Few sports compare to football. Fast, fun and furious are words that best describe this sport. The more that you know about the game, the better your performance will be. Study this article to learn how to be the best player you can be.
Don’t ever step onto the field without your protective gear. Football is a contact sport that can result in serious injuries. If you don’t have your safety gear, don’t play. The potential injuries you risk range from broken bones to outright paralysis. Any of these potential situations could mean you never play football ever again.
To be the best football player possible, weight training is important. Stick to the same regimen for a great game. Heavy weights and basic lifts must be used to gain speed and strength. You must have both skills to become the best player.
Workout Routine
Once you’ve found a workout routine, stick with it. You don’t want to begin a specific workout routine only to alter it the following week. You must begin a routine and work with it several times every week. It requires determination and hard work. Don’t keep giving up a workout only to try again with something different next week.
Endurance is as important to football as strength and speed. To build up your ability to play at a top level for hours, train with a lot of cardiovascular exercises. Some examples of cardio exercises are cycling, running, or climbing stairs. You should actually pick an easy exercise that you can be done for hours to build your stamina.
Working on developing passing routes that succeed. Receivers don’t normally just barrel right down the field. Good receivers should use slants and crossing routes as much as possible. A crossing route happens when the receiver runs full steam ahead and then across the field. A slant route has a diagonal line straight to the ball. Both of these routes normally work better than trying to run the ball down the middle of the field.
There is an art to catching a football as rain pelts down. Point your feet to the ball. This offers you better control when you do catch the ball. Keep your hips and chest over your legs. Place one hand on either side of the ball to the front.
One of the things you should already know is that you need shoulder pads. Ensure that the fit is right before hitting the field. They should also be in great condition. You don’t need to get hit causing them to break when playing since it can injure you more.
If you play a receiver position, than your personal quickness and speed are critical. To keep your speed up, establish a well-defined area to run. Do this by putting 2 cones 10 yards apart. Run at top speed between the two cones and track your time. Then make it a goal to beat your previous time. This kind of sprinting improves takeoff speed.
Be honest about how well you can play football when applying to teams. if you aim too high, you may end up in a league you are not ready for. Conversely, if you play at a lower level, you won’t be able to improve your game.
Are you looking to play football in college? Video yourself. Your video should showcase your accuracy, strength, speed, dexterity and agility. To become a good all around player, you will need to have skills in many different areas.
If you want to be a better quarterback, you need to improve your footwork. Great footwork is essential to great quarterbacking, because each second in the pocket is critical, maximizing the importance of each step you take. Backpedaling and twisting are two moves to practice as much as possible.
Become more agile. You can do this by jumping rope, jumping over objects and running through tires. You can improve your agility this way, and become a better player as well. Always work on your agility at practice and when working out.
It is important to increase your endurance. If you’ve got enough endurance to stand multiple sprints in a row, you’ll be very important to any team. Should you get winded, use breathing exercises to relieve this. Keep in mind that doing so will get you back to normal and in the game again sooner.
Body Fat
A large build is an advantage on the field but you should not increase your body fat. Fat is damaging to your health as you get older, especially once you stop exercising so much. Minimize your body fat, but maximize your muscle mass.
Have fun while you play. If you aren’t having a good time, why play? You need to focus on having fun, not winning or losing. That kind of enjoyment breeds passion.
Never stop trying to improve. Understand what makes each position great so that you can support teammates better. This makes your team stronger and improves your chances for winning.
When performing a tackle you want to ensure that your head is up. You never want the top of the helmet to come into contact with someone else. Experts will refer to this as spearing. Spearing is banned and can injure yourself.
When running down the clock in the game, decline penalties. Doing this in the final two minutes will knock ten seconds from the clock, which gives you a better chance to win. Don’t waste time trying to draw the other team into penalties, it can backfire on you. Let the penalties come without trying to make them.
Now that you have read all you can on the topic, go out and practice what you have learned. Your results will be commensurate with your efforts. Go slowly, include these tips the next time you play football, and soon you will see you attaining your football goals.