Football In-Season Speed Training
It’s summer which means there are 1000’s of athletes preparing for fall football. That also means there are 100’s of coaches and trainers working to put together in-season practice plans. For most of these coaches, working on first step speed training is probably not part of those practice plans for various reasons.
- They don’t want to take away from fundamental skills training.
- They are concerned it will take away for game planning.
- They feel it will decrease game day performance.
Not performing some level of speed training during the season has never made sense considering all the time that is devoted to speed during the off-season. Obviously athletes are simulating football specific running activities in every practice. This is continually retraining the movement patterns but not actually creating a strengthening effect. Therefore, as the season moves along, speed (like strength) will decrease.
Resistance Band In-Season Football First Step Speed Training
A resistance band’s portability and versatility makes it easy to quickly set up and implement multi-directional speed training drills on the field or in the weight room. In most cases these drills can be performed in partnerships using a relatively small area. As a result, it becomes very similar to how most weight room in-season programs are designed.
By linking two similarly-sized bands together two athletes can perform a series of first step drills that include:
- Quick Forward Starts
- Lateral Shuffles
- Turn & Goes
- Backpedals
- Partner Resisted Running
Each of these drills can emphasize acceleration or deceleration while requiring no additional equipment, set-up or programming changes. Strategically implemented, any of these drills can also be used for metabolic conditioning thus eliminating the need to schedule additional conditioning during practice.
Ways to Implement First Step Speed Drills
Here are 4 ways to implement first step speed drills into a typical high school football season when games are played on Friday night.
Monday
Perform primary lifts of bench and squat. As auxiliary drills, athletes partner up to perform 5 sets of 5 reps alternating partners on every set while performing 3-step lateral shuffles.
Shuffles Acceleration
Tuesday
During Indy period all groups work on first step acceleration using various starting positions based on football position. These are typically 8-minute Indy sessions.
First Step Acceleration
Wednesday
Implement partner resisted running for metabolic conditioning post practice.
Partner Resisted Forward Running
These are all very time efficient ways to strategically implement speed strength training directly into your in-season football practice schedule. By combining it with traditional skills training or weight room work you don’t have to find additional time away from actual practice time.
Dave Schmitz – The Band Man
About the Author: Dave Schmitz
Dave Schmitz (aka…The Band Man) is the Co-Owner of Resistance Band Training Systems, LLC and the creator of https://resistancebandtraining.com, the only website exclusively devoted to training with large continuously looped resistance bands.
Dave has a unique professional background and vast experience as an orthopedic physical therapist, performance enhancement specialist, certified strength and conditioning specialist along with 27 plus years of living fitness and performance training.
All of this has allowed him to turn a simple 41-inch resistance band into an incredibly multi-faceted total training experience for 1000’s of athletes and fitness enthusiasts around the world—while helping 100’s of fitness professionals and coaches get their clients or athletes BETTER with BANDS.
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