Weekly schedule of an NFL player
In general, the football season can be divided into 3 phases and 3 different NFL schedules. The offseason starts after the end of the last game (hopefully after winning the Super Bowl). This time a player has time off, the goal is a recovery from the long season. Also, players want to get stronger and faster for the start of training camp. Before the season the training camp is held, during this time the team is formed, and the final squad is assembled. During the season, the focus is to bring top performance in the games on Sunday and the weekly NFL schedule is geared towards this.
In the offseason
In the offseason, an NFL player must arrange for training opportunities on his own. The most common way to do this is to spend a period of the offseason at a training facility. These facilities are specifically designed for offseason training of athletes and usually include catering for the athletes. These facilities are very costly, which encourages young players to spend some time at the club’s facility or at their former university to save money. Generally, the week for a player is divided as follows.
Monday:
Morning: typically speed and acceleration sessions followed by a weight session in the gym.
Afternoon: position specific drills
Tuesday:
Morning: typically, agility and cardio sessions followed by a weight session in the gym
Afternoon: position specific drills
Wednesday:
Morning: yoga to relax
Afternoon: mostly free, sometimes additional position specific drills
Thursday:
Morning: typically speed and acceleration sessions followed by a weight session in the gym
Afternoon: position specific drills
Friday:
Morning: typically agility and cardio sessions followed by a weight session in the gym
Afternoon: position specific drills
Saturday:
Free and time to relax/recover
Sunday:
free and time to relax/recover
However, since the offseason is planned by each player, the individual plan can vary greatly from one player to another. Especially the first weeks of the offseason are used to heal injuries that occurred during the season or to get surgeries. After that, there is a period of less stress and more focus on physiotherapy and injury prevention exercises. It’s also important to spend time with family and friends during the offseason to balance out the mental fatigue that comes with an NFL season.
In training camp
In training camp, an NFL player is busy with football all day. Usually this weekly NFL schedule is used from the beginning of camp in late July until the first preseason game in mid-August. There are 5 days in a row of the work day on the schedule, followed by a break day. These are then followed by 5 work days again and so on until the end of this period. In the NFL of the 90’s and earlier, it was still common to have 2 times a day team practices on the field, called 2-a-days. But these were banned because of increased risk of injury and the first session was replaced by a walkthrough. In the training camp almost all team trainings take place with full equipment (pads and helmet) and there are also sessions where there is full contact (tackling).
Workday:
6:00 Wake up and transit to the facility
6:30 breakfast
7:00 first meetings
8:00 Lift or more meetings
10:00 Walkthrough on the field
12:00 Meetings
12:30 Lunch and relax
14:00 Training on the field
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Meetings
21:30 Snack
22:00 Sleep
Break day:
1 day break to relax
Mostly to facility for hot/cold tub, sauna, massage
NFL schedule during the Season
The weekly NFL schedule during the season is strictly timed and set by the team. The following weekly schedule corresponds to a regular week with game on Sunday. The schedule varies for games played on Thursday or Monday.
Monday:
8:00 optional breakfast, followed by recovery/treatment time.
10:00 Lift, mostly with focus on lower body
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Meetings
Tuesday:
Day off, used for recovery/treatment or additional lift (e.g. arms)
Wednesday:
6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Meetings
9:30 Walkthrough
11:30 Meetings
12:00 Lunch
14:00 Training
16:30 Treatment/Recovery/Snack
17:00 Meeting
18:30 Dinner
Thursday:
6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Lift
8:00 Meetings
9:30 Walkthrough
11:00 Meetings
11:30 Lunch
13:00 Training
15:30 Treatment/Recovery/Snack
16:00 Meeting
17:30 Dinner
Friday:
6:30 Breakfast
7:00 Meetings
9:30 Training
11:00 Meetings
12:30 Lunch
Saturday:
7:00 Breakfast
7:30 Meetings/Lift (Offense Lift-Defense Meeting then reverse).
10:00 Walkthrough
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Flight to game (away game), rest (home game).
17:30 Meetings in hotel
22:00 Bedcheck
Sunday:
Arrival at the stadium about 2.5 hours before the game.
After the game flight back home (away game)
