Thread: most important football muscles

I agree, with only once exception that you need to have strong shoulders in order to not only take the hits, but also to actually transfer power during the blocks.

a combo of all of the above and being very smart and knowing the game and your position in and out

I agree with you on legs and glutes are really important too.

would working out my upper body and not my lower body make me a slower sprinter?

dude

ask your football coach

coordination and inertia management

Originally Posted by eaglesfan!

would working out my upper body and not my lower body make me a slower sprinter?

Probably... why the fuck aren't you working out your legs anyhow?

Upper body strength is what seperates the fastest sprinters. Obviously your legs and hamstrings / glutes play a huge roll but not in size and strength but in flexibility. Hamstring flexibility and abdominal strength is where it begins. Your upper body plays the major roll once your in motion but when your speaking about football, sprinters speed is usually only useful to a 1 wideout used to stretch the field because every where else is dependent upon explosiveness and burst of strength created by training fast twitch muscles. Most sprinters don't reach max speed until after the first 20-30 yards but the most explosive football players can go from stand still to max speed in a very short amount of time running backs for example should be able to hit max speed inside of 6-7 yards but rarely go untouched or without change of direction, d-line and o-line become explosive right out of their stance and hand speed and strength immediately follow.

If your training for football work on fast twitch muscle's and flexibility utilizing your multijoint power movements. Google mark Rippitoe. Theres my two cents, later.

Squats and Deads for football players - Both hit core. Definitely the most important lifts in my opinion.

thanks, will planks good for getting a strong core?

when people say you need to be more flexible in order to sprint fat, what stretches are they talking about. static toe touches or dynamic high knees? what stretches will contribute to running faster? thanks

Originally Posted by eaglesfan!

would working out my upper body and not my lower body make me a slower sprinter?

resistance training does not cause a decrease in speed, that's an old myth that refuses to die. in terms of sport electrical stimulus from the brain through the CNS causes voluntary muscles to fire. the greater the amount of muscle firing in unison the greater the overall response, there is an increase in speed and strength.

in terms of athletic sports performance in sports you generally see a decrease in performance by those that put on a lot of weight/muscle in a relatively short time frame. slow and steady increases in strength and muscle mass is what the performance athlete desires.

increases in strength in the gym does not carry over into increased performance in sports. you have to perform sport specific exercises that mimic those used in sport. this is were training specifity comes into play.

* from my own personal experiences

I ran a 10.4M 100 at 17 and 180 lbs
I ran a 10.2M 100 at 20 at 210 lbs

I was jumping 24ft at 17 170 and 180 lbs
I was jumping 26ft at 19 and 210 lbs

good point

what advice has your football coach given you?

he says just bench.deadlift,and squat and it'll make you a better football player. thats it haha