Top 10 Nutrition Principles for Football Players

Top 10 ‘Keep it Simple’ Nutrition Strategies Infographic Made for Your Football Players

Sometimes, in order to have our athletes get results, we must make our instructions easy to understand and apply. Simple habits broken down, that can be applied can create big changes.

That’s what we did with our ‘Top 10 Nutrition Principles for Football Players’.

(Feel free to share the Infographic with your athletes)

1). Pump Up Protein. Eat some – at Every. Single. Meal. Most people eat a lot of protein for dinner and very little in the morning. The truth is, to build and repair muscle & keep you full throughout the day, people should aim to eat a handful of protein with each meal. More doesn’t give better results. But less can slow your gains. The portion should be equal to about ¼ of your plate.

2). Water Works. Divide your body weight in half. That is at least how many ounces of water you should drink each day. For example, if you weigh 200 lbs, you should aim for 100 ounces (8 ounces = 1 cup, so that means you’d be drinking about 12 cups of water daily). Make this simple by drinking 2 cups of water before each meal and then sipping more between meals and during workouts.

3). Start Every Day with 2 cups of Water. Drink 2 cups of water as soon as you wake up before eating anything or having coffee or tea. Then enjoy whatever that next meal will be.

4). Start with Breakfast. Fueling your body in the morning (after those 2 cups of water mentioned above) prepares you for the day – physically and mentally. Look for foods that combine protein (see #1), some whole grain and veggie or fruit. Try Greek yogurt, berries and some granola for example.

**If you are looking for a nutrition system made specifically for football players, go checkout the details on Complete Football Nutrition here >>

5). Fill Half Your Plate with Veggies & Fruit. Every time you eat, half your meal should be veggies and/fruit. Think ¼ of a plate protein, ½ veggies/fruit and ¼ grains. These give you nutrients that no other food can offer.

6). Don’t Skimp on Fat. Fat is healthy. Every meal should include some healthy fats – foods like nuts, salmon, egg yolks, olive oil, avocado and tuna all provide healthy fats to help the body stay healthy, recover and grow.

7). Fiber Matters. You get fiber from foods like beans, whole grains, veggies and fruits. And you need about double what you’re eating now. Most people eat half of what they need, so add in 1 serving of grains like oats, sweet potato, beans, quinoa or other similar foods each meal. When these are combined with veggies and fruits your body will have what it needs for optimal performance.

8). Snack Purposefully. If you’re actually hungry between meals, plan to have a smart snack – fruit and nut butter, veggies and hummus, a handful of nuts, etc. This can help give some energy you may need to feel better on the field and in the classroom. Just be cautious of the mindless snacks, meaning those that you eat simply because they’re there.

9). Eat Your Calories, Don’t Drink Them. The average person drinks about 450 calories each day – that’s about the same amount of calories as a large bowl of ice cream. Eat your calories using the tips above.

10). Consider Supplements … as Complements. Supplements should complement a quality diet, never in place of a quality diet. Start with Tips 1-9 above, then consider certain “complements” that may help.

Dr. Chris Mohr is on the Coaching Council at Football Coach U and is the creator of Complete Football Nutrition.  If you are looking for a football nutrition system, then go checkout the details on the Complete Football Nutrition here

7 Tips to Improve Football Playing Speed

Improve your playing speed for football because you will rarely reach maximum speed during the football game.



Here are 7 tips to improve your playing speed on the football field:

1.Starting ability is critical. You can improve starting ability by practicing starts from 3-point, 4-point, standing and moving positions. Whatever position(s) you play on the football field, practice starting from those stances often. It is important to accelerate to maximum speed (or as close as possible).

2. Increase your stride length. One good way to improve your stride length is to effectively pump your arms as fast as possible. Leg strength and power also improve your stride length.

3. Improve your stride rate (the number of steps you take per second). Leg strength and power improve your stride rate. There is one running technique that is often overlooked.

One way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground with your feet. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The more force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will "give you power."

