The American Football Preparation

Good Morning! Happy Monday!

We’re getting to that point of the year, if not already, where I really start to miss football season. Even though we’ve had spring ball for the last couple of weeks and our spring scrimmage this past weekend, theres nothing like the chaos the season brings.

However, with the craziness of the in season schedule, the off season schedule brings much more calmness. Thats why, while working in sports, the off season is the best time to improve skills and learn more as a clinician.

Today, I will be talking about one of the books I’ve read so far this off season that will help build on the rehab skills I currently have.

*The injuries discussed in this newsletter are for general educational purposes only. I am not affiliated with the athlete’s medical team, and the information shared does not reflect any insider or team medical details. Specifics about the injury are often unavailable, which can significantly influence the estimated timeline for return to play.

The American Football Preparation

This book is a great starting point to understanding training for the American Football Player. From a birds point of view, football is a sport that require size, strength, speed, power and stamina. However, once we dive deeper into the weeds of the sport, each player and position training depends on much more based on the individual and his team’s philosophy and tactics.

For example, a team who’s dominant tactics are 21 personnel (2 running backs and a tight end) with a philosophy of committing to the run, would have a higher contribution of the alactic system than the aerobic system. This is primarily due to the longer time taken between plays, shorter duration of the play, and the distance covered per play.

While a team whose dominant tactics are 10 personnel (4-5 recievers) in the spread formation with a pass heavy philosophy, they would be more reliant on the aerobic system because of the short rest intervals between plays, along with long routes, blocking patterns, and pass blocking drops performed by offensive lineman.

Preparedness

Long-term capacity (preparedness), is defined as the athlete’s stable state of ability. This takes many training sessions to have an effect. The ultimate goal of physical preparation is to raise an athletes preparedness and enable it to be the best at their individual sport or position. This can be achieved with the proper strength and conditioning program with rehabilitation complimenting their program.

It is important to take into account the magnitude and type of stress the athlete is obtaining within the workouts for proper recovery and improvements in performance. For example, heavier intensive workouts (sprints, jumps and heavy weights) will take much longer to recover from. Therefore, would be program in a higher amount at a time outside of the season or outside of spring ball. Whereas light extensive workouts (aerobic running, core, light weights, extensive throws) require much less recovery time and can be implemented during more intensive field requirements.

Energy Systems

Football requires well conditioned alactic and aerobic energy systems in order to optimize performance. There are three main methods to develop these two systems: alactic capacity, alatic power, and aerobic capacity. This can be achieved in the weight room as well as running on the field.

However, it is important to note that speed work will benefit the weight training, but, weight training bears little influence on speed development beyond initial acceleration.

*Due to my professional association with the Atlanta Falcons during preseason and my current role with the Florida State Seminoles, I will not provide educational content or commentary on any injuries within these programs during or after the season.

The book dives into further detail about speed training, weights, explosive med ball work, tempos, core work, PNF and much more. Instead of diving further into the details the book offers, I would highly suggest reading the books and gaining all the details about football training. This can take your rehabilitation skills to the next level.