With the COVID pandemic making the entire world suffer, people are left with no choice but to stay at their homes as most of the world is under lockdown. But this does not render you any excuse to skip your training routine. You cannot say that since the gyms and training facilities are shut down hence you cannot follow your workout routine.
There’s no excuse for skipping training in the professional athletic world, and if you wish to establish yourself as a professional American Football player or maintain your status as one, you need to be true to yourself and your training routine.
The work you will put off the field during your off-season days will pay you back on the playing field. So you might not feel the direct benefits of regular training at large, but it always pays you back in one or the other way.
Must have types of equipment at home for a workout, and the purpose they serve:
Resistance training types of equipment:
Resistance training is something you would find in most of the training programs. It primarily works on the speed of the athlete, and in football, speed is something that can take you places.
The following are the resistance training equipment that you can have in your home to aid in your training routine.
- Speed parachutes: this parachute is tied around the waist which uses the resistance of wind while the athlete tries to run. football sleds: they are made of bulky material and are supposed to produce enough friction from the ground to counter your forward run.
- harnesses, and pullers: they are held by your partner or trainer, while you try to run away from them. They can be used to produce variable resistance as per the intensity of the training required. You don’t need to have all of this training equipment, having one of them as per your suitability is fine.
Agility training:
Irrespective of the American Football position you play for, agility is something that you must possess. Swift actions and movements are key to improve your skills. And agility training must be taken regularly otherwise the muscles that are developed when left inactive for quite some time become in-operational.
- Ladders: ladders are effective equipment for speed training, running through the ladder while trying to pick up the pace is a great exercise for your legs. Watch the adjacent video for a detailed understanding of agility training.
- Hurdles: you may call is a traditional training method, but still it is very effective. Trying to dodge the hurdles placed in an enclosed path at the same time maintaining your speed is the motive of hurdle training.
- Cones: place cones a few feets apart from each other in a straight line and run zig-zag through it, this will tend to enhance your agility over time.
Even though rows and lunges do not require any equipment in particular still they are worth mentioning while talking about agility training. They are the best exercises for improving lateral movements and have shown increasingly impressive results in making athletes less prone to injuries.
Strength training:
for a football player, especially of the defensive line, brute strength is of utmost importance. Strength is pivotal when tackling abilities are in contention, in order to overpower the players of other teams you must work on generating muscles in your body.
- Football blocking sleds and tackling shields: these shields are meant to provide you a target to attempt a tackle on, just like in the real game situation where you need to pin your opponent down. You will need an assistant who will hold the tackling shield, or sit on the blocking sleds, while you attempt a tackle or block. This drill will keep you in proximity to game-like situations.
- Tackling rings: this is a piece of rather new-age training equipment, unlike the traditional Football blocking sleds and tackling shields. They are meant to enhance tackling and wrapping up techniques. The major advantage with the usage of tackling rings is that it mitigates the possibility of getting injured. As nobody wants to injure himself and get sidelined from play.
Weight training:
football players tend to do some specific weight training exercises to add bulk and muscles to their bodies. Weight training not only is helpful in adding bulk, but several exercises are directed at improving speed and agility as well.
It is advised to have a weightlifting bar( barbell) and some weights to put on it. As there are several exercises that might just help your case.
Like dead-lifts are extremely helpful in building starting strength. So the players who lack explosive strength and wish to add this skill to their skill base must practice it.
Box dead-lifts work on improving explosive strength at the same time improving endurance and make an athlete last longer. Alternatively sand bags full of weights are a homemade alternative that can be resorted to.
Prowler: it is a piece of cornerstone equipment when it comes to conditioning training in football. Since it is a piece of very specific purpose equipment, you can avoid having it installed at your home.
Equipment for specific positions:
There are some general training equipment and some position-specific equipment which are meant to cater to the needs of a dedicated position in the game.
For ease of understanding: the training requirements of a quarterback will be considerably different from that of a punter or a wide receiver.
- Quarterbacks: he is arguably the main man for the team especially in crunch situations. A profound quarterback is one who has achieved exceptional passing accuracy, even under pressure. This takes a lot of practice and for that throwing nets and target systems are of great help.
- Throwing nets can be set at varying distances, and quarterbacks must attempt throwing the ball into it. This will keep on enhancing his throwing skills.
- Punters should get themselves a set of net systems and screens, which will allow them to practice. In this way, they won’t be required to run after the ball every time.
Have you have drawn some meaningful insights from our article, happy training!