When you think of NFL and soccer, they seem like completely different sports, almost opposite as most would agree. However, when it comes to training methods, there are some elements that remain consistent across both sports.
Periodization is Key: NFL Training vs Soccer Schedules
Soccer’s schedule is grueling. On the European calendar, teams have to deal with the domestic league, multiple cups, and continent-wide tournaments like the Champions League.
To ensure players remain available, periodization is used to help players remain healthy and at peak performance throughout the season. The calendar is usually a lot longer than the NFL version:
- European soccer leagues running from late August through May (10 months)
- MLS from last February through November (10 months)
- NFL season from September through January (4.5 months/5 months)
The NFL’s season is much shorter, with the regular season starting in September and ending for most in early January. The soccer schedule is at minimum 9 months, and with international competitions in the offseason, often longer than that.
Still, for both NFL and soccer, training is a year-round endeavor with very little downtime.
Traditionally, NFL historically has adopted a strength-based routine throughout the season, but more emphasis is being placed on more functional training with each passing season.
Implementing a more advanced training schedule helps NFL teams manage fatigue and improve postseason performance, when players are usually gassed and struggling to stay healthy.
Beyond Straight-Line Speed
NFL fans place a lot of importance on the 40-yard dash. But as Tom Brady’s career showed us, performing at the highest level is more than just straight-line speed. Perhaps more importantly, teams can look at quantifying 20-yard and 60-yard shuttle times in the NFL combine. The shuttle run can measure speed as it relates to ability to change direction as well as lateral quickness.
Soccer training places a lot more emphasis on multidirectional movement, where short-burst acceleration drills are combined with cognitive decision-making situations. Though both sports have a north-south aspect, obviously soccer places much more emphasis on 360-degree movement.
For many, soccer and NFL training needs to include change-of-direction exercises to emphasize both deceleration and re-acceleration. This will call on players to work on their reactive agility, responding to unpredictable changes that happen on the pitch.
Technical Skills Combined with Physical Development
Soccer training excels at combining aspects of both technical and physical training. Top coaches focus on ball-based conditioning exercises, which help players perform under fatigue conditions. Elite clubs focus on technical circuits that embed the fundamentals into deep conditioning work. Progressive complexity in drills drives players to be challenged on technical, tactical, and physical aspects.
This helps with developing adaptable skill execution. It’s easy to run a full sprint in the first minute of the game, having sheer physicality to hide tactical inefficiencies, but once you get closer to injury time (i.e. the end of the game), it’s crucial for players to adapt accordingly.
The NFL also places priority on a player’s ability to stay healthy for the season, but with a much shortened season, there isn’t quite the same intensity of endurance training compared with soccer. NFL is much more a contact sport, so having the training to handle that massive increase of physicality is imperative.
Training and Recovery
While both sports have tremendous budgets for medical staff, the NFL might be able to take a page from soccer when it comes to managing recovery protocols.
Perhaps because NFL teams have rosters of more than 50 on game day and soccer teams have around 18, there is more emphasis on ‘in the moment health’ compared with soccer which, as explained, has a much longer season.
Old school coaches that still push for long training sessions during the season no longer work at the top level; players get injured, they get tired at the business end of the season. In the Premier League, even something as ‘simple’ as sleep is very important in the recovery process.
The NFL and soccer each have their unique characteristics, sure, which in turn calls for specific methods to get the most out of players. However, blending training philosophies may help fine-tune the process even further, helping NFL players become quicker and fitter, better equipped to handle the grueling league season, and ultimately getting closer to winning that coveted Lombardi Trophy.
