T Nation

Football Endurance?

Bodybuilding
#1

Hey. I’m new here I’m known on the bb.com forums as best regards. But I was wondering what you all thought the best way to get endurance for football as a reciever or a position of the like would be? Would it be to run many sprints with little rest inbetween? If so, how many sprints (or agility drills) would you suggest to do in a session?

My endurance is down the toilet so once I get off Rippetoe I’m gonna do a Westside-type program but doing legs only once a week then doing sprints on the other days. What would be the best way to go about this?

#2

simulate game conditions.

No need to max out sprints with no rest.

As important as speed and probably moreso is explosion. work on ‘getting off the blocks’

work on upper body strength to not only propel you, but to beat the chuck.

Speed in and out of cuts is quite valuable.

This means work on 10yd and 20 yd sprints as much or more as 40.

#3

[quote]sasquatch wrote:
simulate game conditions.

No need to max out sprints with no rest.

As important as speed and probably moreso is explosion. work on ‘getting off the blocks’

work on upper body strength to not only propel you, but to beat the chuck.

Speed in and out of cuts is quite valuable.

This means work on 10yd and 20 yd sprints as much or more as 40.[/quote]

I understand but how many sets of sprints should I do?

#4

Take the average play time. What 6 seconds or so. Double that 10-12 seconds. If you get very good at this range, double that of the avergage play it will make the game seem like a cake walk.

Do a ton of them work up though. Set a time limit a PR zone and slowly raise that.

#5

10x3 with <60sec rest between sets builds good muscle/strength endurance.

#6

since it’s 9-28, hasn’t your season started yet?

if it’s already started, then the quickest way to get into football shape is play football.

i’ve never heard of rippetoe, but it sounds like it’s a fat loss program. trying to cut fat in-season is a very, very bad idea. you need as much food as you can get to recover and retain mass in-season.

if you’re still in off-season, then follow the advice of posters above.

#7

[quote]tGunslinger wrote:
since it’s 9-28, hasn’t your season started yet?

if it’s already started, then the quickest way to get into football shape is play football.

i’ve never heard of rippetoe, but it sounds like it’s a fat loss program. trying to cut fat in-season is a very, very bad idea. you need as much food as you can get to recover and retain mass in-season.

if you’re still in off-season, then follow the advice of posters above.[/quote]

great points.

#8

Best way to improve your football endurance is to play what Americans call soccer. (It actually is football since it uses the feet but that’s only to get you thinking ;-)) Try practising with a soccer team for a few weeks and you’ll know where to get your endurance in explosiveness…