Conditioning For Football Players

"Honesty is the best policy and spinach is the best vegetable." -Popeye the Sailor-Man

We would like to thank Coach Jim Bryan for bringing this issue to our attention. As many high school football coaches gear-up for pre-season training they should be prepared to get their athletes conditioned now as opposed to the last minute.

Dr. Ken Leistner in his article, "DR. KEN'S  2002 FOOTBALL RUNNING PROGRAM", gives coaches a wonderful resource to use. [StrongerAthletes.com note:  The article mentioned was in a forum post on Cyberpump.com.  It is no longer to be found on the internet.]

Dr. Ken believes coaches should take an active role in the conditioning of the athlete in the spring not the summer.

"The cardiovascular system and local musculature involved in the sport of football must be strengthened and conditioned NOW so that [the athlete] can peak in the latter stages of July and August.  This will allow [the athlete] to report in the best possible condition. Maintain careful records so that you know exactly what has been accomplished in each workout."

He reminds athletes to follow a healthy diet and strength training program for the optimum results. His program starts with a 6 week build-up phase consisting of runs of up to 12 minutes. We know that many coaches are anti-timed runs or distance running. However this lays the foundation for sport-specific training in the mid-summer.

From mid-June to mid-August he lays out a detailed practice plan prescribing warm-ups and sprints. It is the athlete's desire to arrive at training camp in primed condition. Using Dr. Ken's advice the coach can get his team to that point of optimum fitness specific for football practice.

We encourage you to check out the whole thing at www.cyberpump.com You will have to register with Garage Gym to view their articles.

If you are interested in the entire program please drop me a note and we will forward it to you. Good luck coaches as you begin you summer training. We would like to hear from you in regards to what your athletes and teams use to cardiovascular condition.