Football + Building Muscle Mass

Football is mainly cardio, which will help you lose fat, not muscle. In my routine i will do swimming in the morning and bodybuilding in the evening. You can do both of them without interacting + football will help you get stronger legs. About the nutrition, have a strict bodybuilding one but IMO you could add 100 - 200 more calories because football is really chalenging and you might need more energy. Good luck !

i am 15 living in america
i am in my second year of highschool football with ridiculous coaches
right now we are in the off season so we, my team and i, are all doing five workouts a week, three weight and two cardio/running (alternating week days)
also i stay late to lift three more times a week
bear in mind we do use proper form (taught to us by our strength coach) and we do sets of eight or ten reps three or four times
is this healthy for me
and what and how often should i be eating to fuel my body for this
thank you

You might want to get a copy of jim wendler's 5/3/1 for football because it's designed to help your football performance. :3

Deadlift and Squats

In a recent article on ESPN, they quoted my coaching partner Derek Hansen on our new sitewww.strengthpowerspeed.co m

Olympic-style lifting program with the University of Florida Gators Football.

"Total body movement, so when you pair [Olympic lifting] exercises, you’re going to get a complete, total athlete.  Not only are they going to be strong, they’re going to be fast and explosive."


Proper technique is a must, Gadeken said, but once lifters perfect the technique, they can progress into heavier weights and the result is explosive power and better conditioning.

That’s a perfect match for football. Most plays last between four and seven seconds, and players, especially linemen, must be quick and strong off the ball.

According to an article written for StrengthPowerSpeed.com by Derek M. Hansen, Olympic weightlifting movements are done quickly with heavier weight and require significant coordination and muscle control. That helps athletes with such quick movements as sprinting, jumping or firing off the line of scrimmage.

Hansen also wrote that Olympic lifting results in a strong core and better coordination and balance.

"Olympic lifters are some of the most powerful, explosive lifters on the planet," Gadeken said. "They’re able to lift a lot of weight, and they’re able to do it quickly and explosively. That mimics football."


"It’s rough to do a set of five or four power cleans or snatches," Gadeken said. "That’s very, very taxing on the body. It’s hard to do. It’s mentally challenging. It’s going to get your guys mentally stronger because they completed the workout."

I play football with very serious coaches and what I can say is that if football is your main priority than your weight lifting should consist of explosive movements that replicate your movements on the field. Power clean is a very good one because in every position you will need to use your hips, but since I'm a lineman I drag a tractor tire to replicate me blocking someone. To sum it up your weight lifting should mimic your football position's movement.