Football Drills for Power and Culture: A Coach's Guide to Building Both

Whether you’re a coach, athletic director, or a player, it helps to know and understand some simple football drills that can be implemented quickly and easily. If you’re still using drills such as a simple sled push or a step and pop with a 1-man or 5-man sled, it’s time to add these different, yet still simple, football drills.

The best football drills do two things at once: build explosive power and reinforce the exact culture you want on your team.

We’ll talk about some power building drills, some culture building drills, as well as how they can belong together - while answering some common questions about these topics.

Power Building Football Drills

FlipSled 3-Man Drive: You’ll have two players on the front of the sled (one on each side) and one in the back. They’ll push the sled forward for a specific distance, as quickly as they can.

This drill works three players at once while keeping all of them completely involved in the drill. With this one, you’re practicing gaining powerful leg drive and sprinting under resistance. This isn’t just a power building drill either, you’re forcing three players to work together to complete a singular task. This will help you reinforce the culture you’re building in your program.

FlipSled Kneeling Flip: The player will hold the back of the sled at chest height, while two spotters will be on either side. They will explode upwards, flipping the sled over itself.

This drill trains players to use power from the ground-up in order to flip the sled over itself. In order to fully flip it, they must use power from their entire body to explode up and forward. They should finish each rep by catching themselves as they land on their stomachs.

FlipSled Band Pull: With bands attached to the front handles of the sled, the player will pull both sides to fully pull the sled with them as they take steps backwards.

To build players that are completely powerful players, they must be able to move with power in every direction. This drill trains players to build power while moving in a backwards pulling motion. This will create an additional avenue of explosion and power for them to use at game-time.

Culture Building Football Drills

FlipSled Push of War: One player on either side of the sled, grabbing the handles. They’ll push the sled with full strain towards the other player. One on one, pure test of strength.

We’ve seen firsthand the cultural impact this drill can have on a program. Competition is absolutely essential to building the culture you want for your team. By using this drill, you’re not only getting the two competitors going at it, but you’ll have your entire team around them fired up for this one.

FlipSled Flip vs. 20 Yard Sprint: Everyone will start on the same line, with one player on the sled and the rest standing on the line next to them. The players will race to complete their reps, the single player flipping the sled twice each way, and the rest sprinting 20 yards and back.

This is another scenario in which adding competition will help you build team culture. By putting one guy against the rest, you’re banding together the other guys while giving the single player an opportunity to prove himself against everyone else. The drill can be even more effective if you add a second sled.

FlipSled Chase: One player will be on the sled, with another laying on their back 5 yards behind the sled pusher. They will have to try to get the sled through 5 yards before the other player gets up and tags them.

This one, like the push of war, is another one on one battle, but with more movement involved. This is another easy drill to get man on man competition implemented into your practices, and can be put to work today.

Why Do They Belong Together?

In football terms, power means more than just pure strength. You can be powerful, but to be effective where it matters, you must also be explosive from the ground-up. On the flip side, culture is an absolutely integral part of any football program. Coaches spend years trying to build the exact team culture they want among their players.

Think of power drills as building blocks for constructing the physical level you want your team to be at, and the culture building drills are helping to put together the mentality of your team. Separating the physical and mental sides of training would be unintelligent, since you obviously need both to win games. By completely isolating each side, you’d be wasting practice time.

FAQ's

How often should power drills be done in-season vs. off-season?

In the off-season, you can run 3-4 power drills per week since players will have longer recovery windows. In-season, you should keep it to 1-2 power drills per week to give players less to recover from before gameday. The priority from off-season to in-season changes by just aiming to maintain power, not build it.

What’s the biggest mistake coaches make when running power drills?

The biggest mistake comes when coaches run too many power drills without long enough recovery windows for the players. If you get into these tendencies, these drills can turn into conditioning work when they should be building explosive athletic power.

How do you balance skill work, power work, and culture work in a limited practice window?

The best strategy is to run power drills early in the practice when players are much fresher and explosive. You can weave in culture builders throughout the skill and conditioning work, while sprinkling it into the power drills. Having a big power building drill to finish with can be very effective as well.

Putting it All Together

In the end, it’s essential to have both power and culture building drills as part of your practice plans. By tapping into both of these, you’ll get the most explosive power drills while building the exact culture you’ve been looking for.

If you want to learn how to run more drills about building explosive power, building culture, as well as other categories, visit this link.

The FlipSled is the best football practice sled to get players bigger, faster, and stronger - quicker. For more information about The FlipSled, visit https://www.theflipsled.com/.