Speed or Strength? Build Both Skills in Football Training

Like anything in life, football isn’t just one thing. It isn’t a test of strength, or speed, or mental fortitude alone—it’s all things at once. But too many players forget that, setting their sights on building muscle or developing speed without keeping their minds on the big picture. 

In football, it’s not true to say that either speed or strength is everything. Speed and strength are everything.

Success (and Failure) On the Field

A player who’s improving is building weight as they grow stronger, especially players on the offensive and defensive lines. But if they’re not targeting the right muscle groups and keeping themselves light on their feet as they bulk up, they’ll end up heavy and slow on the field. Not easy to knock over, but too easy to outrun.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, a fast player will remain light on their feet, but the second someone catches up with them or cuts them off, they’ll go down in a heartbeat.

Neither of those scenarios is what you want, so we need to keep in mind a good image of what success looks like on the field: a player who has the speed to outrun their opponent, the strength to make explosive and dynamic moves to outmaneuver their opponent, and the balance and power to stay standing when their opponent tries to knock them down.

Building Your Speed

So how do you get stronger and faster? Some of it begins with targeted strength exercises, including resistance training targeting your legs, which should allow you to push against the ground harder and with more control. 

To really train your legs for on-the-field scenarios, though, much of your training should focus on plyometric exercises like squat jumps, power skipping, bounding, and lateral heidens. These workouts are designed to help you build explosive power that helps you accelerate from the line of scrimmage—to get the most out of them, you also might want to take advantage of football training equipment for the field.

In some scenarios during a game, you’ll get the chance to finish accelerating and will have enough time to reach and maintain your full speed—sprint training will help you control your body in that state and make efficient, effective strides in these scenarios.

Lastly, conditioning is essential—training your body to jump into and recover from periods of high intensity without taxing you too much is what’ll allow you to move when you need it.

Building Your Strength

Most offensive linemen, tight ends, and linebackers know they need to prioritize their strength since so much of their job revolves around pushing the next guy over and making space for their teammates to maneuver. 

If you’re looking to build your strength in a way that compliments your speed training, you’ve gotta focus your exercises on your lower body and core, helping you push the ground from underneath you and keep your balance and stability once you’ve really gotten moving.

Looking for more info on how to improve? Check out our other football training tips for quick ways to improve your game. Or, if you want to get in touch with us, we’d love to chat with you about our Strength and Group Training sessions—two great places to get started on the road to optimize your athletic performance.