When you run, don't lift your knee past your "thigh being parallel" to the ground. This way, you will use your "power center" (glutes and hamstrings) to apply force to the ground instead of the less powerful hip flexors.

In other words, running "with high knees" is not the best way to run. Also, step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground to create maximum force.

4. Improve your speed endurance. Speed endurance will not make you faster but it will keep you from slowing down when you are fatigued after repeated sprints.

5. Do speed ladder and cone drills to improve your quickness and agility. Speed ladder drills and cone drills are great for improving your footwork. The drills should be done with maximum effort to mimic game-time situations.

6. Improve quickness by improving your reaction time. You do this by training to make the right choices as quickly as possible. You can practice reacting to sight or sound cues.

7. Improve your running mechanics. You should practice running mechanics every day.

Your goal should be to play the football game as fast as you can but under control!

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Football Offseason Training: Improve Speed Strength

Offseason is the time to make major improvements in your football strength, power, speed and skills. Speed strength, or how fast your muscles can produce force (power), is the key to improving your speed and power for football. Just getting stronger will not continually improve your speed and power. You must train your muscles to move faster with the correct motions.

Speed strength is a combination of starting speed, explosive speed (maximum velocity in the shortest time) and reactive speed. Proper training methods will produce the strength, power and speed you will need to succeed in football.

A major power training goal is to enhance your body's neuromuscular efficiency, or to have your muscles activate at the right time without wasted motions.

There are five purposes for sports power training:

1. Improve the excitability, sensitivity and reactivity of the neuromuscular system.

2. Improve the rate-of-force production.

3. Increase motor-unit recruitment.

4. Increase motor-unit firing frequency.

5. Increase motor-unit synchronization.

Your training program should be multi-planar (sagittal, frontal, transverse), multi-joint (exercises such as bench press, squats, lunges), multi-dimensional (stabilization, strength, power) , proprioceptively enriched (high neural demand) and sport-specific.

How fast can you accelerate to make the play?

Training with towing sleds will improve your speed acceleration for football. Speed acceleration training with towing sleds is not the place to start when training for acceleration. It is an advanced training method that can cause more harm than good if your body is not ready for it.

Speed acceleration is important because you rarely reach maximum running speed during a football game. So, the player who can accelerate the quickest will make the plays that win football games.

Greek researchers found that athletes training with towing methods (sleds, tires, etc.) improved their running velocity over the first 20 meters (i.e. acceleration) but that overall maximum speed did not improve.

During the offseason, you must convert your raw strength to speed strength to improve your power and speed.

Here are some ways to train your muscles to move faster:

1. Sprinting with maximum effort. You have to train fast to get faster.

2. Do sport-specific plyometric exercises to improve your power.

3. Do weight training exercises at full speed to improve explosive power.

4. Build muscle mass, especially bulky fast twitch muscle fibers. Exercises like squat, deadlift, pullups, rows and glute/ham drops will build large muscle groups. You need enough strength to enhance your power potential.

5. Improve your dynamic flexibility so your body can move efficiently.

Work hard this offseason to make yourself a better player.

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Football Lineman Squat Jumps Improves Speed and Power

Football linemen need powerful legs to ignite a power surge. Squat jumps will help you improve your explosive power and speed. Football linemen usually play the game in a 5-15 yard area. So, explosive power in tight spaces is critical, especially for defensive linemen.





You can train to improve your power and speed acceleration. Squat jumps (bodyweight squat jumps should be mastered first) will start you on the right path to improve your power surge. Just descend into your squat, swing your arms back and forward, jump straight up explosively and repeat for the required repetitions.

While sport-specific plyometric training improves power, non-specific power training should not be ignored. Researchers from Canada found that athletes who performed better with weighted squat jumps were the best accelerators at 10 meters. Therefore, concentric force development (jumping power) is critical to improve sprint acceleration. The first step from a stand-still (or near stand-still) position requires concentric muscle power.

It is important to learn proper jumping and landing techniques before doing squat jumps. Read this post about jumping and landing techniques.

