All football coaches know and believe in the importance of conditioning. Vince Lomardi’s classic axiom, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all” is just as true today as it was 50 years ago when he coined the phrase. At the same time, coaches (and athletes) are always strapped for practice time, both in-season and off-season. Just “straight running ” for football conditioning (such as “wind sprints“) might be good, but probably is lacking in the area of creativity and efficiency. Today I am sharing my favorite sport specific (football) conditioning drill called “Pattern Runs” that allow you to “kill two birds with one stone” combining football drills and conditioning.
This “Pattern Run” conditioning workout is designed to help you improve your conditioning for football by performing different movements specific to the position you play. The Pattern Run workout was developed by strength coaches in the NFL, primarily Russ Ball (then of the Kansas City Chiefs now with the Green Bay Packers). While at the University of Central Missouri, our staff received permission from Coach Ball to use it with our players (Coach Ball is a graduate of the University of Central Missouri) and when members of our staff moved to William Jewell College, we used this workout, and had excellent results, with our players there, too.
There are different patterns for each football position group. A description of the workout, as well as diagrams (including target times and distances) for each position can be downloaded at this link: Pattern Run Workout
Keep in mind that the target times are for college athletes, and the pattern terminology is what we used at the University of Central Missouri and William Jewell College. This workout could easily be adapted using your terminology and a adjusting the times to the targeted fitness level of your players.
If you have any questions about this workout, or anything else I have shared, leave a comment or email.
Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!
Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com
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