football training ping
Running on ground is better than running on a treadmill. If you want an angle, run uphill.
Running barefoot on grass is better than running in running shoes on pavement.
Running in flat, low heeled running shoes is better than running in big-healed, heavily padded, motion control running shoes.
Check out Gordon Pirie’s free online book, Running Fast and Injury Free. http://www.gordonpirie.com/
Very interesting stuff about the biomechanics of running, shoe design and the causes of running injury. The guy was a middle distance runner, but if you watch sprinters in slow mo, they run on the forefoot, as advocated and practiced to great success by Gordon Pirie.
I’d be interested in some information as well?
Freepers seem to know everything.
Have him do what Earl Campbell did when he was growing up. Find him a nice, soft sand hill about 100 feet tall and have him run up and down it 100 times a day until he graduates high school. That was how Earl got 34” thighs!!
But then again, Earl Campbell is in a wheelchair now, so.....
Treadmills are for fat people at the YMCA.
Do both. Spend most of the time working on flat ground, but incorporate the inclined treadmill in 1-2 times a week.
Also, do 1-2 sets of squats a week, and do farklek runs to build endurance.
But rememeber, your son is still too young to be over doing it. Just make it fun for him now, and encourage him to start working extremely hard once he is ~16 years old.
The best thing he can do at his age is just go outside and play. ;)
Acceleration training -
http://www.athleticrepublic.com/cms/index.php?option=com_geolocate&Itemid=94&state=
Great amount of success and a lot of our local college athletes do the program during the summer.
Go Huskers!
There is little point in either at this stage. I don’t know the first thing about football, but as a former ASEP certified karate coach, I understand physiology and juvenile sports pedagogy well. Until boys have gone through puberty there is little to be gained from overly strenuous exercise, since their young bodies lack the complete skeletal formation to support more muscle and the hormones necessary to build upon existing muscle mass even if the skeleton could handle it. In essence, all that work does nothing beneficial for a child, but can cause harm. It’s a no brainer.
Moderate exercise is more beneficial to children than strenuous exercise. Wait until he’s closing in on 15, or his pediatrician says that he’s reached stage 5 on the Tanner development scale. Then he’ll actually benefit from speed drills, weight training, plyometrics etc etc.