One football tradition that will never die is good old fashioned team rivalries. But even today in 2024, America’s favorite sport continues evolved. It is a faster, more explosive game than ever before. The average play now lasts only about five seconds with an average 30-second rest between plays. Games are intense, especially against top rivals.
A good 50 years ago, it was a different story. A running back would just be responsible for running the football. He’d run for a good distance and then have a few minutes to rest. Today’s running back needs to catch the ball out of the backfield, pick up on the blitz, cut away from oncoming blocks and run for a touchdown—all in around five seconds.
Since football’s game play and game speed have evolved, so must its conditioning routines. There is no room for standard 100-yard sprints or gassers. These football conditioning drills train the cardiovascular system aerobically. Football conditioning must now be tailored toward anaerobic training. This is the only method capable of producing athletes who can keep up with the demands of the game. (See how an NFL All-Star trains: Steven Jackson: Powerful Running Back, Not a Power Back.)
Coaches and players, try the following football conditioning drills. These will help you to generate incredible results next season.
Conditioning for Football
Sprint Ladders
The sprint ladder encourages speed, agility, coordination and leg muscle strength, all qualities a football player must possess, making these an excellent conditioning tool.
- 2 x sprint 10 yards, rest 10 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 20 yards, rest 20 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 30 yards, rest 30 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 40 yards, rest 30 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 50 yards, rest 30 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 40 yards, rest 30 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 30 yards, rest 30 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 20 yards, rest 20 seconds between sprints
- 2 x sprint 10 yards, rest 10 seconds between sprints
Sprint/Stride Intervals
Here’s where a coach can use 100 yards effectively. But you need to fine-tune the drill a little to make it more appropriate. Instead of all-out sprints, have the players perform interval sets of 20-yard sprints and 20-yard strides for the full length of the field. Striders are particularly beneficial to players. They help players develop greater stride length. This means they’ll be able to cover more ground in less time, resulting in greater speed production. (See Get Quicker with Football-Specific Intervals.) A set would be:
- 20-yard sprint
- 20-yard stride
- 20-yard sprint
- 20-yard stride
- 20-yard sprint
Rest 30 seconds between sets and repeat for a total of four to 10 sets. Start on the lower set range at the beginning of your pre-season training and increase volume as your conditioning progresses.
Tempo Runs
Tempo runs are another drill for which coaches can use the full 100 yards of the football field.
- Have players start at a corner of an end zone and stride for 100 yards
- Focus on long steps, slower than a sprint, faster than a jog
- Jog across to the opposite side of the end zone
- Stride 100 yards again
- Walk across the end zone to the starting point
- Repeat four to 10 times.
Again, start with the lower training volume (four sets) early on and increase it as the season progresses.
Four Quarters
This is one of the best conditioning drills around in my opinion. It trains players to push a max effort consistently through every quarter of a game.
Sets/Reps: 4×4 (two to three minutes rest between quarters)
- 10-yard sprints with a 10-second rest between sprints
- 20-yard sprints with a 20-second rest between sprints
- 30-yard sprints with a 30-second rest between sprints
- 20-yard sprint, 20-yard stride, 20-yard sprint, 20-yard stride and 20-yard sprint with a 30-second rest between
- This ends one quarter. Go again three more times.
Want a full football conditioning plan this summer? Check out STACK’s Football Summer Training Guide 2013.