I’m not sure if this is the right spot for this question, but it involves being big, strong, and lean so I’ll put it here! I was wondering what any football players on here did to become more powerful tacklers? I play fullback and linebacker, and I punish guys when running the ball, but when tackling I never really deliver those game changing hits. I’m a sure tackler, but never cause fumbles which I find odd since I’m a big strong guy. I’m going to be playing varsity linebacker next year, and I want to knock some heads off, so any exercises, drills, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
Hitting hard can cause some fumbles, but I think fumbles are cause more often by a well placed hand when heading in for the hit. Swinging your arm at the ball when you’re going in for the initial contact, I think, will cause more fumbles then trying to get bigger or stronger.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Hitting hard can cause some fumbles, but I think fumbles are cause more often by a well placed hand when heading in for the hit. Swinging your arm at the ball when you’re going in for the initial contact, I think, will cause more fumbles then trying to get bigger or stronger. [/quote]
Agreed, causing fumbles is more to do with skill and technique than power. Some coaches train for that. Also when one of your teammates has already got their hands on the person with the ball, the second person in should be aiming the facemask for the ball, or trying to strip it that way.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Hitting hard can cause some fumbles, but I think fumbles are cause more often by a well placed hand when heading in for the hit. Swinging your arm at the ball when you’re going in for the initial contact, I think, will cause more fumbles then trying to get bigger or stronger. [/quote]
Agreed, causing fumbles is more to do with skill and technique than power. Some coaches train for that. Also when one of your teammates has already got their hands on the person with the ball, the second person in should be aiming the facemask for the ball, or trying to strip it that way. [/quote]
Yeah I know that aiming your hands and facemask at the ball causes fumbles, as well as gang tackles, but what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Hitting hard can cause some fumbles, but I think fumbles are cause more often by a well placed hand when heading in for the hit. Swinging your arm at the ball when you’re going in for the initial contact, I think, will cause more fumbles then trying to get bigger or stronger. [/quote]
Agreed, causing fumbles is more to do with skill and technique than power. Some coaches train for that. Also when one of your teammates has already got their hands on the person with the ball, the second person in should be aiming the facemask for the ball, or trying to strip it that way. [/quote]
Yeah I know that aiming your hands and facemask at the ball causes fumbles, as well as gang tackles, but what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?[/quote]
Work on building explosive leg speed.
[quote]Hunter2016 wrote:
what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?[/quote]
The offseason is for getting brutally strong and noticeably more muscular. When practice ramps up more (towards the preseason), then you’ll blend that new size and strength with technique. For now, shoot for added muscular bodyweight, and increasing your squat, overhead press, and clean.
Also, I think this is required reading for every high school football player:
[quote]Hunter2016 wrote:
what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?[/quote]
The offseason is for getting brutally strong and noticeably more muscular. When practice ramps up more (towards the preseason), then you’ll blend that new size and strength with technique. For now, shoot for added muscular bodyweight, and increasing your squat, overhead press, and clean.
Also, I think this is required reading for every high school football player:
[/quote]
I’ve read that article, it’s amazing. I follow a lot of Wendler’s stuff as well. I’ve gained 10 pounds and put on almost 100 pounds on my deadlift, 100 pounds on my clean, and 50 pounds on my squat just this offseason. We don’t do much form tackling or any techinque at all really, so if anyone has drills I can do on my own would be awesome since we won’t really do any of it as a team
[quote]Hunter2016 wrote:
what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?[/quote]
The offseason is for getting brutally strong and noticeably more muscular. When practice ramps up more (towards the preseason), then you’ll blend that new size and strength with technique. For now, shoot for added muscular bodyweight, and increasing your squat, overhead press, and clean.
Also, I think this is required reading for every high school football player:
[/quote]
I’ve read that article, it’s amazing. I follow a lot of Wendler’s stuff as well. I’ve gained 10 pounds and put on almost 100 pounds on my deadlift, 100 pounds on my clean, and 50 pounds on my squat just this offseason. We don’t do much form tackling or any techinque at all really, so if anyone has drills I can do on my own would be awesome since we won’t really do any of it as a team
[/quote]
[quote]Hunter2016 wrote:
what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?[/quote]
The offseason is for getting brutally strong and noticeably more muscular. When practice ramps up more (towards the preseason), then you’ll blend that new size and strength with technique. For now, shoot for added muscular bodyweight, and increasing your squat, overhead press, and clean.