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Football Lineman Long Jumps Improves Power

Football linemen should do the standing long jump to improve explosive leg power surges.





The NFL Combine uses the standing long jump as one of its test for athletes. Football linemen usually play the game in a 5-15 yard area. So, explosive power in tight spaces is critical, especially for defensive linemen.

Use a soft athletic surface such as grass, astro-play or rubber floor to perform the long jump.

1. Stand behind a marked line.

2. Swing your arms back and bend your knees to propel your take-off.

3. Use a 2-footed take-off and landing. Jump as far as you can and land without falling backwards.

Your jump is measured from the take-off line to the nearest point of contact which is the back of the heels.

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Football Lineman Speed Acceleration

Football linemen need speed acceleration during short distance sprints. Football linemen typically run 5-15 yards during a play. So, the sprints must be explosive and powerful. And, the big fellas are often blocking and pushing against each other! Speed acceleration and leg power is critical.



Football linemen will often use blocking sleds to practice explosion against resistance. Short, unresisted sprints (10-20 meters) should also be used to train linemen. Training with towing sleds would come later.

Speed acceleration training with towing sleds is not the place to start when training for acceleration.....it is an advanced training method that can cause more harm than good if your body is not ready for it.

Speed acceleration is important because you rarely reach maximum running speed during a game. So, the lineman who can accelerate the quickest will make the plays or blocks that win games.

Greek researchers found that athletes training with towing methods (sleds, tires, etc.) improved their running velocity over the first 20 meters (i.e. acceleration) but that overall maximum speed did not improve. The researchers found that unresisted sprint training techniques improved maximum speed velocity more.

So, resisted and unresisted training has a place in the overall speed training program. Finally, the researchers found that towing sleds that were too heavy forced the athletes to use bad running mechanics.

So, for developing acceleration speed in the first 20 meters, towing methods teach you to drive force into the ground, use arm drive and overcome gravity and ground forces.

If you use a tow sled that is too heavy, it will affect your running mechanics. Start with a sled about 10% of your bodyweight. As you progress, you can use heavier sleds as long as your running mechanics are correct.

What's the take home lesson? Experienced athletes with enough strength and power should use speed acceleration training with towing sleds.

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Football Lineman Core Strength Needs

A football lineman will not have a great power surge without adequate core strength. Show me a lineman with a weak core and I'll show you a lineman who is sitting on the bench.



If you have strong arms and legs, you will have a POWER OUTAGE because of a weak core.

Your body's core consists of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex, thoracic spine and cervical spine. THE CORE is your body's center of gravity. Many football linemen have sufficient EXTREMITY STRENGTH (limbs), but few display sufficient CORE STRENGTH.

A strong and stable core will maximize your EXTREMITY STRENGTH and POWER.

The body's core is so much more than your "six pack" abs! A strong core will also maximize your speed. Since the core is your body's center of gravity and all movement begins with the core, it is essential to strengthen and stabilize it.

A strong core will allow you to handle heavier loads as your training progresses. You will also lessen your chances of injury.

A core strengthening program involves using many muscles in a coordinated movement. Rather than isolating specific joints as in most weight lifting exercises, core stability exercises focus on working the deep muscles of the entire torso at once.

The core muscles are also very important in preventing low back pain. Stability ball exercises, bridges, planks, low back extensions, etc. are great for strengthening core muscles.

Power exercises like high-speed medicine ball chops, medicine ball throws and weight training exercises will improve the football lineman's force.

Power is how fast your muscles can produce force. Because football linemen play in small spaces, POWER IS CRITICAL!

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Football Lineman Power, Agility and Quickness

Great football linemen excel with power, agility and quickness.



Football linemen need great change-of-direction speed to succeed in the trenches. Having great change-of-direction speed (agility with quickness) allows you to beat your opponent "to the spot" or recover from mistakes in positioning.

Linemen with "not great speed" can repeatedly make plays to help the team win. This is not an accident. You can improve your change-of-direction speed with proper training.

As with any athletic move, core strength is critical. Overall body strength is also important.

