Quarterback Football Player
Quarterback is the most prominent position in a college football team. People envy and admire the players who play in these positions, and the players feature in different television football commercials. Apart from fame and popularity, it is one of the most demanding positions. It demands speed, strength, flexibility, endurance, plyometrics, and most importantly, mental capability. Being a quarterback means spending days before a game studying the opponents’ gameplay, hours of organizing with the coaches and the teammates, and analyzing the opponent team’s weaknesses. A lot of practice is incorporated all through a training year to build an outstanding quarterback. Physical body training uses well-chosen and proven exercises to build body muscles. An American football player is required to be healthy and very strong to tackle their opponents efficiently. This strength calls for a consistent and intelligent workout strategy to cover all body parts. Coaches and assistant coaches should work hand in hand with the player to ensure proper training.
As other football players, a quarterback has five seasons in a football year. Every season is equally important, and various strategies are implemented in each differently to suit them. The off-season is the first in the calendar, it is the season immediately after the previous one. Pre-season follows the off-season, where the season is almost to commence. The early season is the third phase when the season has already begun but is in its early stages. The competitive season marks the second last phase when the season peaks. The postseason is when competitions end and the best teams compete against each other to win the championship title. The five seasons differ, and custom strategies are incorporated to fit each season’s requirements.
A quarterback’s performance affects the overall performance of the whole team. They should be fast, coordinated, have stamina, arm strength, and accuracy. The type of exercise a quarterback does, the intensity, the number of times they do them, the number of breaks between the exercises, and the duration of the practices are monitored when training a quarterback. Weight training exercises involving lifting weights are push-ups, pull-ups, chest press, deadlift, squats, and shoulder press. Plyometrics reinforces the muscles that have already been built and gives them power. The player incorporates speed and force through jumping, skipping the rope, and burpees to achieve plyometrics. Endurance exercises like running and walking will assist the quarterback in increasing and controlling their breathing and heartbeat. Flexibility exercises like forwarding lunges and side lunges will stretch the quarterback’s muscles.
I have recommended all the training requirements for a quarterback football player for a whole year in the article below. The report clearly states all the exercises which are split up according to the five football seasons: off-season, pre-season, early season, competitive season, and the postseason. The article addresses the specific exercises that the player should take and the duration, the number of sets, the reps, and the rest intervals. Every season has sub-seasons, with different exercises to easily track and assess the player’s progress. Various activities to build muscles, strength, agility, and quarterback speed are discussed to bring out the best version in highly competitive matches.
Off-season
Weight training exercises, plyometrics, endurance, and flexibility are crucial for a quarterback during the offseason. The player needs to build muscles at a slow but steady rate, increase agility, and increase speed. The duration of the off-season lasts from four to six weeks which should be divided into two. The player should have rigorous training at the first phase and then proceed to the second face with moderate activity for recovery. The player should work out two to three days a week at a rate of four sets per activity (Jagim et al.). The repetitions for each exercise should be ten to fifteen, with a rest of 30 to 60 seconds between every set.
All the exercises that a quarterback will do on each training day should be equal in the reps and the sets. The quarterback should do five weight training exercises on each training day. The barbell squat should be done with weights that are not too heavy for the player. The dumbbell bicep arm curls and the bicep incline bench press should be done simultaneously. The player should then do a reverse crunch and seated cable row and finish the weight training exercises.
Plyometrics and endurance training should follow immediately after weight training exercises. It is where the strength is built, and for the six weeks, single-leg jumps, jump squats, lateral hops, and clap push-ups are done each training day. Endurance training follows immediately and starts with more challenging props – the plank and bodyweight planks. Running and jogging should be included as a warm-up for the player. The final exercise should be flexibility training which should be only two amongst cross-over, side lunges, and seat stretch as the player will be tired. The importance of these exercises is to strengthen muscles and ensure a good cardio status of the quarterback.
Upon completion of this program, the player will have met most of the crucial objectives. The quarterback will be strong enough and will have gained so much confidence in the game. To assess the training impact, the coach will organize or fix a match for the player and see the weaknesses. The coach should do these evaluations towards the end of a season to prepare for the next season’s focus areas.
Sample week’s program.
