Strength training in football

For every sport, not just American football, every player requires strength, a lot of it, in order to perform well.

In soccer, you need to strengthen your legs to kick the ball effectively, in basketball, you will need some strength to catch the ball in case someone throws too hard because of how far the player is, in baseball, you need to hit the ball with the bat with a lot of force to stand a chance, especially depending the pitcher’s throws and in football, you will need it when tackling, defending, catching the ball, etc.

Some decades ago, strength training programs used to borrow exercises from body building for example, with the idea for players to get really big and strong, however, there wasn’t much focus on flexibility.

Fortunately, that’s different nowadays. Trainers like elite gym Quad City CrossFit have helped players develop the skills and movements that will actually be useful for performing well in football.

After all, football is a pretty versatile sport. Just like how strength is required, so does speed, coordination, fast reaction time, among others. When training, it should be focused only on the muscles that players will absolutely need when playing the sport, almost as if you’re already in a match.

Here are several ways in which strength training should be done to perform well when on the field:

• Work the back. Most people ignore the back and focus on the front. Because of this, most players’ front part of their bodies is strong while their backs are weak. Though it is quite understandable why many ignore the back side, it is still preferable to train it since it can help you perform better, strengthening both sides will prove to be very helpful. One way you can train your back is by doing some pulling exercises.
• Exercise your body as a system. Remember, your body has various different systems, and football uniforms are integrated into one to help you function effectively on any task you do. For example, when you run on the field, that is an integrated movement because you move both your arms and legs in a faster rate than walking in order to do such an action. When it’s training time, attempt to integrate different movements.
• Train how you think you’ll play on the field. As it was previously mentioned, gain strength in ways that you know will be useful to play football. You can do some squats and lunges since you’re always on your feet in football, and you should also exercise in patterns, like for example, multidirectional lunges, instead of doing more simple motions. Remember, integrate different movements.
• Build a strong core before anything. You have to work from the inside-out, strengthen your core before improving power, strength and speed. In fact, a lot of players get injured because they already try to build up strength on a pretty weak base or core. So, build up some lower body strength, you can begin doing so with squats and lunges, then, you gradually work your way up and so on.

Tips to improve your footwork and speed

As a football player, to effectively play, it requires strength, endurance, catching, throwing and, of course, speed.

There’s obviously a lot of running involved in football, after all, there are moments when a player is going to throw the ball really far, what do you do there?

Run of course. Run as fast as possible to be able to reach and catch the ball.

But to reach that kind of speed, you’ll need to specifically train on your footwork, so, here are some tips on which you can improve your speed and run faster than Forrest Gump:

• Have a balanced exercise routine. It’s important to have a specific exercise routine so you can focus on your footwork. You should focus on exercises as well as football uniforms that help you work on speed training drills, dynamic explosive strength and maximum effort gym work. For this, you have to do it every week, but you must also constantly change the exercises, sets and reps as your body can adapt quite fast. After you feel that your body has adapted to the amount of sets of the exercise, increase the reps so that you continue to challenge your body and continue like that onwards.
• Work your lower-body muscles. If you want to get faster, the most vital muscles that you have to work on are the glutes, lower back, obliques, hamstrings and abs. If you constantly exercise those muscles, you will increase your strength, which will also help you increase your speed when running.
• Arm action. Obviously, you run with your feet and legs, but many people ignore the importance of the arms when sprinting. If you move your arms fast, so will your legs. Technically however, when running, the shoulders should be what you move while your hands and elbows are in a locked position. The arms should move in a semicircular way while bringing the hands from cheek to cheek to the rear of the hip.
• Proper technique. Make sure you sprint correctly in order to be more efficient at it, and an excellent way to do it, is to learn the proper technique. Things such as drills, warm-up exercises and scrimmages and everything else that you do, you should always do them correctly and learn the actual technique in doing so.
• Train fast. High-speed drills, that’s the way to go here. Obviously, if you want to get faster, then do some speed training, which includes explosive drills and short sprints. Running miles isn’t exactly speed training, focus on doing acceleration drills, weight lifting and short sprints.
• Do jump training. Doing plyometrics, or jump training, is also important as it trains your muscles to “fire” rapidly. Another thing it helps your body to do is to absorb elastic energy and release it. Overall, jumping can enhance your speed.
• Focus on all levels of speed. For this, you need a complete speed training program, which includes exercises focused on agility, coordination, speed, reaction and strength. You must train all of these aspects regularly, for that, you can do short sprints, weight lifting, as well as balance and reaction drills.

Train like that, and you’ll become a fast high school football player. But remember, know your limits, don’t over train either as you’ll just damage your body. You still need to train hard, but also give your body chance to recover.

The San Diego Chargers finished in San Diego

As every football fan now knows, the San Diego Chargers, who’ve been playing their home games in that city at Qualcomm Stadium since 1961, will return to Los Angeles for the 2017 season, interestingly enough, just 1 year after LA Rams had moved back themselves from St. Louis.

The Chargers will now play their home games at the StubHub Center until the opening of the Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in 2020.

Until last Thursday, the team still practiced at “Chargers Park”. Until the end of June, most of the team’s business will continue at the Murphy Canyon Complex.

The news of the team’s departure has, of course, saddened, as well as angered, many fans, especially on social media. Some fans appeared to say goodbye to their favorite players, with the media available at the time to record the whole thing.

Philip Rivers, the quarterback, practiced with his team in San Diego for the last time before heading to Los Angeles. Needless to say, he was a bit sad for the departure.

Rivers said, “Sad is a little too strong.” “…But emotional.”

Such an event, the San Diego Chargers team moving out of the city that has been their home for the past 56 years, out of a community that has welcomed them and given them so much love, is almost analogous to when a teenager becomes a young adult and has to leave his parents’ home. Leaving behind the familiarity and love that the young adult has gotten all of his/her life so far and embarking on an uncertain and scary road ahead. The Chargers too embark on a long and uncertain road ahead to Los Angeles with new custom football uniforms and all.

The 13 banners that commemorate the Chargers’ AFL championship in 1963, its AFC title in 1994 and other achievements the team has gotten are still found on the top of the edifice above the balcony facing the practice fields of Chargers Park and, of course, will still remain there for a long time.

Of course, despite this departure, not all of the team’s players will feel the bitter sweetness of the situation. “I didn’t really get attached,” defensive tackle Brandon Mebane said. “I wasn’t here for a long period of time.”

And that’s the case for various other players. 18 of the 90 players at minicamp only spent more than 2 seasons as San Diego Chargers and just 5 current Chargers arrived before 2012.

Only Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates have been in San Diego for more than 7 years.

Everyone else is also ready or getting ready to leave. The second floor at Chargers Park is half empty, the marketing and community relations already left since the beginning of May, the small building where the digital media department was located might already be dismantled and accounting and public relations will start leaving soon.

The team had more than 100 employees, without counting players and coaches, and a little more than half are already moving away.

A member of The Chargers’ PR staff however, Scott Yoffe, is staying in San Diego since the city is home to his family now.

What’s the next thing the team will do after they move to Los Angeles? The start of training camp at Orange Coast College and then the season opener and finally, the LA Chargers’ first game at the StubHub Center.

80 or so miles north of San Diego, the future home of the LA Chargers is located, Susan Street in Costa Mesa. Still under construction, but won’t be too long until the team can call this place “home”.