Before you begin to train for speed and power, the foundation should be laid with sufficient core and body strength. Failure to lay this strength foundation will lead you to certain injuries.

Body positioning is critical if you want to improve your change-of-direction speed. You will need dynamic balance. In many sports, it is not that easy to change direction and accelerate because you are often off balance.

To improve change-of-direction acceleration, you should have a shin angle of approximately 45 degrees for the first few steps. Your shoulders should also be slightly leaned forward. Your body lean should be at the ankles and not the hips. Having your feet just wider than shoulder-width apart will give you the most stable base of support.

This is not always possible during athletic competition. So, stability needs to be added by lowering the center of gravity. Change-of-direction acceleration could be laterally, at an angle or forward (when back pedaling) and will catapult you to near maximal speed quickly.

The first step in the change-of-direction is important. If this step is too long, you will over-stride and bring your shin to a vertical angle instead of 45 degrees. This will slow you down. So, the first step should be under your hips. Again, your body lean should be at ankles and not the hips.

Lateral change-of-direction technique is critical for football linemen. The shin angle remains important. Shuffles are often followed by sprints. You should use short, quick steps to decelerate and bring your body under control.

A "jump stop" can also be used to change directions. Your knees and hips should be bent with the shoulders aligned over your knees and toes.

Shuttle drills, lateral shuffle/cuts, crossovers, cariocas, tapiocas, ladder drills, etc. can all be used to improve change-of-direction speed for football linemen. You should perfect technique at half speed before progressing to full speed drills.

Work on your change-of-direction speed every day.

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How to Use 7-on-7 Football to Improve Agility and Speed

As you play in your 7-on-7 football games to prepare for football season this fall, work on improving your agility and speed. Why else would you play? You can't tackle anyone in 7-on-7, so work to get better!

Improve your agility during 7-on-7 games by perfecting your technique as a defensive back, linebacker, receiver or quarterback. Do the repetitions the right way--everytime! Perfect practice makes perfect

You can also improve your speed during games. You get faster by running fast. Train your muscles to fire faster. Run routes at full speed and cover your man at full speed. You don't have to wait until your formal team practices to get faster. Let your coach see your speed improvement when fall practices start.

Improve your agility with these drills and then apply them during your 7-on-7 games:

1. jump rope (one foot, two feet, slalom, Ali shuffle, backpedal)

2. speed ladder drills

3. cariocas, tapiocas, back pedals, shuffles, toe taps

4. hip turn and hip flexibility drills

Use your 7-on-7 football games to improve your skills and help your team win this summer and fall.

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Top 5 Tips to Help You Play Football Faster

Some players play football faster and some players are just fast. Sound confusing? Here's an example: Hall of Fame pro football wide receiver Jerry Rice was not considered to be blazing fast. Yet, I never saw anyone catch him from behind during a game.

Mr. Rice played the football game fast. Why? He practiced fast. During practice, he was legendary for running full speed after a catch all the way to the end zone (even if it was 80 yards). Some players play the game slow even if they are fast.

Besides having good practice habits, here are some other things you can do to play the game at a faster pace:

Because you will rarely reach maximum speed during the game, playing speed is critical. No matter what sport you play, there are only 5 ways to improve playing speed:

1.Starting ability is critical. You can improve starting ability by practicing starts from 3-point, 4-point, standing and moving positions. At this point, it is important to accelerate to maximum speed (or as close as possible).

2. Increase your stride length. One good way to improve stride length is to effectively pump your arms as fast as possible. Leg strength and power also improve stride length.

3. Improve your stride rate (the number of steps you take per second). Leg strength and power improve stride rate. There is one running technique that is often overlooked. One way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground with your feet. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The more force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will "give you power." When you run, don't lift your knee past your "thigh being parallel" to the ground. This way, you will use your "power center" (glutes and hamstrings) to apply force to the ground instead of the less powerful hip flexors.

In other words, running "with high knees" is not the best way to run. Also, step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground to create maximum force.

4. Improve your speed endurance. Speed endurance will not make you faster but it will keep you from slowing down when you are fatigued after repeated sprints.

