If you take a look at modern football players you instantly notice the fact that core muscles are often under-developed. They tend to be overlooked during training. This is a huge shame because of the fact that an athlete’s core is much more important than anticipated. Professionals like Ryan Grigson realize this but not many actually take a closer look at how to properly train for a sport that is as physical as football.
A big problem is that most people believe the core is just made out of abs, oblique muscles and lower back muscles. The core also includes all the muscles that run down and up the back, the glutes and the hip flexors. Having a stronger core will drastically improve your football performance. Here is why.
Being Able To Change Direction Faster
Fakes are huge in football. The best players are those that quickly manage to change direction. If you want to be elusive and really shifty as you run on a football field, your core muscles will be vital. You want to strengthen them and the body will be able to quickly react to direction changes.
More Explosive
All football players want to be as explosive as possible. If you are really explosive you are faster and you manage to have a very fast 40-yard dash, which is vital for the modern football player.
Increased Power
When football players think about power they normally just think about the highly documented muscles like pectorals, biceps, legs and so on. You can have the strongest arms in the world and still not be as powerful as you could be if your core is weak. Power is vital for the football player, allowing stronger collisions and even helping to avoid potential injuries.
Before extremities move, the brain stabilizes your spine as movement is anticipated. How fast the core muscles manage to stabilize the spine will automatically impact the power of the movement of your limbs. You can be a running back that simply wants to be more of a power back or the defensive player that wants to be able to hit with more power. In all cases stronger cores will help increase power beyond what you can get through regular football training.
Strength Increased For Weight Training
Strength is vital when referring to how much power can be generated when playing football. If your core is stronger, you can actually lift more weight. In the event that you want to be renowned as the strongest player on a team, this is impossible when neglecting core muscles. You will simply not be able to lift the same weight you could if your core would be strong.
Fewer Injuries
Last but not least, most people do not know that injuries are quite common in football. Every player needs to do all that can be done in order to reduce injuries. Stronger core will not make you immune but will help reduce the possibility of being faced with low back injuries and pain.