How do you get faster for Football? Is it about running through cones or with some stupid parachute?
NO! Increasing football speed is about strength and flexibility. It's about proper football exercise selection. The stronger you are, the faster you are. But, if you are strong and stiff, you'll never be faster.
We need to be faster on the field, and, unfortunately for the football testing days (football testing is completely worthless, but that's for another article).
Of course, one of the most popular and talked about tests is the 40-yd dash. I've seen some coaches and players devote so much of their football strength and speed training programs to the 40, that you'd think that was their sport! If "what do ya bench?" is the #1 question of all time, "what's your 40?" would have to be a close second.
Most of your training for the 40 (and all tests) should be built into your football strength training workouts- you build strength to build speed. Your workouts need to be explosive so you will be too. But, this isn't what this article is about. See, I've gotten a rash of emails over the last few weeks from guys who are crappin their pants because their testing is coming up very soon, and they are panicking.
The following 3 football speed training tips are meant for the Oh-Crap-My-Test-is-in-a-Week kinda crowd. These are for the days leading up to and the day of the test. Use them and watch your 40-time decrease by .3 - .4 seconds. Remember, an improvement like that can take a lineman from the horrid land of the 5's into the 4-second promised land.
The Top 3 Football Speed Exercises:
Low Box Squat Good Mornings
You've got to find ways to dynamically stretch your hip flexors. It's not always a great idea to do static stretching (the kind where you hold a stretch for 20 - 30 seconds) before testing or heavy lifting. But, your hips are a huge exception. Tight hip flexors have been called "breaks" for their speed-killing abilities.
You can really improve your chances on the 40 by doing Low Box Squat Good Mornings in the days leading up to the test. They can be done at the end of every session and on Test day as part of your warm up.
Set up a low box squat, sit way back, then bend forward for 8 reps. When done, stand up and re-rack the bar.
You don't need to go heavy! Just use enough weight to elicit a stretch in your hip flexors and your entire hip area. Shoot for 3 sets of 6.
Kettlebell Swings
Pre-activation, or potentiation methods as they're often called, is a way to warm up so that your brain (Central Nervous System) knows it's time to move some serious weight or get moving quickly. As football players, you've all gone through some small form of potentiation training. If you've ever done high-knees, butt-kicks, skips, or thrusters, then you've been introduced to pre-activation. Most think of pre-activation movements are used only in football training workouts, but, they are key to increasing test day performance as well.
The Kettlbell swing is an excellent pre-activation move for taking time off of your 40. This one is best for when you are testing at your own school, unless you don't mind carting a heavy kettlebell with you. Its also a great general activation movement, so you can use it before your bench test, vertical, or shuttle.
When swings are done properly, they elicit a tremendous explosive reflex. You need to have your brain firing on all cylinders to get that damn Kettlebell moving with proper force.
Grab a K-bell with both hands, bend the knees, swing the bell between your legs. When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, snap the bell forward again using explosive power from your hamstrings, hips, glutes, back, and abs. This is a great pre-game movement, by the way.
For pre-test purposes, go with 3 sets of 5 and make sure you are exploding the weight up.
Seated Jumps
These are super simple to do and you can do them anywhere so they are perfect for test day. As most of you know, Box Squats of all kinds are a favorite movement of any good Football Strength and Speed Training expert. Well, now we are going to take all that new-found Box Squatting strength and turn it into a time-melting 40 trick.
All you need is a bench, box or chair. Sit back like you would during a squat but hold that position. Now, without leaning forward or rocking, jump as high as you can from that seated position. Repeat for 5 sets of 3 and the end of your warm-up.
I can't stress enough that you can't rock or lean forward (this produces very dangerous bad habits when you box Squat). You want the CNS to get fired up, so relax then explode up.
Do these 3 movements and I guarantee you'll run the best 40 of your career.
To get Free Football Training Reports please visit The Explosive Football Training Program and visit our YouTube page for videos of these and other football exercises [http://www.youtube.com/explosivefootball].
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