5. Improve your running mechanics. You should practice running mechanics every day.

It is also important to practice agility and ladder drills to improve other aspects of speed.

Your goal should be to play football as fast as you can with control!

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Summer Football Training for Speed and Power

Use your summer football training workouts to get faster, more powerful and to prepare yourself to help your team win games! To do this, you must get better as an athlete and football player.

Periodization training for football players is important because you want to peak at the right time---DURING THE SEASON! Periodization training is a method that helps to avoid injuries and over-training.

During the summer, you must convert your strength to power (how fast your muscles can produce force) and speed. The 7-on-7 tournament games during the summer are a good way to work on your speed and agility.

Plyometrics, sport specific training and speed training comes to the forefront as you get ready for the season.

At some point, getting stronger will not increase your power. Power, or speed strength is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports.

High speed plyometric exercises like jumps and bounding are high-risk, high-reward. It is important to learn proper jumping and landing techniques before doing the exercises at full speed.

And, plyometric exercises like squat jumps improve vertical jump height and top end running speed. Year after year at the NFL Combine, the fastest athletes also have the highest vertical jump heights.

Sport specific exercises should closely mimic the movements at your position. For example, a defensive back would do high speed shuffles, back pedals, crossovers, hip turn-and-runs, etc.

Speed training would include agility drills (reaction, quickness, change-of-direction), speed endurance (including metabolic training), speed acceleration, closing speed, backwards speed, stopping speed, etc.

As you progress year after year, you will need less muscle growth/strength training and more plyometric/speed/position training. So, the time periods for each training goal can be shortened or lengthened.

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Spring Football Strength and Conditioning

Use spring football strength and conditioning to help you peak at the right time---during the football season in September!



You will win your position on the field by being dedicated in the weight room and during spring team practices. You should concentrate on building your foundational strength and growing your muscles (hypertrophy).

Since muscle weighs more than fat, you would also gain needed muscle mass (while burning fat) and weight. Its not uncommon to put on 15-20 pounds of muscle during offseason training (assuming you are following your sports nutrition plan)!

You need to STABILIZE and STRENGTHEN your body during this period. You will also correct muscle imbalances, joint dysfunctions, postural problems. This period is also used for rehabilitation of injuries after a long season.

The training program is Multi-Planar (sagittal, frontal, transverse), Multi-Joint (exercises such as bench press, squats, lunges, deadlift, rows), Multi-Dimensional (stabilization, strength, power in later months) and Proprioceptively Enriched (high neural demand, like balance exercises).

Foundational core training exercises like planks, side planks, supermans, cobras, bridges and back extensions are important to do during this period.

This period of training also prepares your body for the more demanding sport specific, speed and plyometric training in the coming months.

Your strength will help you to be faster and more explosive. For example, you should be able to squat your body weight 8-10 times. If you are not able to squat, then you should be able to leg press about 1.5 times your body weight 8-10 times.

Work hard and prepare to succeed!

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Spring Football Practices Around The Corner

It's March and you should be ramping up for spring football practice! In about 6 weeks, every high school football team will start knocking heads and shaping up for next season. Are you getting ready? Positions are won and lost during spring practices.

If you don't think you need speed and power to play football, watch a college or NFL game on television. Each play ends in a train wreck! You won't be a very good football player without speed and power.

You can improve your speed and power (how fast your muscles can produce force) for football and become a more dynamic player on the field.

Speed strength is a combination of starting speed, explosive speed (maximum velocity in the shortest time) and reactive speed. Proper training methods will produce the strength, power and speed you will need to succeed in football.

The best football players have great amounts of strength, speed, power, agility and quickness. Straight-ahead speed is not enough. This is the main reason that many world-class track athletes don't make a successful transition to the sport of football.

Core strength is important to help you remain strong and upright when you are running, especially in the late stages of a football game. Adequate core strength helps your speed endurance, which is the ability to maintain maximum velocity or a percentage of maximum velocity for a prolonged period of time or in a fatigued state.

