Getting Football Fit
One of the most important things that NFL players have to do is stay in shape and be in peak physical fitness so that their bodies are always ready to take on a game. Most NFL players will do this by hitting the gym, however, the gym is not the only place for NFL players to train, some may do it from home, with home gyms, or others may use more unique techniques.
A vast majority of NFL players will not have a mega home gym, Odell Beckham Jr, does though. His home gym is jam-packed with weights, bench presses, neck stretches, and half an exercise ball too. But not all are so lucky.
Generally, there is a routine for NFL players to help them get fighting fit, and there is a certain regime when a player enters the league to get them up to scratch in their fitness.
The NFL is probably the most popular sport in existence in the USA. Fans and bettors alike love to spend money and time on this sport. You can even spend your money and time finding out about the NFL and betting on it at https://www.fanduel.com/sbk/nfl-picks.
We know, you really want to know how the players stay in such good shape all the time, and you probably want to try out some of their tactics yourself. So, today we have for you some hardcore facts about how NFL players, stay in such utter good shape all the time.
The physicals
The first port of call when it comes to getting NFL fit is the physicals. Before a player starts to play, they must be checked. Teams have to make sure all the players are healthy, and they must all receive and pass an extensive physical exam. These exams even go so far as to include things such as X-rays, MRIs, electrocardiograms and even more to be absolutely certain that these athletes are in absolute peak condition.
All young athletes should start off their seasons by getting a physical from a personal physician. This exam should include evaluation of the lungs, heart, vision, abdomen, musculoskeletal and nervous systems, genitals, blood pressure, and their medical history.
The purpose of this is to simply avoid any catastrophic medical events and determine if they are safe to participate in the sport.
Basic movement screening
Many NFL players will also receive an in-depth analysis of movement in their whole body. This can lead to medical persons prescribing specific corrective exercises to improve their performance.
If you want to try these yourself, there are a couple you can try at home:
- Do 10 pain-free push-ups on your toes (or knees) while maintaining a straight line from your shoulders to ankles, with no arching or sagging in the region of your lower back.
- Do 5 pain-free single leg squats, softly touching your buttocks onto a chair, and then returning to the original singular standing leg position.
These are two great tricks to practice getting yourself into NFL fitness.
Stretching and Dynamics
Stretching is used to gain more range of motion in your muscles, whereas dynamics are done to increase the core temperature of your muscle and prepare the muscles, joints, and nervous system for physical activity.
Before NFL games, you will usually see players stretching and then doing a dynamic warm-up. The main muscles that these athletes will target are their hamstrings and calves, as well as their hip flexors.
Dynamic warm-ups tend to be made up of a series of gradual movement drills that include jogging, high knee running, shuffles, and backpedaling. They may also include movements including changes of direction for a length of up to 15 yards as well.
These two aspects put together help to maximize the performance of the athlete.
Running and Agility Drills
NFL players will prepare for a season with five months of progressive running drills and agility drills. This is why you can often see some of the most exciting athletic feats every Sunday.
For young athletes, running position specific sprints and agility drills, including change of direction running, and others that mimic the specific position requirements that occur during game play are very important.
Why is this? Well, as a reference, a typical NFL game will only actually have a good 11 minutes of live action. It doesn’t sound like a lot but in a single game, a defensive back will on average run a good 1,400 yards broken up into 50 or 80 plays that only last a few seconds!
To achieve this, these drills are also matched to the requirements of the player’s position as well.
Strength Programs
We won’t deny that NFL athletes are some of the most powerful in the world, and this is why everyone wants to know how they get so strong. These players will spend months training their bodies to improve their strength and power to become the ultimate sporting machines.
Developing your leg, hip, core, and upper body muscles is imperative for this sport. And during play season, it is important to know that you can improve your strength and power. This can simply be done via something known as a ‘Wave cycle’ program. It might sound weird and potentially complex but all this really is, is just changing the total rep and sets in a workout as well as the intensity on a weekly, or even a bi-weekly basis.
So, you could do a strength training week of 3 sets with 10 reps, and then the next week do something more intense with four sets of four at 90% of one rep. This could then be followed by what is known as a power phase, doing three or four sets of six reps at 70- 80% of one-rep max.
Doing this will help to slowly train your body. You cannot jump into strength head first, you need to work your way up gently and progressively. NFL athletes know this, and this is why they do it this way.