How to Get Much Faster for Football
Here is how you get much faster for football. The real, non-nonsense approach to football speed training, the kind that not only takes over a half second off your 40 but also helps you get faster where it counts – on the football field!
Getting faster for football really isn’t that complicated. Somehow, football speed training has become more complex than advanced nuclear physics. As I wrote in the “3 Football Speed Training Myths, Busted” article, most football players are led astray by gimmick products like parachutes, cones and the dreaded track-influenced “Football Speed” programs.
The problem with most of the “get faster for football” Stuff out there is that 99% of the football speed training products out there focus on the 40-yard dash. Now, we all have to run the 40 during testing, so, investing in a testing preparation product like Joe DeFranco’s DVD is a wise move. After all, some coaches put so much stock in your testing numbers that performing well could mean the difference between having a spot on the team and sitting on the bench.
But, I’m not concerned with testing speed right now. I’m talking game speed. The speed that gets D-lineman to the QB and gets Running Backs to the second level. This is the type of speed that wins games. Why some coaches over-rely on testing, I’ll never know. As Chuck Knoll always says, “Watch the film, not the stopwatch!”
So, how do we go about building this kind of game speed? How do we really get faster for football? Glad you asked…
To Really Get Faster For Football, Get Stronger
Why do guys hate hearing this? I swear, every time I write an article about how you need to get stronger in order to get faster rather than running around cones, I get venomous hate mail. Something about those little orange cones makes people happy.
Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but a heavy Deadlift will do more for your football speed than 10-million cones.
How strong you are determines how fast you are, at least to a point. The first argument weak, cone-running, parachute-wearing types come up with is that Elite Powerlifters, especially the super heavies aren’t super fast. “Those guys Squat 1000lbs, they should be the fastest in the world!”
There is a point of diminishing returns. But, for many guys, this might be in excess of 700-lbs. When you can Squat that much, let me know and we’ll figure out how to further increase your speed without lifting more. But, don’t come to me with your massive 405 and proclaim that strength work isn’t key to increasing speed.
If you want to get faster for football, you need to concentrate on getting stronger on exercises like Box Squats, Box Front Squats, Deadlifts and Deadlift Variations, Cleans, and Squats. Work them hard, Max Effort style. Continue to increase the weights and your flexibility (more on that later) and you will get faster.
In Bill Romonowski’s book, he talks about working on his speed with a world famous track coach. Bill was only leg pressing at that time and coach told him to start Squatting. After a few weeks, Bill called and excitedly let the coach know that he hit 410. The coach replied, “good, now you can Squat as much as my female sprinters.”
Train Hamstrings Heavy & for Speed
Your hamstrings are your speed muscles. The hams, along with the glutes, act as your engine out on the field. Yet, we still see people missing the boat on hamstring training. In training the hamstrings, keep a few key points in mind:
The hamstrings are made up of a high percentage of fast twitch fibers and must be trained heavily. They tend to respond best to low – medium reps. If you’ve been neglecting them, the hams will have to be worked more often until they catch up to the more powerful Quads. Your hamstrings are made up of the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, & semimenbranosus muscles – all must be worked for maximum speed The hamstrings must be worked from multiple angles with a variety of exercises
The hamstrings must be attacked. Plan on working them at least twice per week. Exercises like Deadlifts, Snatch Deadlifts, Box Squats, Romanian Deadlifts, Kettlebell Swings and Power Cleans are what build football speed. Not running over hurdles in a tinfoil hat. These must be done heavily in order to get the kind of speed you desire.
Now, with that in mind, the hamstrings must also be trained dynamically. Most players never stop and think about the insane force we place on our hams during a game. Thus, we must prepare them for those forces by training the hams specifically for speed.
Building crazy stength in your legs is the first step in getting faster for football. But, as many a disapointed lifter has found out, it’s not the only one.
You must also work your legs in a dynamic way…or, simply put, you must do speed-specific exercises. No, I don’t mean “speed exercises” where you run with a vest on or pulling your teammate around.
Baseball vs. Football
In the mid-seventies, English immigrants brought the traditional format of baseball to North America. In 1876, the National League was formed. Baseball is bat-ball sport which is played between 2 teams having 9 players each. The aim of baseball is in scoring runs by striking the bat on a thrown ball and to touch a series of 4 markers named bases which are arranged at bends of the 90 foot baseball diamond. English Colonial pioneers brought football to the Americas in the 17th century. After 200 years, football was initiated in American colleges. This game later was picked by various colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Rutgers and Columbia. In 1921, the American Professional Football Association (APFA) started and was eventually renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922. The object of this game is passing or running the football into the challenger’s end zone to score points. The ball is advanced by passing to teammates preceding the goal-line or kicking between goalposts for 3 points. In the US, both football and baseball have zealous fans asserting that they are the most popular sport in America. But, how does someone actually ascertain which sport is the number one sport in the America? There are various categories which could be considered while determining America’s number one pastime. Analyzing ticket costs, salaries, television revenue, venues, attendance, and average athletic prowess will help in presenting a case. These six factors help in deciding which sport is the most loved by Americans. Deciding whether football or baseball is the most popular sport in America can be done by counting the number of people attending the games. During year 2000, the average crowd to watch baseball was 30,125 while average crowd to watch football was 66,077. Considering the figures, it appears that twice the number of people watched football on average. The cost of a ticket for football was an average of $54.14 while for baseball it was only $20.12. Obviously baseball is more affordable than football and watching the live games creates plenty of fans generating lot of excitement for that particular sport. Looking further, the NFL fetches around $2.2 billion a year from television revenue while the MLB makes around $340 million. In a week, football is aired for only few days while baseball is aired almost every night. This leads up to the conclusion that football fetches more money through advertisement, indicating many more people are watching football than baseball. In the MLB, the normal salary for players is over $2 million a year while in NFL it is only $1.18 million a year. Another factor, venue, plays an important role as it influences the number of seats available for fans to watch each game live. The average stadium for baseball can easily hold 47,000 fans while the average football stadium can easily accommodate 70,000 fans. In conclusion, the evidence points toward the NFL being a more watched sport on a per game basis. However, baseball likely wins out because almost 10 times more games are played each year per team. Whatever sport is most popular, its minor league players need recognition. Baseball teams give awards and trophies to its team moms, coaches and players. Teams decide what should be engraved on each baseball award and trophy. Name of team and possibly the name of each player should be included. In case of exceptional trophies, title and distinctions should also be included. Team moms, coaches and players treasure these awards and trophies for years and years. Football trophies are usually made of plastic or metals, portraying scenes of players battling or kicking.
First Year Anniversary Gifts for Her – Free Tips inside
First anniversary is a very special event for every couple and it is just right to find the perfect first year anniversary gifts for her. If you want to follow the traditional anniversary gifts, paper is the gift for the first year. It may sound simple and uninteresting but actually, paper is known to be one of the greatest gifts as it can be interpreted into a lot of options.
Though cash is the most obvious gift when you think of paper, it may lack a bit of class as a first anniversary gift for her. Though some people be thankful for cash as gifts, it is better to be creative when considering first year anniversary gifts for her.
There are a lot of options for first year anniversary gifts for her. One thing you can get her is a gift certificate. If your wife enjoys going to spa and be pampered, a gift certificate is the best first anniversary gift to her favorite spa. On the other hand, if she enjoys reading books, you can get a bookstore gift certificate. A lot of women love shopping for clothes and she will definitely appreciate a gift certificate for her shopping spree.