The best players and teams have excellent overall body strength, core strength and speed endurance (and they win the most games).

I hope you have trained this offseason to improve your speed and power this season!

Workout hard and smart to get better!

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Defensive Backs Need Hips And Glutes Training

As a defensive back, you need flexible and strong hips and glutes to compete against elite wide receivers. Cornerbacks, especially, need the hips and glutes to cover receivers who are usually the fastest and quickest athletes on the field. Its tough to cover someone when you don't know where they are going!



I played defensive back in college so I'm definitely an authority on the need for accelerating backwards, forwards, shuffling, etc. We practiced "running backwards at game speed" every day until it became a natural movement.

As a defensive back, you need to train your body for backwards acceleration and other footwork skills. Many times, you need to adjust quickly into a back pedal, shuffle or hip turn to defend your receiver.

There are exercises that you can practice to improve your backwards acceleration and hip turns. As with all speed exercises, backwards acceleration practice should be done with "game-time effort."

You also must keep your shoulders leaned forward in order to maintain dynamic balance and to be able to stop and go "on a dime."

Some common exercises to improve your hips and glutes are: back pedal, hip turn and run, hip turn and shuffle, hip turn and crossover, shuffle and run, continuous hip turns, hip twists, hip in outs, leg swings and hip flexions/extensions.

Some good strength exercises to do: squats (one-legged and two-legged), step ups, lunges of all types and bulgarian split squats.

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Ladder Drills For Offseason Football Training

Offseason football training is the time to get stronger, faster, quicker, etc. Improve your agility and quickness with ladder drills. Athletes worked on improving their agility and quickness at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp. Its important to practice doing the exercises correctly. You can add more speed to the exercises as you progress.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

In many ways, quickness and agility are more important than straight-ahead speed. A player rarely reaches maximum speed during game competition. Having great change-of-direction speed (agility with quickness) allows you to beat your opponent "to the spot" or recover from mistakes in positioning.

How many times have you seen a player with "not great speed" repeatedly make plays to help the team win. This is not an accident. You can improve your change-of-direction speed with proper training. Read my post that discusses change-of-direction speed in detail.

You can also improve quickness by improving your reaction time. You do this by training to make the right choices as quickly as possible. You can practice reacting to sight or sound cues.

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Got Thrower's Elbow?

Throwers elbow affects both sides of the elbow. It is a common injury for any sport that requires a throwing motion---baseball pitchers, football quarterbacks, tennis serving or volleyball spiking.

Throwers elbow is distinguished from tennis elbow (usually affects the outside of elbow) and golfers elbow (usually affects the inside of the elbow).

So what causes throwers elbow? Overuse of the elbow is the most common cause of throwers elbow. The throwing motion stretches the structures on the inside of the elbow and compresses structures on the outside of the elbow.

Poor throwing mechanics is also a leading cause of this injury. Damage to the muscles, bones (fractures and spurs), ligaments and tendons around the elbow joint and forearm causes throwers elbow. This damage eventually causes a restriction of the throwing motion, inflammation and pain.

Inadequate core strength also leads to ineffective force transfer through your body and places undue stress on your elbow.

Pain is usually felt on both sides of the elbow joint and may even be felt as far down as the wrist. If your elbow doesn't get treatment and rest, blood flow could be cut off. The nerves that control the muscles in your forearm could also be pinched. Some numbness may be felt.

Prevention of throwers elbow is the best solution. Here are some tips:

1) Warm-up and stretch adequately. This should not have to be said but many don't take this advice seriously. It is important to increase blood flow and oxygen to the areas you will be using (forearm and elbow). Without a proper warm-up and stretching routine, the muscles and tendons will be tight and stiff and more susceptible to injury.

2) Strengthen and condition the muscles of your forearm and wrist. This will put less strain on your elbow. Also, strengthen your core and shoulder areas.

3) Avoid overuse of your elbow and get adequate rest from sports competition.

