Complete Conditioning for Football: Part 2

By Michael J. Arthur & Bryan Bailey

Thanks to an agreement with Human Kinetics, NFLHS.com is able to provide our visitors with excerpts from the book "Complete Conditioning for Football."

During the past three decades the University of Nebraska football program has set the pace for successful conditioning. Now, two members of the Cornhuskers' strength and conditioning staff present the same program used by Nebraska to power its way to national championships.

The book includes 98 proven position-specific exercises that help players at all levels improve speed, agility, power, and endurance. The guide covers basic training principles of adaptation, specificity, overload, and periodization. It also lists which drills are beneficial for some players but not for others, and includes guidelines for proper rest and balanced nutrition.

Principles of Conditioning

Regardless of your natural speed and strength, you can become better through a good conditioning program. Adam Treu is an example of a player who made such tremendous physical progress that he was drafted in the fourth round of the 1997 NFL draft. He came to Nebraska as a walk-on offensive lineman in 1992. He weighted 248 pounds, ran a 5.49 40-yard dash and had a 22.5-inch vertical jump. With consistent effort using our strength and conditioning program, he made tremendous improvement. During his last year he weighed 305 pounds, ran a 5.10 40-yard dash and had a 26.5 vertical jump. This type of progress is possible for anyone with the desire to become the best he can be.

In the past we frequently heard coaches complain about certain players "playing tight" and needing more stretching, so we focused on stretching these players until they developed good flexibility. But the coaches later came back to us to say that the player was still playing tight. This caused us to take a closer look at what we were doing with our stretching program. We learned that what these players were lacking was mobility. We were using primarily static stretches, but these were not functional for football players' dynamic activities on the field. So we started doing "mobility drills," or functional stretching that takes the joints of the body through full ranges of motion while doing functional, football-specific movements. These drills have proven successful in our program, and best of all, we don't hear much complaining from the coaches about players being tight anymore.

The basis of any football conditioning program is lifting weights, which includes barbells, dumbells, and exercise machines in the weight room. The purpose of lifting for football is not to look like a bodybuilder or to become brute strong like a power lifter, but to train your muscles to become more powerful and improve your speed to become a better football player. We call this type of lifting strength training.

Players who strength train also tend to have fewer injuries. Strength training strengthens the muscle attachments and increases density of bones at the sites of muscle origins and insertions. If an injury does occur to a player who has been conditioning with proper strength training, it will probably not be as serious and will tend to heal faster.

A football running program should be developed in accordance with the demands of a football game. The running program should develop football-specific endurance using football-related skills. Endurance as related to football is the ability to sustain maximum speed, agility and power on each play for an entire game.

While endurance can be limited due to either a neuromuscular or cardiovascular factor, the limiting factor of endurance for football is neuromuscular fatigue rather than cardiovascular failure. Therefore, building an aerobic base is not necessary for football endurance. Furthermore, scientific research shows that long, slow distance running causes and athlete's muscles to take on aerobic characteristics. This effect may be desirable for a long-distance runner, but it is counterproductive to developing the explosive, powerful muscle contractions needed for football.

Having enough energy to work out and practice is a primary concern of any athlete who wants to become a better player. Usually a decrease in performance can be traced to improper nutrition; what you eat determines how you supply energy to the body before workouts and practices. Likewise, to speed up recovery after your workout or practice you need to replenish the nutrients you have utilized.

Any athlete who does not get enough rest is only fooling himself. Rest is on a par with working out and diet in developing your maximum performance potential. The body cannot recover between workouts without enough rest. Eventually, not getting enough rest leads to overtraining and injuries. Getting enough rest should be high on your priority list, especially during periods of physical and mental stress.

The primary context of rest as it relates to conditioning is regular sleep. There are two primary principles of sleep: to sleep eight hours a day during times of hard conditioning and to wake up and go to bed the same time each day.

Find more information about the book Complete Conditioning for Football by clicking here.

Mike J. Arthur, C.S.C.S., is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable strength coaches in the nation. He joined the University of Nebraska staff as an assistant strength and conditioning coach in 1976. In 1994 he was named assistant director of athletic performance at Nebraska. During his tenure at Nebraska, the university has produced many advances in the strength programs used by athletes throughout the nation. His research helps Nebraska stay on the cutting edge of football conditioning. In 1995 Arthur was named National Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year by the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Society.

An AAU wrestling champion at 123 pounds for Nebraska in 1970, Arthur was a collegiate and junior national powerlifting champion in the 132-pound weight class in 1977. A ten-time Nebraska powerlifting champion, he set a world record with a 540.25-pound dead lift in the 132-pound class.

He and his wife Reena have two daughters, Tara and Rachel, and a son, John.

Bryan L. Bailey, C.S.C.S., specializes in reconditioning athletes. He has served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach on the University of Nebraska staff since 1987. Nationally recognized for his innovative training methods for reconditioning, Bryan works with doctors and trainers to modify injured athletes' strength and conditioning programs.

Bryan received a B.S. degree in exercise physiology from the University of Nebraska and an M.S. degree in exercise science from the United States Sports Academy.