Defensive players are the most athletic in football. The job of defensive positions in football is pretty straightforward, to hold down the end in the line and not let anyone get outside scrimmage. If you want to succeed at higher levels, you must be able to push the lineman back.
The defensive line works with the linebackers to control the line of scrimmage. They are big, healthy, and quick in their sport. They have to react in a snap and have to be very agile to jam up the offense.
Similarly, if the defensive line in football does its job well, it makes the work of other positions easier. The sport of football is won in the line of scrimmage; if you control the line of scrimmage, you contain the overall mark. If the lineman can disrupt the throw and make the player hesitate to throw the ball, the defensive line has succeeded. They are indeed the first line of defense, although they don’t get credit most of the time. The defensive line is the reason behind holding the line and tiring up the players; it is always the linebacker who gets the acclaim; meanwhile, it is the defensive line doing all the work.
For defensive lineman football positions, they must bring their feet while executing the rip move, which means the rip move should be quick, violent, and performed with active feet. No excuse; move your feet and get there. One of the essential skills of the defensive line is the need for quickness and acceleration. Most of the breakaways in youth football rely on bursts of speed that is gained, which happens in a sudden snap of moment, and for that few seconds of acceleration gained, you have to give hours of practice.
Defensive lineman Footwork drills and workout.
Massage your feet with a lacrosse ball.
Your feet are in socks and shoes most of the time while you are warming up or playing your sport, and muscles, tendons, and ligaments of that part of the body that have been forgotten to care about. In these scenarios massaging with your lacrosse ball will help you activate muscles and avoid cramps and injuries while you are working out.
Lacrosse ball is hard, and they don’t soften with pressure, and because of this, it can be used as a powerful message object which can help you get rid of pains and injuries.
Some benefits of Lacrosse ball massage.
- Increase joint range of motion.
- Decrease fatigue after exercise.
- Help in overall muscle performance.
- Decrease sourness.
Lacrosse ball massage is also a form of self-myofascial release. The fascia, which is the thin sheet of tissue covering all the muscles over the body, is responsible for connecting the muscles in the body, and when this is disrupted, it causes pain or strains.
Tight fascia pulls the body and increases pressure on muscles and joints, resulting in pain. And the primary goal of lacrosse ball massage is to loosen your fascia so that the underlying tissue can move freely.
Hill Sprints.
One exercise that can give you equivalent results even if you cannot work out at gyms is Hill sprints; linear sprints are common among most athletes, but you can make hill sprints if you want to do something different.
Here is the secret for running faster and getting more robust with hill sprints. By using short sprinting sessions, you can strengthen your leg, season your muscles, and connecting tissues.
There are many advantages of hills sprints.
As exercises like squats and lunges build strength in your lower legs, Hill sprints do the same with body movements. Your body weight is enough to reap the advantage of hill sprints, so you don’t need any weights and equipment. No doubt, running hills require many challenges and mental toughness, but many reasons could still result in betterment after such workouts.
- Lower risk of injury.
Yes, you heard that right; while we are talking about exercises before warm-up games or practices, running hills can help you achieve that; while you hill sprint, there is less distance between your foot and the ground, resulting in fewer chances of sprains and pains in your body.
- Endurance booster.
Like any speed work, hills sprints can help in endurance and improve your body’s conditioning.
Upright Rows.
The upright row is an exercise that targets the shoulder when you pull a dumbbell vertically to shoulder height in front of the body.
It is a critical exercise to conditioning because it will work out your arms ultimately, starting from lats to wrists. In the beginning, make sure to warm with little weight to ensure proper form before increasing weight resistance to build and maintain total arm strength.
To perform an upright row, hold a barbell or dumbbell in front of your body, pull the weight vertically to your neck height, and lower the weight.
The upright row is one of the efficient exercises to maintain fundamental strength for workouts football players experience.
Medicine Ball Toss.
The medicine ball toss helps your lower body strength and helps reduce injuries. It trains all necessary triple extensions. Your knees, hips, and ankles will extend to propel you upward, which is essential for many strength and speed-related sports.
This is not just for pros but can be done for anyone even if you are not related to sports, and it pumps your whole body.
The part it hits is Quads, glutes, shoulders, and triceps.
This exercise can be performed anywhere in a room or outdoors, but it is preferred to be done out.
It would be best if you had a wall that can sustain the ball’s power thrown at about 10 to 15 pounds and be a flat surface. Hold 10 to 15 pounds of the ball with your hands and extend your arm towards your waists. Squat down slightly, allowing your trunk to lean forward, then explode the ball with you at most power by extending your knees, hips, and ankles towards the wall, and throw as high as possible.
- Make sure the room is open and spacious.
- And repeat the same process for 4 to 5 sets.
Benefits of medical ball toss.
There are many advantages of a medical ball toss, but here are a few.
- Strengthen buts and thighs
- Strengthen chest and arms
- Cardio strength combo
Six Point Explosion Drill.
A six-point explosive drill helps the defensive lineman stretch its body and attack the offensive lineman in a snap of time; the more attentive you become in this coaching defensive line, the better you perform in the game.
- Motive Behind the Drill: The purpose of the Six-point explosion drill is to teach lineman defense to explosively open their hips on the ball’s snap while simultaneously throwing their hands to gain separation from a blocker drill.
- Set up: Players are positioned in a way where their hands’ knees and toes touch the ground, and they face a dummy wall to attack.
- Procedure to do the Drill: On the whistle of the coach, or the movement of the ball, players are to explode towards the dummy wall by rolling their hips and firing arms to attack the offensive lineman. The player should stretch its body to the limit where it should land in its stomach or chest.
Push-Pull Rip Drill.
- Motive Behind the Drill: The Push-pull drill allows the defender to penetrate the scrimmage line and make the tackle, using push-pull and rip drill.
- Set up: You need two players facing each other, one defensive lineman and another offensive blocker.
- Procedure to do the Drill: While two players face each other, defensive lineman push the player and attack him, making V shape of hands and pulls the blocker using the Push-pull technique. In the Push-Pull method, one hand is used to push and pull it by twisting the player’s body. Then the player uses a rip move by aggressively ripping the inside arm to tackle the blocker, which moves off the balance of the offensive blocker away from the defensive line.
Impact Ball Partner Block.
- Motive Behind the Drill: Defensive line, Impact ball partner block is to have two defensive lineman work cut blocks against each other using the impact ball or Swiss ball.
- Set up: Place two defensive lines approximately 3 yards apart with one impact or Swiss ball between them.
- Procedure to do the Drill: To start the impact ball partner block drill, player one will aggressively roll the ball to player two, who will defeat the cut block before proceeding it back to his partner.
The defensive line should keep a great bender with low hips and low pad level to defeat the cut block; as the player maintains the posture, they will shuffle down the line rolling the ball back and forth to each other. Each player must have their eyes and hands to find the ball accurately to stop its forward charge and defeat the cut block, for coaching defensive lineman, roll the ball very aggressive towards each other, simulating the explosive amount of offensive lineman trying to get to the legs