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Football Players Need Dynamic Balance

One must-have for all football players is dynamic balance. In my opinion, dynamic balance along with power are the two greatest physical predictors of success in sports that require speed. Athletes began to improve their dynamic balance last week at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp.



See Speed Camp Youtube video!

Improve your dynamic balance and you will be a better football player and overall athlete.

Static balance, which can be maintained with minimal movement, should be distinguished from dynamic balance. Your ability to maintain your center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support is critical to success on the football field and is the essence of dynamic balance. The ability to "stay on your feet (under control)" and "make the play" distinguishes great football players from other football players. Postural strength and control is also necessary to achieve dynamic balance.

You should do exercises that progressively challenge your dynamic balance and postural control. Exercises that require use of different surfaces (firm to unstable) will work to accomplish this. One-armed and one-legged exercises also work well. Experts don't always agree on the specific balance exercises to be performed, but research proves that changes in both sensory and motor systems influence balance performance.

Workout hard and smart to be a better football player!

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Speed And Power For Football

If you don't think you need speed and power to play football, watch a college or NFL game on television. Each play ends in a train wreck! You won't be a very good football player without speed and power. You can improve your speed and power (how fast your muscles can produce force) for football and become a more dynamic player on the field. That's exactly what athletes are doing this week at Sports Fitness Hut's Speed and Power Camp.



See Speed Camp video on YouTube!

Speed strength is a combination of starting speed, explosive speed (maximum velocity in the shortest time) and reactive speed. Proper training methods will produce the strength, power and speed you will need to succeed in football.

The best football players have great amounts of strength, speed, power, agility and quickness. Straight-ahead speed is not enough. This is the main reason that many world-class track athletes don't make a successful transition to the sport of football.

Core strength is important to help you remain strong and upright when you are running, especially in the late stages of a football game. Adequate core strength helps your speed endurance, which is the ability to maintain maximum velocity or a percentage of maximum velocity for a prolonged period of time or in a fatigued state. The best players and teams have excellent overall body strength, core strength and speed endurance (and they win the most games).

I hope you have trained this offseason to improve your speed and power this season!

Workout hard and smart to get better!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Speed Training For Football Players

Speed training for football players is a little different because you have to play the game with pads on and you need bulkier muscles to compete...I know this for a fact because I played football at the major college level! It is a fast, violent game and you'd better be ready to run fast with a purpose!



The best football players (especially the skill position players) have great amounts of strength, speed, agility and quickness.

Straight-ahead speed is not enough. This is the main reason that many world-class track athletes don't make a successful transition to the sport of football.

Playing speed in football is critical. Playing speed is a combination of the following: starting speed, acceleration speed, top-end speed, change-of-direction speed, stopping speed and closing speed. The football player must train for all of these types of speed. Quickness, which is reaction time without hesitation, facilitates great speed.

Some specific demands for being a successful football player on the field are: power (speed strength), starting ability, acceleration, stopping, cutting, stride rate, stride length, sprinting form and speed endurance.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs

Lateral Cone Hops Improve Hip Strength and Power

Lateral cone hops will strengthen and power up your hips and gluteus medius. This will make you a more dynamic athletic in the field or on the court.



Use lateral cone hops to improve your power in the frontal plane of motion (side to side motions).

The frontal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into equal front and back halves. The motions primarily involve abduction and adduction (side-to-side motions).

Abduction takes your limb away from the midline of your body and adduction takes your limb closer to the midline of your body. Examples include exercises performed on hip abductor and hip adductor machines. Other frontal plane motions would be lateral lunges, dumbbell lateral shoulder raises and lateral spinal flexion.

Quickness and agility movements made by athletes require adequate frontal plane stability, strength, power, flexibility and balance.

Lateral cone hops are done as fast as possible. Also, your feet should remain on the ground as little as possible as you do the hops. Focus on hopping (not jumping) from side to side (on the balls of your feet) with very little vertical height. You are working to improve lateral power with this exercise and not vertical power. Do 8-10 repetitions per set.

As you progress, you can begin to do single leg lateral cone hops. Train hard and safe!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut