The Best Speed and Strength Training Program For Football

What is more important for a football player…. Strength or speed?

Maybe if you’re a skilled position player you’re right away going to say, “SPEED 100%!”

But if you’re a lineman, I’m willing to bet you’d say, “STRENGTH WITHOUT A DOUBT!”

Then which is more important for football players? And why is this such a hot debate among athletes, coaches, and parents? I hear this question, which then turns into a debate, from my athletes in the gym a lot… I even get asked this question by other certified strength and conditioning coaches to get my prospective ALL the time!

First, I want you to think about the game of football and how it’s played. Football is an aerobic-alactic power sport, which means speed, power, and strength are needed all needed during every play. When the play is done, you get to rest for a half a minute, then back at it. Statistically speaking, the average football play is only 5-7 seconds and the average rest in between plays is 30-35 seconds. This means your training in the off-season needs to prepare you to be gameday ready specific to football. So my answer is, and always will be, BOTH speed and strength are important…. that’s if your goal is to reach your fullest athletic potential. But why do I see over and over again with strength and conditioning coaches focusing on one trait over the other?

Let me explain more in detail…

You can maximize your athletic potential through a proper development of both speed and strength training. When performing competitive movements, the ability to produce peak amounts of speed and strength instantly, relates to how well you can move your body in any given direction. In other words, the more speed and strength you can produce will result in you sprinting and reaching your max speed faster, increasing your vertical and explosiveness, and increasing your lateral speed to quickly change direction.

With that being said, at Gridiron, we’re not going to purely speed train skilled position football players. By focusing on increasing your strength as a skilled position player, you will also increase your speed. Same goes for the linemen up front… We’re not going to just train you for strength. You need to remember that by working on your speed, you will increase your rate of force and power, making you stronger and more explosive on the field. Always remember when you’re training for football, there needs to be a balance point when it comes to your speed and strength training.

If you’ve been wanting to get faster, stronger, and improve your overall athleticism, then you have come to the right place. I have the solution for your athletic success. It’s up to you to take it and put in the work with the Speed and Strength Training Program. Please don’t think for a second being able to improve your speed can’t work for you. If you’ve tried over and over again with no results, don’t give up! You need to trust me that we are in this together and I will be with you every step of the way. 

I can’t wait to work with you as a member of Gridiron!