Testing and Exercise Prescription for College Football Players

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Introduction

The sport of football is an anaerobic sport, which means the players heavily rely on The ATP-PC cycle for energy because the average football play lasts less than 10 seconds. Along with the short duration of play length there is typically long recover time. To be exact, each play lasts on average, 5.6 +/- 2.0 seconds with a work rest ratio of one to six (Rhea, Hunter & Hunter, 2006). The athletes that play football train to gain and maintain power, strength, hypertrophy, speed, and agility. Some of these attributes are more important than others depending on the position that the player plays. For example, defensive backs rely heavily on speed, vertical power and agility and less on strength and hypertrophy. On the other hand, offensive linemen rely heavily on strength and hypertrophy and less on speed. According to a study that analyzed positional physical characteristics of players drafted in to NFL, “lineman positions performed inferiorly in sprint, jump, and change of direction ability measures and superiorly in the upper body strength measures” (Daniel, 2011). It also states, “Defensive back positions were the worst performers in the upper body strength test” (Daniel, 2011). Furthermore, football athletes have to train to prepare for the movements of their sport instead of training individual muscles like body builders. Body builders train for the physical gratification whereas football players have to train to prepare for constant change of pace, direction, and impact. One of the ways that strength and conditioning coaches get a baseline to track the progress of the athletes is through testing. We had the opportunity to work and collect data from the football team here at Florida International University. Our...

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