Running Back Attributes(HB, FB, Wing, TB)
-What a succecful running back needs to have in order to be succecful-(in order)
(My fantasy RB#29): Height:5'10 Weight:210 40Time:4.32E Bench Reps:22
-BALANCE-
Let me start off from behind the line of scrimmage on the 50 yard line and progress down the field. Balance in my opinion is the main attribute a running back should have. I say this because its necessary to have strength to break tackles and maintain good balance to stay on your feet when you do break away from a defender. Also its helpful because as you know everybody doesnt get blocked and kept out of the backfeild every down. So by having good balance if you a blitzing inside linebacker tries to make a quick hit and doenst wrap up good, you'll have a good chance to stay on your feet and find a hole to run through.
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-VISION/AWARNESS-
Now that we are progressing down the field and you just broke an arm tackle. You have to now use your head and scan the defense as you are running. Once you find a hole in the defense you have to hit it hard. Once you hit the hole you have to watch out for everyone, all 11 players.
Try not to slow down too much when you are juking someone or cutting up the feild.
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-AGILITY/ELUSIVNESS-
Here we go now were talkin. You are past the line of scrimmage, a Safety reads the play perfectly and is now comming for you head on and a outside linebacker is comming to dive for your legs on your right. Now u have to use your balance vision/awarness and your agility to get away. You make a quick cut to the left and start running up feild before you get into the safteis reach, The outsidelinebacker from the right dive at your legs but misses. now you really only have a the other safety corner and outside linebacker to beat as none of the other defenders seem to catch up after you are behind them(another important thing is to learn how to accelerate THROUGH your cuts so no one come from behind and gets you).
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-STENGTH/RAW SPEED-
Yes I put these two skills together because you need about and even amount of both and plus there are power runners and scat-backs, so i just put them both as even(you can put which ever one suits you best before the other, just remember that you need both of these attributes to be great). Alrite here we go you are now on the 40 yard line your adrenaline is pumping the crowd is roaring you still have three people to beat to get into the open, and then you'll still have to worry about the other players and the angle they have on you. You are infront of the outside linebacker, and the corner and inching away. The safety has a slight angle on you and you get past him with your speed, and he tries to grab the back of your jersey as he falls to the ground, you drag him 3 yards and he finally loses grip. Once you break free your gone. The other safety had a slight angle on you but just couldnt get there in time to stop you TOUCHDOWN. You celebrate as you stride into the enzone. The staduim roars with excitment.
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-OTHER ATTRIBUTES-
STAMINA
BLOCKING
CATCHING
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TRAINING BALANCE: A good free way to train balance is to stand straight up and hold your right leg with your right hand like your stretching your quads(dont pull to hard). Hold that position for 30 seconds trying to limit as much movement as possible. Then switch to your left leg and hold it with your left hand for 30. If you think thats real easy stand on your tip toes or close your eyes(whichever one you can do for 30 seconds) and do that(builds strength at the same time). And if want a even greater challenge stand on one leg on your tip toes WITH your eyes closed. Finally once you can do that with ease stand in an very open space(on feild) and once again hold one leg and stand on your toes but this time hop up and down eyes closed(if u can) then start hoping side to side then front to back, you can also spin in the air(dont spin too much lol). So what you could do is start off hoping up and down eyes open or closed, then try to hop back and forth 15 times( make sure you can count your hops without pausing too much). Then on the same leg without stopping start going side to side for 15 reps, then at the end of that 15 go back to the center and try to do a 360 spin off one leg(make sure you stay on your toes the whole time, dont let your heal touch the ground. Now you can open your eyes and switch to the other leg and start the process over(try to do 3 sets of this). This exercise also can work on your strength and agility depending on how much effort you put into it.( you can train balance almost as much as you want.)
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TRAINING AGILITY: Theres alot of good ways to train agility. Theres the ladder which has many drills, so does the cone drills. Also increasing your leg turnover(stride frequency) can aid in developing quickness. Ill get into stride frequency when I take about training raw speed. But yea agility probally has the most drills and training methods than any other skill has. So you can search google or ask your coach and they will give you things to do.(u can do these exercises on the same day you do speed workouts:everyother week).
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TRAINING STRENGTH/RAW SPEED: As you know most of ANY athletes attributes are contributed through genetics and are mostly natural. But theres still hope. People still can get ALOT better from the start. But for training strength, your legs and your core are the most important things to train. You can train them by doing exercises like deadlifts, squats, and power cleans. Power cleans have to be the most effective exercise, because it deals with pulling the weight up to a certain point and then using your your quickness and explosive power to get under the weight and push it back up with your legs. Power cleans can increase your speed as well as your vertical(try not to do leg workouts the same week you do sprints and agility drills, do legs workout one week then sprints and agility then sprints and agility another week to prevent injury, u can do this twice a week). And for upper body some good exercises are the bench press, rows, curls, and dips(do upper body once or twice a week. Also a good workout would be from 3 reps to 8 reps, and 3 sets and 5 sets. But lets get to the feild training. Speed has three components, stride length(This is the measured distance of each stride taken), stride frequency(This is the number of strides a person takes in a set amount of time), and anaerobic endurance(This is your body's ability to sustain maximum effort for an extended time frame). For more info on sprinting speed you can go to:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/md46.htm And go here for sprinting exersices:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/tomgreen1.htm