AFM RSS Feed Follow Us on Twitter       
AMERICAN FOOTBALL MONTHLY THE #1 RESOURCE FOR FOOTBALL COACHES
ABOUT |  CONTACT |  ADVERTISE |  HELP  



   User Name    Password 
      Password Help





Article Categories


AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Strength Report: Football Specific Conditioning, Part I

by: Gary Uribe, Head Athletic Performance Coach, Mike Nicolini, Lead Assistant Athle
and Greg Segrove, Assistant Athletic Performance Coach, San Jose State University
© More from this issue

Click for Printer Friendly Version          

Football is an explosive sport requiring power and speed in linear and non-linear sport specific movements. With the average time per play lasting 6 seconds and a 40 second play clock, football is an interval based sport switching from high intensity bursts of about 6 seconds and low intensity active-recovery periods of about 40 seconds. Due to the high intensity nature of each play, one goal of the off-season conditioning program is to train the capacity and efficiency of the short duration, high intensity energy system. Between plays, there is low intensity movement being performed, sometimes for the entirety of the 40 second play clock. Therefore, another goal of the off-season conditioning program is to maximize the ability to recover between snaps, and train the capacity and efficiency of the low intensity energy system.

Over the years, we have established a football specific conditioning program that emphasizes the high and low intensity demands of the sport, the specific movement demands of each position on the field, the work to rest ratio of the play to play clock, and the distance covered by each position on the field for any given play. We are not technical and/or tactical football coaches. We are not teaching the specific techniques used in competition, nor are we strategizing a game plan for opponents. We are physical preparation coaches – it is our duty to physically prepare each football athlete based on the biomechanical demands of their position on the field, the various speeds the athlete is moving over the distance covered between snap and whistle, and the amount of times these movements are performed on a possession and in a game.

We’ve established the position groups of Bigs, Mid-Skill, and Skill, and broken down the biomechanics, speeds, and volume of work for each group. The Bigs position group includes offensive and defensive linemen. The Mid-Skill group includes quarterbacks, fullbacks, tight ends, linebackers, and specialists. The Skill group includes wide receivers, tailbacks, defensive backs, and returners. The justification of this grouping is that the biomechanics, the speed, and the volume of work for each position within the group is highly similar, thus calling for a similarity in the design of the conditioning program.
   

Examples of the positional demands of the Bigs group are maximum strength and strength endurance, explosiveness and power from a static position, acceleration and agility over short distances (5-20 yards), and upper body speed, power, and coordination. Examples of the positional demands of  the Mid-Skill group are maximum strength and strength endurance, acceleration and agility over short to moderate distances (5-35 yards), and upper body speed, power, and coordination. Examples of the positional demands of the Skill group are maximum sprint speed, acceleration and agility over short to long distances (5-50+ yards), and maximum power and power endurance.

As a physical preparation coach, it is a necessity to assess the most frequent movements of the specific sport. This allows for sport specific preparation and organizes exercises into movement categories. Three different movement categories have been established that all have a high level of specificity to football, as they occur at a high frequency in the sport. While designing the conditioning program, any of these movement categories should not be prioritized higher than the other. The first category is linear movement; training movement in a straight line with no change in body orientation. The second category is change of direction movement; training movement of acceleration in one direction, deceleration and reacceleration in a different direction with various body orientations. Linear change of direction is the third category; training movement in a straight line with changes in the body’s orientation.
   

The ability of an athlete to accelerate, run at maximum speed, and replicate their best effort throughout an entire game is of utmost importance. From the strength and conditioning point of view, the team that can accelerate, decelerate, reaccelerate, and run at higher speeds on every play of every series of every game should win.        

It is our goal, as coaches, to teach athletes the most efficient and effective mechanics for acceleration, maximum speed, deceleration and reacceleration. These mechanics are coached to the smallest detail, not only until proficiency has been reached but until the proficiency becomes reflexive and subconscious. The coach must design a progressive conditioning program with multiple phases, with each phase preparing the athlete for the subsequent program.
   

The conditioning program is structured to achieve two specific results. First, the program should enhance acceleration capabilities and increase maximum sprinting speed. Second, the program should prepare the athlete to endure the combination of speed and repetition of movements performed throughout practice and competition. If this is achieved prior to the start of the competitive season, then the competition itself will suffice as enough conditioning to maintain the adaptations elicited through the conditioning aspect of physical preparation. This type of training is very intense and elicits a high stimulus to the neuromuscular system, as it replicates the movements and speeds of competition. Due to the high nature of intensity and stimulus, there will be a resulting fatigue, just as there is after competition. Therefore, a sufficient amount of recovery is significant after training at a high intensity, which is where the counterpart to high intensity acceleration, speed, and change of direction training stems from.
   

Tempo conditioning is interval based conditioning that is performed at a submaximal effort. The working aspect of the interval is prescribed as a distance for each run. These distances are prescribed to each position group, with the Bigs group running the shortest range of distances, the Skill group running the longest range of distances, and the Mid-Skill group running a range of distances between those of the Bigs and Skill group. The resting aspect of the interval is usually correlated with the distance of the run; the longer the run, the longer the rest interval. Due to the requirement of total body strength and endurance in football, we incorporate push-ups and core exercises during the rest interval to elicit a total body stimulus from the conditioning session.
   

The submaximal aspect to tempo conditioning is essential. The runs are performed between 65-75% of the best effort, thus covering the varying sprint speeds of multiple athletes within a position group. For instance, if an athlete runs a 40 yard dash in 4.5 seconds, the time range for a 40 yard tempo run would be 6-7 seconds. This time frame would cover max effort 40 yard dash times for a large range of times. Tempo conditioning training sessions are comprised of exercises from the same three categories from the dissection of football movements. It is possible that the exercises selected for tempo conditioning are the same as those performed on the high intensity conditioning days, the difference being in the submaximal effort of 65-75%.
   

High intensity acceleration conditioning and tempo conditioning sessions are always performed subsequent to each other to allow for variation, motor learning, and proficiency in movement mechanics. This alternating high intensity-low intensity training structure allows for a beneficial conditioning program that develops football athletes specific to their position while maintaining a healthy status throughout the off-season.
   

As mentioned before, the best way to prepare athletes to play football is to break the sport into parts and train those parts while closely replicating the nature of competition. It is our goal to train our football players specifically to the sport of football, and even more so to their positional demands. There are two energy pathways the body utilizes in the sport of football - the a-lactic energy pathway and the aerobic energy pathway.

The a-lactic energy pathway is utilized from the time the ball is snapped until the whistle is blown to conclude the play. It is characterized by maximal or near maximal effort lasting up to 7-9 seconds. To develop this energy system, it is best to mimic the intensity and duration while instituting incomplete recovery between repetitions, as a 40 second play clock does not allow a complete recovery. At certain times throughout the offseason it is beneficial to allow for full recovery between max effort sprint repetitions. This allows for multiple repetitions of a best effort sprint, providing a large training stimulus and an introduction to higher volumes of maximum running speed. It may seem easier to work for less than 10 seconds than other traditional football conditioning drills, but the transfer to the sport is much higher. When assessing running speed, a 300 yard shuttle run completed in 50 seconds results in an average running speed of 6 yards per second. A 40 yard hill sprint completed in 5-6 seconds results in an average running speed of 7-8 yards per second, including additional resistance from the incline of the hill. Also, a football player will never run 300 yards continuously, and that continuous training creates lactic acid and other metabolic waste by-products that affect muscle coordination and extend the recovery process. Football players should be conditioned to accelerate in short bursts at their fastest running speeds, and repeat it again over multiple repetitions, rather than running long distances at moderate to slow speeds.

The aerobic system is the long term energy system that is typically developed poorly in football players. Due to the interval nature of football, the aerobic system is heavily relied on to facilitate recovery between plays. Traditional conditioning exercises used to develop the aerobic system are predominantly lactic acid producing exercises, something that does not occur in the football. Despite the damage to the muscle that comes from training in a lactic state, most lactic training exercises are performed at slow running speeds.

Gassers are a traditional football conditioning exercise in which the athlete runs the width of the football field four times continuously. The time to complete one rep of a gasser is approximately 40-44 seconds, resulting in an average running speed of 4.82-5.3 yards per second. A tempo run of 100 yards performed by the same athlete is completed in 14-16 seconds, resulting in an average running speed of 6.25-7.14 yards per second. Even with the faster running speed, the tempo run is still less costly to the nervous system. Tempo conditioning facilitates the recovery process from the high intensity acceleration/speed training. The submaximal intensity isn’t high enough to elicit a stimulus requiring more than 24 hours of recovery, while the total body blood flow will assist in the relief of residual soreness and removal of muscular metabolic waste products. In turn, the athlete’s readiness for the next high intensity conditioning session will be enhanced. s


About the Authors: Gary Uribe Joined the San Jose State staff in February, 2013 as the Head Athletics Performance Coach. He has also coached at USC, Sacramento State, New Mexico State, UCLA and Auburn. Michael Nicolini joined the Spartans staff in June, 2013, having previously coached at the University of Redlands. Greg Segrove recently joined the staff and holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from San Jose State.






NEW BOOK!

AFM Videos Streaming Memberships Now Available Digital Download - 304 Pages of Football Forms for the Winning Coach



















HOME
MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE COLUMNISTS COACHING VIDEOS


Copyright 2024, AmericanFootballMonthly.com
All Rights Reserved