7 Training moves to Complement your Football Pre-season
It’s that time of the year again. Football pre-season is upon us, so what can we do to complement our training to optimise power and speed on the field? Undoubtedly your pre-season training will consist primarily of aerobic training and ball work, however, power development is often overlooked at the local level.
Building power in the athlete is beneficial on many levels. Increasing power will allow you to jump higher, kick further, break tackles and burst through packs.
Power is defined as strength multiplied by speed. Heavy compound exercises followed by explosive movements have been demonstrated to improve power and performance in athletes of various sports.
Exercises need to be transferable to the game and requirements of AFL. Developing power within relevant movement patterns is essential for game day performance.
At this stage of training, it is desirable to build a solid strength base for future training. The focus will be on strength and speed in order to develop power.
The Science of the Squat
The squat has long been held as a mainstay exercise in programming for a wide range of athletes and gym-goers. From bodybuilders to powerlifters to sprinters to golfers and everyone in between, the weighted squat remains the ultimate exercise in lower body strength and power and a key to high-level athletic performance. But what makes the squat so effective? What are the factors that lead to such obvious physiological improvements?