OT: Football only 11 min of action

Except every play in football is full-speed and brutal.  It's like a buildup and explosion, it's not like soccer where you can kind of jog for a minute or slow the pace down.  In football,  if you're not going full speed, you're going to get lit up.  Technically, MMA fights are only 10-15 minutes of action every 6 months for a fighter, but there's nothing that will smoke you more than an all-out fight, even for a short duration.

Football isn't an endurance sport huh?  Oh, that explains everything.

Here's an idea.  Go home and simultaneously squat and bench press your maxes.  Do this every 30-40 seconds for an hour.

Alternately, explode out of a stance, run 8 yards, and crash into a wall every 30 seconds for half an hour.  Or maybe do 100 consecutive 20 yard shuttle drills with 30 second rest periods

Oh, and during your rest periods you must play pictionary with your coach, but the opposing crowd can air horn every 2nd word, the opposing team can decide to play a different game, and the quarterback is allowed to change anybody's drawing 3 seconds before they hand it in.

And heaven forbid anybody ever get a picture right, because then we all have to do a 70 yard sprint down the field

So yes, no endurance necessary.

Truth is.... not exactly an endurance sport. 

So this is true, and not true. The exercises happening (sprinting, blocking, etc) are not endurance-type efforts, true. Stringing them together over a series or game and you're starting to get into the time length for an endurance exercise. I would argue that it is still an anaerobic non-endurance exercise. Each one of these hard exercises puts you into anaerobic metabolism. Aerobic metabolism makes up for it after you come back down. That's why you get gassed you may have heard of the term "oxygen debt" it's not really an accepted term anymore, but that's what it is.

Now, why all the long practices, running, jogging etc? That brings your baseline up. If you can bring up your baseline, then you are going less into the red. You are also doing this more efficiently which allows you to use less energy, cause less cellular damage, and have better endurance.

In summation, football is not a classical endurance sport, rather a sport in which you endure.

I frequently played almost every play of the game when I played high school football. (Smalll school -- not a lot of us.) Later in life I took up running marathons -- about 15 of them. The pain I felt after the football games was equal to the pain I felt after the marathons. Both completely wiped me out. No other physical feat in my life has come close to either of them.

I'm curious to know how much variability there is among different offenses.  Do Texas Tech games, for instance, involve significantly more "action time" than Georgia Tech games, due to their much higher number of pass attempts that stop the clock?

is a great way to get your ass kicked by a football player.

I'd like to see you get any football player to admit it is not.

Try getting smashed into 30-40 times a game by really big fast moving guys and see what that does to your endurance.

Guessing the average fan would be pretty worn out after a few such hits and appreciate the value of football conditioning.

and it tells me you've never played football before. in fact with that attitude you're probably a soccer player as those are the only people who have ever told me football doesn't require endurance. (that is soccer players that didn't play football)

When shows like Michigan Replay were fairly new, they used to show every play on many of them.  They had plenty of room for comments, every play, and next-game previews in the half-hour (minus commercials) show.  Nowadays, most of them just show the plays they like, occasionally showing a "bad" play if it was important to the outcome of the game.

Anyway, "only" ten or eleven minutes sounds right to me, but it's the best ten or eleven minutes in sports.

BUT, those minutes are brutal.  These are followed by a few seconds of rest, and you're at it again.  Several minutes of recovery as your defense (for example) is on the field, and you start the process again.

Then there is the mental aspects, which I do not believe are given enough attention.  While your body may get a chance to rest, your brain does not.  When you come back to the bench, the coaches are gathering units together and reviewing plays, schemes, and adjustments.  The overall experience is draining.

Interesting article and worthy of discussion.  +1

Playing football is akin to a High intensity interval training workout.  For those that are not familiar with HIIT, it is a type of training comprised of alternating intervals of high intensity (going all out), and medium to low intensity "rest" periods.  The "rest" periods are usually longer in duration than the high intensity periods.  If you've ever completed a workout such as this, even if it's just in the gym, you'd know that it is very difficult and really kicks your ass.

I guess the question is "what does endurance mean?". You would have similar numbers when looking at hockey players as well, where the best players get a little over 20 minutes of ice time per game. Does the fact that they only normal play 1 minute shifts mean it isn't an endurance sport?

A quick search gives us this definition:

"1. A state or quality of lasting or duration; lastingness; continuance. [1913 Webster]

Slurring with an evasive answer the question concerning the endurance of his own possession. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

2. The act of bearing or suffering; a continuing under pain or distress without resistance, or without being overcome; sufferance; patience. [1913 Webster]

Their fortitude was most admirable in their patience and endurance of all evils, of pain and of death. --Sir W. Temple.

Syn: Suffering; patience; fortitude; resignation. [1913 Webster]"

I would say that given the second definition that football qualifies as an endurance sport. Just because it doesn't require a person to be in constant motion for long periods of time doesn't mean endurance has nothing to do with the sport IMHE.....or Websters evidently.

the amount of work i actually get done in an eight hour day might be less than this - thanks to MGoBlog

It is very much an endurance sport.  A full-speed exertion of 5-8 seconds can significantly impact your breathing and heart rate.  Watch Woodson's OSU punt return and see him ready to collapse on the sideline after sprinting all out for most of the field.  When I played, I would change the shirt under my pads at halftime because it was often soaked most of the way through.  Football got me in shape as much as basketball did. 

As someone correctly posted, it is high-intensity interval type exercise.  Sprint 40 yards every 45 seconds and you will tire quickly.  It is similarly taxing for defensive lineman and o-lineman where they are run-blocking (not that pass pro takes nothing).  Struggling against someone who weighs 280+ pounds is hard work.  A high school wrestling match lasts 9 minutes.  Ask a wrestler if a match required great conditioning and endurance.

...it's clearly time to move to four hours instead of 4 quarters. I want my money's worth.