Regardless of the level of football for which you are preparing, most any football workout will consist of two major components - building strength and power, and increasing the body's stamina and its ability to recover from exertion. The intensity of the workout will vary at different points in the season.

Conditioning and endurance training for example, will plat a bigger role during the pre-season than during the post-season, it is important to incorporate all three components in order to create an effective football workout. A standard football workout that takes advantage of all aspects of training and working-out typically consists of a weightlifting component and a conditioning component.

Getting Bigger - The Schedule

If you haven't guessed by now, the essence of getting bigger is weightlifting. Like general weightlifting, weightlifting that is done as a part of a football program should not be done on consecutive days - although sometimes scheduling of games has a lot to do with when lifting can be done.

Generally speaking, individuals participating in a football workout should lift weights Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday if games are played on Friday. Teams that play games on Saturday can lift weights on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, or on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The best flexibility is available to teams that play games on Sunday, since they can lift weights on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - allowing time to rest in between. Truthfully, the number of days that an individual in a football program will lift weights is up to the individual himself, as well as the coach, and the overall weightlifting philosophy of the program.

Getting Stronger - Conditioning Workouts

Being in physical shape (good condition) is another key to success on the football field. If you can't run at least 20 yards without getting winded, you're probably not in very good physical condition. To train your body for the rigors of football, there are three things you can do.

First, a good distance run once or twice a week is a good way to build up your endurance. By running a mile or so once or twice a week will work miracles for you in the fourth quarter when everyone else is looking to get subbed out of the game.

Second, do your share of plyometrics. Plyometrics may sound scary, but for a football player, they represent an effective way of achieving a full-body workout.

Many of the exercises loosely resemble some of the movements and motions that an individual may encounter over the course of a football game. Consider doing plyometric exercises at least once a week, in place of a distance run.

No football workout is complete without the thirds conditioning component - sprints. Football is essentially a series of 10-20 yards sprints, in different directions, repeated several times over the course of a game. Depending on how much playing time an individual receives during a given game he can theoretically do 50-100 sprints in one game.

The best way to train for a football game is to do short sprints (10-30 yards in length). A player will rarely sprint more than 10-20 yards during a given play, so sprinting longer distances does not really simulate game situations.

In addition to the short sprints, the key to good sprint training is the amount of time the individual is allowed to rest. In most cases, coaches or players disregard the amount of rest time that they give or are given.

To get the most out of a sprint workout, allow yourself to rest for a period of 3-5 times the amount of time that it took to complete the sprint (i.e. if it takes 10 seconds to sprint 20 yards, you should rest for about 30-50 seconds).

This is intended to mimic the amount of time that person will usually have to recover after any given football play. Generally, the shorter the sprint, the shorter the rest a person is allowed. Over time, the amount of rest is reduced until players are able to recover very quickly after a sprint.