Why A Running Back Is A Running Back

In honor of the start of all of the football seasons that are upon us, attention is diverted to seasonal athletic talk and more related topics. When the professional football season began a couple of weeks ago, the sudden thought was birthed as to why a running plays the position he or she plays.

And really, without further adieu, a running back (RB) plays the position because a running back can.

This part of the e-newsletter was not meant to be confusing. It is, in fact, the truth. Besides speed, quickness, power, and the choice to play running back, height, weight, and even body type come into play when selecting a running back. We do not see linebackers or offensive linemen playing running back. These position players are too big and too tall in some cases. Are there other position players that resemble running backs? Maybe, but they mostly play at the high school level. More commonly, a running back plays RB because his or her body matches the position. It matches in a manner that allows the athlete to have speed, quickness, and power for the position.

Speed (S), quickness (Q), and power (P) can be taught. There are plenty of running back drills that feed these skills, making a polished athlete. However, the new thing is to see RB's jumping over defenders - just pure athleticism and good reaction time. S, q, and p also hold the quality of being taught to non-athletes and non-RB's. The rest of the field may perform the skills differently. But, they will do it. For the non-athlete, s,q, and p are complemented well as general fitness skills. These skills for the normal exerciser are rarely performed. Most individuals are concerned with bench pressing and other linear strength exercises. However, in many cases, there is a big push for high-intensity interval training.

Plain and simple: a running back benefits from running back type training. I like to call it position-specific training. Functional training and sport-specific training exist as well as position-specific training. For non-atheletes, functional training may involve a lunge to increase butt/glute strength. I will say that again for those who are worried about their butt: lunges improve the glutes! For athletes, sport-specific training involves, for example, sprinting 50 meters for a 100-meter track athlete. Position-specific training involves running a route for a running back, for example.

So, from a human performance perspective, why do you do what you do?

Progressing,
Derek