American Football Workout: 5 Essential Drills to Build Power and Speed on the Field

As a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with athletes at various levels, I’ve always been fascinated by the raw, explosive power required on the football field. It’s not just about being big; it’s about channeling that size into devastating speed and force within the confines of a play. I remember watching a game recently, not the NFL, but a professional league overseas, where a player’s stat line caught my eye. In one particular matchup, a guard put up a modest nine points, four assists, and two rebounds, but his team suffered back-to-back losses, dropping their record to 7-12. Now, you might wonder what basketball has to do with football training. For me, it underscored a universal truth: individual moments of brilliance—those points, those assists—are meaningless if they don’t translate to consistent, game-winning power and speed across all four quarters. The athlete was contributing, but was he dominating? Was his physical training allowing him to impose his will play after play, to avoid those momentum-killing losing streaks? That’s the gap we need to bridge with specific, intelligent training. The following five drills aren't just exercises; they are the foundational elements I insist on for any player looking to build the kind of athleticism that doesn’t just show up on the stat sheet, but fundamentally changes the outcome of games.

Let’s start with the king of power development: the trap bar deadlift. I’m a huge advocate for this over the traditional barbell deadlift for most football players, simply because the centered load and higher handles reduce shear stress on the lower back while allowing for a more athletic, powerful pull. The goal here is pure posterior chain engagement—glutes, hamstrings, erectors. I have my athletes work in the 3-5 rep range for about 4 sets, aiming for a load that’s around 85% of their one-rep max. The focus is on explosive concentric movement; we’re not grinding out reps. Pull that bar like you’re trying to launch yourself through the roof. This directly translates to the initial burst off the line of scrimmage, whether you’re a defensive end exploding into a tackle or a running back hitting a hole. From there, we must translate that strength into horizontal force, which is where sled pushes come in. Honestly, there are few things more brutally effective. Loading a sled with 70-80% of your bodyweight and driving it for 20-30 yard sprints builds leg drive and trunk stability like nothing else. It teaches you to lean into resistance and maintain acceleration, mimicking the contact and drive phases of a block or a tackle. I prefer heavy, shorter pushes for pure power, and slightly lighter, longer drags for repeated effort capacity.

Now, raw power is useless if you can’t control it or change direction with it. That’s where my favorite field drill comes in: resisted sprint starts. Using a sled harness or a simple partner-resisted band around the waist, we work on the first 10 yards. The resistance forces maximal recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Once the band releases or the sled attachment is dropped, the athlete experiences an overspeed effect, feeling lightning quick. We’ll do sets of 3-5 reps with full recovery. This isn’t about conditioning; it’s about neuromuscular training for that first, critical step. Following that, we integrate that linear speed with game-like agility using the 3-cone L-drill, but with a power twist. I don’t just want players to navigate the cones; I want them to explode out of each cut. We set up the standard L-drill, but at the first and second cones, the athlete must perform a powerful, two-foot gather and jump before changing direction. This builds reactive strength and teaches the body to redirect force rapidly. It’s grueling, but the transfer to evading a blocker or closing an angle on a ball carrier is immediate. Finally, we cannot neglect the upper body’s role in overall athleticism. For that, I rely heavily on the medicine ball rotational throw. Standing sideways to a wall, with a 8-12 lb med ball, the athlete coils and then uncoils, launching the ball as hard as possible. This trains the core’s ability to transfer power from the lower body through the torso—a critical action for a quarterback’s throw, a lineman’s punch, or a receiver fending off a defender. We’ll do 3 sets of 5 throws per side, always prioritizing velocity over volume.

In my experience, the difference between a good athlete and a game-wrecker often lies in this kind of focused, transferable training. It’s the difference between putting up nine points and four assists in a loss, and dominating the line of scrimmage so thoroughly that your team never finds itself on a losing streak. These five drills—the trap bar deadlift, the heavy sled push, resisted sprints, the power-cone drill, and rotational med ball throws—form a synergistic system. They build the engine (absolute power), the transmission (force application), and the steering (agility and control). Implementing them with intent, with adequate recovery, and with the understanding that they are means to an on-field end, will forge the kind of power and speed that doesn’t just look impressive in the weight room, but consistently shows up where it matters most: under the stadium lights on game day. Trust me, when you feel that added pop in your first step or that unstoppable drive through a defender, you’ll understand why we prioritize these movements above all else.