Pre-season
This part means that the period when the season is very near from commencing. It is a period when the player should be fully committed, and the coach should study the quarterback very closely. The pre-season was shortened, going for around three weeks to allow for the 17th game (Jagim et al.). The player should work out for four days a week and extensively with three to five sets per workout of seventeen reps. The rest between the reps will be a little prolonged because the activities will be a little intense. The player can cool down during rests, and additional monitored hydration should be checked for cooling down. The player should take at least eight glasses of water in a training session.
The player should do a barbell bench press with different sizes of weights in ascending order. A military overhead press while standing to impact more muscles should also be done. The final two workouts for muscle building should be the barbell and the cable lat pulldown, which are excellent exercises for building ar muscles. Anaerobic exercises will be crucial at this stage to improve the speed and agility of the quarterback. For the anaerobic, four workouts will be added to the plyometrics and the endurance. They are the sprint ladder, four quarters, tempo runs, and sprint-stride intervals. After these rigorous exercises, plyometrics and endurance will only be two exercises each. Tuck jumps and burpees for plyometrics, walking, and skipping the rope for endurance.
All the training will mark the completion of the pre-season session. The coach will gauge the player through mock matches only that this time, the mistakes will be corrected instantly. The end of pre-season will be a significant accomplishment in the quarterback’s player’s yearly football journey. The quarterback should be solid and confident and even start to get recognized. Everything that has been taught should be easily implementable, and at this stage, they should have the ability to control and even direct fellow players.
Sample week’s program.
Early Season
During this time of the year, the season has already commenced, but it is early. It is time that implementation is so much needed in the game. Competition has begun, and the quarterback starts getting the pressure to do better than the other season. The early season is the time where teamwork is required the most (Jagim et al.). The coach should give the quarterback a chance to practice with the team members and monitor the progress closely.
During this phase, it is more about enhancing all done in the off and the pre seasons. The workouts should concentrate on weight training, flexibility training, and plyometrics endurance. All the exercises during the pre-season should be done here too, but the number should be reduced, and the speed of doing them should be increased. For the goal to be achieved, the number of reps should be reduced to ten, while the number of rests between reiterations should be reduced to ten seconds in order o achieve speed. The hiatus between every set should be until the player recovers to do the following exercise with rate. This season should last for a maximum of four weeks, and the player will exercise for five days, so there is no need to subdivide it for training purposes.
The player should only do three exercises for muscle building; the barbell hung, barbell push press, and the power snatch. Anaerobic is crucial in this stage, and so the coach should ensure the player does the sprint ladder, four quarters, tempo runs, and sprint-stride intervals. The player should perform three exercises for the plyometrics like the tuck jumps, burpees, and box jumps. In finishing the exercises, flexibility should be observed, not only to train blindly but also to record the quarterback’s weaknesses. Flexibility exercises should mainly focus on the seat stretch and knees to the chest.
Most of the evaluation is done by evaluating the performance in matches played by the quarterback. Every goal of a quarterback unfolds in this stage as they shine their way up in the field. Every bit of training they have done manifests itself through agility, strength, skill, and speed in execution. The player should not have any problem with the aerobics or have trouble with the breathing patterns. The coach should now be confident enough that the player is great for the task.
Sample week’s program.
Competitive Season
During the competitive season, the games are so many, so the quarterback has no time for much training. The player does not need to do strenuous work lest they become too overworked and perform poorly. There is so much running and playing in the field that it almost substitutes gym time (Jagim et al.). On game days, the player should avoid working out at all. When there are no games, the player should decide to work out in the morning and rest in the evening or vice versa.
The exercises on this phase should be very light, and the coach should let the player choose what activities they want to do the most. The coach should be strict and even lock up the gym to give the player enough resting time. Rest is therapeutic, and it increases the productivity of players during match times. The only exercise that should concern the coach is good warming up before a game which should be jogging and not as rigorous. The coach should assess the progress with the games that the quarterback is playing. Here is the time for the player to achieve all that they have been working to attain.
Postseason
Finally, the player has reached the end of the season, and they have most probably won with a good strategy. There is a time when there is very little tension because there are no games except for the few championship games. The postseason is the only time that the coach and the player should meet outside the field for a cup of coffee. The player should only make sure that they stay fit by doing cardio and small exercises to keep healthy.
Work Cited
Jagim, Andrew R. et al. “Relationship between Training Load and Recovery in Collegiate American Football Players during Pre-Season Training.” Science and Medicine in Football 5.4 (2021): 330–338. Print.