Athletes from all sorts of different sports show us their jaw-dropping abilities on the field, on the court, in the pool, on the ice, etc. However, just because their athleticism is at the top doesn’t necessarily mean that their workouts are super crazy. Sure, they all have workouts that you and I can’t do because we aren’t the athletes like they are but we can still learn from some of their workouts because working out doesn’t have to be complicated (even for a top athlete). Today we are pulling inspiration from football players.
Football players have a lot to think about while they are playing on the field. Their mind has to be sharp and their agility even sharper. With today’s exercises, they are going to strengthen your agility and your mind-muscle multi-tasking abilities.
What you’ll need for these exercises is a weighted ball that can bounce and gliders. If you are a smooth floor, then a towel can work too. Also, if you don’t have either you can still modify but having a ball is a must.
Football Lateral Shuffle Ball Throw
Standing about 3 feet from the wall with your weighted ball in hand, you are going to simply shuffle to the side and then throw the ball.
- Begin with a slight bend in the knees, your butt back slightly, chest up and the ball in your hands in front of your chest.
- Picking up your right leg, you are going to shuffle/jump to the right.
- Landing back in your starting position.
- As soon as you land, you are going to powerfully throw the ball into the wall, at chest height, and catch it.
- With your left leg, jump it to the left and pause for a moment in your starting position.
- Continue shuffling right and left. Each time your jump to the right is when you are going to throw the ball into the wall.
- Additionally, each time you jump to the right, you are going to add a ball throw.
- Continue until you have thrown the ball 10 times to the right shuffle.
- Once completed do the same, but this time throwing every time you shuffle to the left again going until you reach 10 throws.
Reverse Lunge Lateral Ball Throw
If you have a glider or a towel then follow the instructions as written, if you don’t then when you see the word glide/slide, replace with the word step.
- Start with your left shoulder facing the wall in a standing position while holding onto the weighted ball, place one glide under your right foot.
- With your right foot, you are going to slide your foot back into a reverse lunge. Your right foot glides back until your right knee bends to touch the ground, your left knee is bent at 90 degrees, your left knee isn’t going in front of your left toes, and your chest is up. For more tips on how to lunge properly, check out this article.
- While performing your reverse lunge, the ball that is in your hands comes up to chest height with your arms straight.
- Once you are in your reverse lunge position, take the ball and move it to your right hip. From here you are going to use your power to throw the ball from your right hip into the wall.
- After throwing the ball, make sure you immediately catch it and then glide your right foot forward back to starting position. Make sure you are pressing into your left heel as you glide back into starting position.
- This is one rep.
- Keeping the glide under your right foot, do another reverse lunge, this time throwing the ball two times. You might be seeing where this is going much like the first exercise.
- Continue lunging and throwing until you have thrown the ball 10 times in a row with your right leg reverse lunge.
- Once you are completed with the right, turn around and do the same thing with the left reverse lunge until you have thrown the ball 10 times in a row.
Want more workouts that football player do? Check out these exercises.
