I’m going to assume I don’t need to convince you why speed training for football players is important.
For some reason though, football coaches and players seem to obsess with strength training instead of training for speed.
I’m not against strength training in any way. In fact, being strong is an important part of being fast, and is very definitely important for lineman.
However, to maximize speed, weight room work needs to be well rounded. If you’re all in on just getting big and strong, you’re not going to be as fast as possible
At a certain point, getting bigger and stronger will actually make you slower. Otherwise, bodybuilders and powerlifters would be the fastest men on the planet.
But they aren’t.
As football players, strength and size are important, but they aren’t the end all be all. Just like at the reigning Heisman trophy winner, DeVonta Smith of Alabama. He’s six feet tall and weighs a whopping 170 pounds.
He’s not a monster, but he doesn’t have to be a monster…he has to be a receiver, which he seems to be doing a pretty damn good job at.
You should also note that prior to last season, Alabama brought in a new strength and conditioning staff, headed by Matt Rhea and Dave Ballou.
What are their number one priorities as strength coaches?
Speed and power.
No surprise, Alabama returned to glory last year.
Speed training for football can be done in the weight room.
Here are five guidelines you can use to make sure your program is built towards speed training for football players. This isn’t an end-all, be-all list, but if you follow these three principles, you will get faster.
1) Emphasize single leg lifts
How many feet are on the ground at once when you run? Of course, just one at a time.
But how many feet are on the ground when you squat and deadlift? Two.
One key principle of sports training is specificity. Specificity means making your training mimic your actual sport as best as possible.
Speed training for football players should prioritize single leg lifts over two-legged lifts is one way to emphasize specificity and make sure your lifting actually makes you faster.
To be clear–athletes CAN get faster using traditional squats and deadlifts. I’m not saying those lifts are bad, or wrong.
Hell, they’re great lifts.
But are they the best lifts for getting faster? No.
Learning how to be strong and explosive with one leg at a time is a better way to get faster than teaching both legs to push together (like in squats and deadlifts).
That’s how you run, that’s how you should lift.
2) Lift light weights fast
If you think all lifting should be super heavy and always go to failure (or close to it), I’m sorry, you’re in the dark ages.
Heavy lifting and lifting to failure both have their place. Specifically, heavy lifting is a great way to improve max strength, and lifting to failure is a great way to get jacked (to induce muscle growth).
But increasing max strength and muscle size don’t necessarily mean increasing speed. Like I said earlier, if that were the case, bodybuilders and powerlifters would be the fastest guys on the planet, but they aren’t.
Max strength is most connected to how fast your first 1-5 steps are. That’s great, but most of us need to be fast beyond 5 steps.
That’s where lifting lighter weights for speed comes into play.
The faster you move the weight, the more explosive you are. Imagine it takes you three seconds to grind through a lift, and a month later it takes you just one second and the weight flies up. That would be excellent progress, and would mean you are now a more powerful, more explosive athlete.
Parts of your training should focus specifically on this type of explosiveness if you want to maximize speed potential.
Yet, most training happens either with heavy weight, or no weight at all. Heavy squats and box jumps.
try putting 50% of your max on the bar and see how fast you can get it moving. Do that for a few weeks, and you’ll be on your way to getting faster.
3) Do your lifts in the right order
Say your workout has a heavy lift, a light lift for speed, and a plyometric like a jump. What order do you do them in?
Yes, it matters. If you do them in the wrong order you won’t be as fast or explosive as you should be and you’ll get worse results.
To get fast, you want 100% out of every single rep of every single set. Not 100% for the first set, then 85% for the next, then 65%…you get the picture.
In general, do the most explosive work first and the heavy stuff last. That usually means lightest to heaviest. For example, body weight jumps first, followed by weighted jumps, and then the heavy lift.
This is how you’ll maximize your lifting to maximize speed gains.
4) Match your sprint workouts to your weight room workouts
The purpose of the weight room is to make very specific changes to your body that will affect very specific parts of your sprinting.
For instance, acceleration (explosive starts) is more reliant on max strength than top speed is, so improving max strength will improve acceleration more so than top speed. Lighter, more explosive work is more connected to top speed than acceleration.
To maximize speed training for football, athletes need to pair weight room work with sprint work. When a lift is geared towards improving acceleration, the sprint work should be acceleration-based, and when the lift is geared towards improving top speed, the sprint workout should be too.
That way we are hammering the same quality in the weight room AND the field.
Lifting to improve acceleration, then acceleration training on the field.
Lifting for max speed, then max speed work on the field.
5) Plan your program well
Properly planning speed training for football players requires understanding how exercise affects the body, what changes you want to make in the body, and being able to write a program that people actually like and are willing to work hard for.
That’s why they say being a strength and conditioning coach is both an art and a science.
We know lineman have different needs than skilled players, but how can we customize training so to make sure the lineman get what they need and the fast guys get what they need?
A poorly planned program is a poor program that won’t get great results. If you’re going to put in the work, you better make sure your program isn’t going to fail you.
What a shame it would be to devote the time and sweat to training, only to not get better because your program was inadequate.
Take the time to chart out what days you can lift, the purpose of each lift, how much recovery you’ll have before the next lift, and once equipped with that knowledge, THEN begin planning the actual lifts.
6) Train the hamstrings eccentrically and the soleus concentrically
Without getting too far into the exercise science weeds, the hamstrings need to be strong eccentrically and the soleus (one of the two calf muscles) needs to be super strong concentrically. If they aren’t, they’re holding you back from reaching your true peak speed.
Nordic hamstring curls is a great eccentric hamstring exercise, and seated calf raises are wondrous for the soleus.
Putting it all together: Speed Training for Football
If you’re feeling overwhelmed–don’t worry. This is a lot of information. Professionals like me spend years studying, learning, and practicing to put together the best programs available.
I hope this article has helped you feel confident about writing a program specifically for speed training for football.
If you’d prefer to simply receive a pre-made speed program designed specifically for football players, I’ve got you covered.
I wrote an 8-week speed training program designed to make athletes faster and more explosive.
After completing this program, skilled position athletes will be stronger and faster. They’ll have better breakaway speed and will be more likely to take it to the house instead of getting caught from behind.
Lineman will be stronger and more explosive out of their stance. They’ll man-handle other lineman easier.
The program involves three workouts per week with at least one rest day between each workout. Monday / Wednesday / Friday training works great.
I recommend completing this program during the offseason, not during the regular season.
If you want to be faster, or just want to see how I’ve applied the principles outlined above into an actual training program, you’ll like the 8-week training program.
Click here to check it out.