4 Corners

This is a drill we do every conditioning/practice session.

Line 4 cones up 10 X 10 to make a 40 yard square foot area. Start at the first drill with the back-pedal then when reaching the second cone you go into the Karioke drill. At the third cone you shuffle your feet never crossing over one another and pushing your hands outward in a full shoving motion, and at the last cone your players go into a full sprint.

This drill can be repeated at least 3 times to get the full benefits of its purpose. Always check for good form on back pedal, and full hustle on sprint.

40, 60, 80, 100'S

We run this drill once a week, usually on Wednesday. We call it: 40, 60, 80, 100's. Very simple.

Place your team in 2 groups at one goal line. Place 1 or more coaches 40 yards away. On the goal line coach signals or gives movement, the first group sprints 40 yards. While they rest the 2nd group sprints 40 yards. Repeat this 6 times. Coaches on the 40 yard line back up 20 yards. Repeat same drill 4 times as each group sprints 4-60 yard sprints. Coaches on 60 yard line back up 20 more yards. Groups sprint 2-80 yard sprints. Coaches back up to other goal line. Groups sprint 1-100 yard sprint.

Box Drill

For conditioning, put down four cones in the shape of a square, 20 yards apart. Split the team into 5 groups of as close to equal numbers as possible. Put one group at each cone lined up abreast outside of the square facing the next cone (going counterclockwise). Put the fifth group in the middle.

To begin, every group at a cone gets down in push-up position. Now, as the coach, point to any cone. The group in the middle sprints to that cone. When the last person gets there, the group originally occupying that cone rises and sprints to the next cone in a counterclockwise direction. The arriving group (originally from the middle) immediately gets into push-up position.

One rep is completed once the first group has gone around the square twice. As the first group is running to the last cone, blow the whistle for them to come to the middle. Rest and repeat as many times as necessary.

Dot Drill

The purpose of the Dot Drill is to develop quicker feet. The 5 dots will take the shape of the five dots on a set of dice. Each of the five dots should be one yard apart. The pattern can easily be painted in the grass with regular field paint.

Variation 1

The player will start with one foot on each of the #1 dots. At the sound of your whistle, the player is to jump and land with both feet on the #2 dot. Next, the player is to jump out to put each foot on one of the #3 dots. The player will then hop backwards to the #2 dot, and finally back to the starting position. This drill should last for 30 seconds, and the focus should be on quick feet and constant movement.

Variation 2

The player will start with one foot on one of the #1 dots and then proceed to hop in a figure 8 pattern. This should last for 15 seconds per leg. Try having the player face one direction throughout the entire figure 8, and then try the drill having the player face in the direction of their next hop.

Variation 3

The third variation of the Dot Drill is similar to drill 1, but after the player has landed on the #3 dots he or she will jump and twist performing a 180 and start forward in the other direction. This drill should last for 30 seconds.

Keep stats on your players (how many reps per minute) progress and see how they improve over time.

Indian Runs

Depending on the size of your team, line the players up either in one or two straigt lines. Begin jogging around the perimeter of the football field, or from goal post to goal post. Increase the difficulty of an otherwise ordinary jog, by having the person at the back of the line sprint to the front at the coaches whistle. When that player reaches the front of the line, they then slow down to the jogging pace, and another coaches whistle signals the next player to run from back to front.

Try this for about 12 minutes and then increase as necessary. It's a gut buster!

Jump Squat Routine

This is a low impact routine that really helps to develop the hip flexors. Remember, the hip flexors are a key muscle group in the development of the explosion that ALL athletes need to excel in their sport.

The routine consists of five quick parallel squats (traditional technique), followed by five box squats and finished off with five reps on the Super cat. Some schools may have different machines that serve the same purpose. I have also seen this machine also called a Leaper and a Sky Hawk. The key is to move from one exercise to the next, quickly and with little rest in between.

After the five parallels you should only rack the weight long enough to change weight for the box squats and get the squat stool in position. After the box squats, you should rack the weight and move immediately to the super cat. On each lift, be quick and explosive. Use about 50 -60% of your max for the parallels and try to explode up. Your feet may actually come off the floor a little. The same is true for the box squats. On the super cat, again, use a moderate amount of weight. Your feet should come completely off the floor as you explode up. I recommmend doing this routine once per week and going through it twice on the day you use it.

