Fitness Changes in Professional Football Players During

Abstract

In brief: Professional football players participated in a conditioning program before entering regular preseason training. The program comprised training in functional strength, aerobic endurance, sprinting, power, ballistics, plyometrics, and football skills. Seven fitness variables were measured at the beginning and at the end of the program: body fat, lean body weight, treadmill performance, maximum oxygen uptake, ventilatory anaerobic threshold, agility, and vertical jump. The offensive linemen, who as a group scored lowest on the pretest, improved significantly on all seven tests.