Also, I think this is required reading for every high school football player:
[/quote]
I’ve read that article, it’s amazing. I follow a lot of Wendler’s stuff as well. I’ve gained 10 pounds and put on almost 100 pounds on my deadlift, 100 pounds on my clean, and 50 pounds on my squat just this offseason. We don’t do much form tackling or any techinque at all really, so if anyone has drills I can do on my own would be awesome since we won’t really do any of it as a team
[/quote]
I would personally work more on tackling drills. Do you have a tackling dummy you can set up in your back yard? Get them, then tackle the shit out of them.
If you can afford them, go ghetto style and buy a 200 lb. punching bag and set it up.
Get in various stances
tackle the shit out of it
have someone (Dad, older brother, friend, coach) supervise your technique and help you.
I would personally work more on tackling drills. Do you have a tackling dummy you can set up in your back yard? Get them, then tackle the shit out of them.
If you can afford them, go ghetto style and buy a 200 lb. punching bag and set it up.
Get in various stances
tackle the shit out of it
have someone (Dad, older brother, friend, coach) supervise your technique and help you.[/quote]
I don’t have access to a prowler, and they’re pretty expensive to buy so are there any alternatives to that? And I could definitely get a bag to practice technique on, that’s a good idea
[quote]Hunter2016 wrote:
what can I do in the off season and in the weight room to just plain hit harder and more explosively?[/quote]
The offseason is for getting brutally strong and noticeably more muscular. When practice ramps up more (towards the preseason), then you’ll blend that new size and strength with technique. For now, shoot for added muscular bodyweight, and increasing your squat, overhead press, and clean.
Also, I think this is required reading for every high school football player:
[/quote]
I’ve read that article, it’s amazing. I follow a lot of Wendler’s stuff as well. I’ve gained 10 pounds and put on almost 100 pounds on my deadlift, 100 pounds on my clean, and 50 pounds on my squat just this offseason. We don’t do much form tackling or any techinque at all really, so if anyone has drills I can do on my own would be awesome since we won’t really do any of it as a team
[/quote]
Wut[/quote]
Wut what?? Hahaha
[/quote]
“we dont do much form tackling or any technique at all really”
Think he was referring to this. Your coach have you playing Stratego instead?
The hardest hitters I knew weren’t the strongest or fastest guys, they were just the guys with literally zero regard for their own personal safety who could run full speed into a brick wall without slowing down.
I think the truly earth shattering Seahawks style hits are as much timing as anything, the better you anticipate the runner’s position so you can build speed and momentum leading to the tackle the harder you’ll hit. The obvious but not all encompassing formula for big hits is Mass x Velocity=Force.
So continue to build up size and strength in your lifts and maintain or improve your speed. You could try short sprint drills, like 10-15 yds and work on building your acceleration.
As long as your tackling technique is good, most of your improvement in that area is going to come from timing and game experience so that you get more feel for how to set yourself up to deliver the big hits. If you look at the notorious big hitters in the NFL a lot of those guys are safeties because they are fast and their position is back far enough that they get more opportunity and time to set up for vicious hits.
Linebackers tend to make more wrap-em up and drive them to the ground tackles because they don’t work out in open spaces as much to build up speed unless they are blitzing.
So to sum up my excessively long post, keep getting bigger and stronger like you have, keep up the plyos and other speed building work, and just practice reading the field and making tackles at football practice.
[quote]CrushKillDestroy wrote:
Pushing a car isn’t a bad option. Get someone in the drivers seat to steer, put it in neutral and do 40m reps.[/quote]
Mark Rippetoe: “How long have you known about The Prowler, just out of curiosity?”
Dan John: “Well, we used to call it ‘cars’. We used to push cars.”
[quote]Hunter2016 wrote:
Any drills that you know would be good when the snow melts and I can get outside?[/quote]
There’s also a 5/3/1 for Football plan. I haven’t read it, but it goes without saying that it’d be a good general investment.
Just mind how you’re programming them. In the offseason, you don’t need a day of just plyos. If you’re going to include them, I’d keep the volume low and put them at the start of some, not all, lifting sessions.