Linemen Conditioning

Overspeed

All you need for this is a steep decline, most conveniently, a hill. Begin the overspeed drill at the top of the hill. When ready, run down the hill as fast as possible but being careful not to run out of control. What this will do is get your legs adjusted to running faster than you normally would on a flat surface. This will help increase your pick up speed. Again, be very careful not to get caught running out of control. With that much speed, a fall down a hill could be quite painful.

Four Corners

One of the oldest and best drills for conditioning. I like to place my cones about 10 yards apart to form a square, and then perform conditioning from cone to cone. Try using this combination and then create your own:

• The first 10 is a sprint
• The second 10 is a sideways shuffle
• Then Backwards sprint
• And finish with a bear crawl

I suggest 3-5 one way then turn around and go the opposite direction. Other exercises to incorporate can be "high knees," "butt kicks," "karaokes," or simple two feet hops.

Michigan State

Set up two coaches, 40 yards apart, and line up your players along the line of one of the coaches. All the players should begin this conditioning drill by getting on their knees, with their feet underneath them, in preparation for squat jumps. The drill involves doing a number of different motions, following by a sprint to the other coach. Feel free to vary the number of sprints and the number and type of exercises.

Execution

1. On the coach's signal, the players are to rock back onto their heels and do 10 squat jumps.
2. Immediately following their squat jumps, the players sprint to the other coach where they will do 10 sit-ups upon crossing the line he represents.
3. After their ten sit-ups, the players then sprint back to the other coach for 10 up-downs or burpees.
4. Sprint followed by 10 push-ups.
5. Sprint followed by 10 mountain climbers.
6. Sprint followed by 10 heel touches.
7. Sprint followed by 10 jumping jacks
8. Sprint followed by 10 push-ups
9. Sprint one forty-yard dash to finish the drill.

On this conditioning drill, the players can either count for themselves or you can have them all do it as a team. I use this type of conditioning to get the players in shape for the season and for disciplinary reasons. Remember to start at a reasonable level and continue to add reps as the players get into shape.

NU

To begin, split the team up into 2 groups. Instruct each group to go to opposite end zones and line up on the front goal line. In other words the two teams are facing each other, separated by the entire football field, and standing in opposite corners.

Next, using a whistle or a yell, signal the players to take off on a sprint down the sideline to the other end zone, so that the groups have now switched sides. Once the groups complete their 100-yard sprint, instruct them to walk the end zone line to the other side of the field. The pace should be a fast walk, and each group should prepare immediately for the next whistle or yell signaling their go. I have my players do four of these laps, and then line up across a line for two 70 yard sprints in similar fashion… then two 50's, two 40's, two 20's and two to four 10's (used for quickness in getting off the ball, we usually let the players walk the ten yards back).

I believe this type of sprint conditioning is good for in-season practices; staying in shape for the game and building your wind.

P.T.

• Break the team up into four groups
• Have one group with a coach at each corner of the football field
• On the whistle, two groups diagonal from one another will begin doing push-ups, while the other two groups sprint around the field
• Once each of the sprint groups arrive back to their original corner, they begin doing push-ups while the other two groups run

After one rep of this, you can add sit-ups, grass drills or any other exercise.

NOTE: Do not start the other groups running until ALL groups are back. Be sure to increase or add exercises only as the players become better conditioned.

Terrible 20'S

After a poor game performance or for disciplinary reasons, I will have our team perform the following:

Split your team into 2 groups and place each group on a separate goal line. Group A does 20 push-ups, on their coaches count, then sprints 100 yards to the other goal line. Meanwhile, at the same time, the other group, Group B, is doing 20 sit-ups, on their coaches count, and sprints 100 yards. Group A will do 19 sit-ups and sprint 100 yards as Group B does 19 push-ups and sprints 100 yards. Each group will work their way down to zero, alternating push-ups and sit-ups with 100 yard sprints in between. This is a gut buster.

Kids don't like to do this one. We usually do this on Monday's if at all.