed on the First Step drill but follow through
with a ten-yard sprint. Jog back and perform the drill as many times desired.
Although this might seem like a simple drill, it will illustrate to a player
if he is rounding or making his angles sharp. Again, this is necessary on the
field for all positions yet we fail to practice it with much repetition. Note:
Make sure the same rules and guidelines are followed on this drill as much as
they are in the other two. Just as you’re trying to eliminate rounded corners
by doing this drill, you can pick up bad rounded angles if you don’t practice
it perfect. Another helpful trick is to place tape at the beginning of the break
to clearly see if you’re rounding corners.
Straight-line speed
For Straight-line speed training, continue the same straight-line speed you are
currently doing.
In summary, to gain more speed – football speed that is – we must
improve the variables that are involved in it. With the proper training of these
drills, your football speed on the field will improve dramatically.
If you need further explanation or discussion of these and other related
drills, please feel free to contact Danny Arnold via email at danny@plex.cc or
(281)240-0253.