Why do football coaches make their players practice in 100+ degree heat? They will rarely/never play in this weather. Is conditioning outside better in some way than doing it indoors w/ 70 degree air conditioning? Is there an advantage of having extra demands on the body via heat and therefore workload decreased? I have never understood this and would like an explanation if there is one. Coach Davies?
I cant tell you how important this topic is. Football coaches utilize training camp as a time to establish the psychological profile of a team. It is not simply the development of “warrior” atitude but a level of self-confidence and esprit de corp built in the team. I look forward to talking about this in more length. In faith, Coach Davies
by practicing in the heat they develope better thermoregulation i believe?
Here in Australia, we play in 40-45 degree heat at times (I don’t remember how to convert that to farenheit). And I, for one, think that training in heat is a necessity. However, it would appear that some coaches ignore the appropriate methods of maintaining hydration.
Just my $0.02
Well maybe not all high school teams play in the middle of the day in the heat but college teams do. It doesn’t matter how good of shape you’re in…if you’re not used to the heat and you try to do something strenuous in it you’re gonna suffer the effects. At least for myself I’ve found I adapt to it rather quickly. I grew up in south texas and none of our athletic facilities (field house, gymnasium, etc) had air conditioning…I never remember anyone complaining much about it because we were used to it. Over the years I’ve gotten spoiled with civilized air conditioned gyms and such and a few weeks ago I started doing sprints outside in the afternoon…the first few sessions I really suffered but now it doesn’t bother me. If I were a football player today I would tend to worry more about cold weather games…I’m one of these guys once the temp gets around 40 degrees I’m not good for much of anything…hands freeze up have no feeling…just totally worthless…guess it depends on the individual.
It does help the athlete if they train in hot and humid weather but only if they are being well hydrated. And in the case of the past few athletes who have died in the past week, it didn’t help
We practiced in extreme heat when I played football. Why? Well, in terms of going full contact, there isn’t always an option of an indoor facility. Aside from that, during the month of September we did play games in extreme heat. Fortunately our coaches had a system installed where if you needed water, you could get it regardless if there was a break issued or not. I can remember when school was cancelled because of the heat, yet we still had a two hour practice. The same when it had snowed and school was cancelled. Our coach always said, “They sure as hell aren’t gonna cancel the game for it being too hot or having snow on the ground!” Which, in Nebraska, where football is life, rings true.
When I was in Officer Candidate School, they ran us around like idiots in stifling heat. The difference was that every few minutes, they actually forced us drink water. Often, we had to empty out our canteen right before bed even. Of course that had a second purpose–it made half of us get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom–which meant that the whole battalion had to be waken up to march down together. That lent the instructor another opportunity to “instruct” us (mostly screaming in our faces). I don’t think the heat necessarily is the issue, but proper hydration.
I agree that football is hardly ever played in 100 degree temperatures. This is especially true in the NFL where there are domes all over the place. I heard a report about the Vikings practicing in the same heat (index 109) that killed Korey Stringer. I don’t understand it. The Vikings will play half their games at exactly 72 degrees. With the exception of maybe the Arizona Cardinals, there is no good reason to have guys practive in 100 degree heat. Also, when you take into account that many players haven’t done so much as a sit-up since December, it makes even less sense. Keeping the faith, Solomon.
the recent deaths are certainly tragic, but I must say, you need to conquer your environment. We played our first game of my senior year two years ago on Aug 31st. It was 98 degrees and I was the noseguard. I’m from a small town in Northern Pa and we played a team from washington D.c as our non conference game(a rarity for our area) well we kickd down into a 4-3 defense all day and I was head up on the guard…the guard was a 6-4 385 behemoth(i speak the truth) Did I mention that I was 5’9 165-170lbs at the time? Well as they weresucking for air by the third quarter(this team had some pure ATHLETES too) we were pounding them all day ending the game with a 40 point lead…there was no better feeling than peeling your pads off knowing you woulda loved another quarter…when the other guy was down for the count. God do I miss football I’m going to tackle my monitor…I need to play again.
Another thing that doesn’t help is that the most stressful thing a majority of these “athletes” do during their 8-9 month off time is lighting up a blunt or doing lines of coke.
the only toughness it build is rigamortis. sorry but I just do not understand the need to train in that kind of temp. I don’t even think there is any reason to do it if you play in that kind of weather. I’d argue that my athletes would be stronger, faster, and more skilled by training at reasonable temps. they would have to be fresher on game day, their bodies would recover from field or gym training quicker so they would be stronger. and I believe the ability to practice their skill in a reasonable enviornment would make them more skilled due to increased strength, speed, and recovery while practiceing. some one explain to his (kory stringer) family that if he lived he would be “tougher”. peace
The Vikings and the other NFL teams have great systems in place ensuring saftey during extreme tempeture training. The players, however, are stoic beyond reason. Stringer vomited 3 times and did not stop, or even drink water. There is a point where one should worry less about some inflated tough man self image and rest. That point is before death. Pro athletes are usually more athlete than pro, and as a result must never lose face of being the toughest guy around, especially a ProBowl tackle like Stringer.
Teams could also solve the problem by using HIT principles. A training session could be something like this - one full speed sprint, one max effort set of each type of calisthenics, QB’s throw a few passes as far as possible, linemen throw a few all-out blocks, defense a few 100% effort tackles, receivers catch a few passes with all their might, and kickers a few kicks as far as possible. Training will be done in less than ½ an hour, at most 3 times per week and nobody will have to worry about heat exhaustion.
They wouldn’t have to worry about winning either. GPP/conditioning is very important and I think that is what should be done indoors. I have nothing against full contact outside.
colin, i totally disagree, stringer sidelined himeself the day before he died, and his teamates gave him shit, most likely calling him a pussy. Also, had the vikings a good system in place they would have sidelined him after the 2nd throw up. 1 is ok, 2 or more means you need to sit down.
what does wt training have to do with skill development? this is your argument against what I said? I seem to remember the 49ers doing pretty well with walsh makeing most practices no or lt. contact but I guess they were pussys who somehow kept winning. peace hetyey225
What a volatile subject! Bear Bryant and Frank Kush sure ran tough camps. I’m sure that there are myriad teams running like crazy as we speak. IMO, football now is a sumo match on the inside and a track meet on the outside. The problem is that muscle creates heat and those guys with alot of mass are going to be “compromised” first. Teams like NC State, Oregon, NW, etc that run really quick offenses I think have to be in better systemic condition.
Big Red