Way too many football players and strength coaches develop favorite lifts (usually one’s they’re good at) and stick to them no matter what. I’ve run into guys I trained with a decade ago and they are still doing the same workouts! I don’t mean the same philosophy, I mean the actual same football workout! Same exercises, sets, reps and sometimes, sadly, weights.

While we need to rotate exercises constantly to avoid accommodation, we can’t just add any-old exercise and hope for the best. Plus, often, the exercises we hate the most are the ones that do us the most good. Many guys hate movements like lunges, but, if you want to get faster for football, you need to do them.

Here are the top 11 Exercises for to Get Faster and Stronger for Football. Add them to your rotation and work ’em hard.

Deadlifts – Deadlifts are the King Maker…they might be more responsible for building football speed and strength than any other exercise.

Deadlifts are ultra-important for several reasons:

Box Squats – Box Squats and Box Front Squats are essential for building tremendous leg strength and explosiveness while taking almost all stress off the knees. They are the cornerstones (along with deadlifts) of any football strength training program that can make a player stronger and faster for football.

Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell Club, who’s club has done more to popularize Box Squats than anyone else in America describes the benefits of Box Squatting in one of his articles:

Many trainers have found that a great deal of flexibility can be developed while box squatting: by going lower than normally possible, and by using a wider stance.