Q&A for How to Hit Harder in Tackle Football

It's important to remember that it's not the size of the dog that wins the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Even if you're not the biggest or strongest, showing a determination to never quit will show everyone that you're confident and strong enough to take the tackles. Over time, your body itself will adjust to the pain of being tackled.

Work on your size/mass, use effort and leg drive, keep yourself balanced, timing, and using center of gravity.

Lower yourself and explode toward the player. By lowering yourself, you can resist more impact and are less likely to get trucked - hence, the fear is gone.

Work on your legs a lot. Go for jogs and stretch; over time, your speed will improve. Use a treadmill often.

Squats, deadlifts, wall sits and plyometric box jumps.

Personally, because I play football as a defensive lineman, I don't think about the bad things that could happen I just try my hardest to get the tackle as I know my coaches will be proud of me. Try doing the same.

Go for the waist or legs, but accept your limitations. If someone is that much larger than you, you're not always going to get an effective tackle.

There are good and bad football players who are fat, skinny, tall, short, strong, weak, fast, and slow. Especially if you're playing in a boys league, you need a good mindset. With some practice, you should be fine!

Keep practicing and working with your coach to improve your skills.

If you want to, and you think you'd be good at it, go for it! All it takes is hard work and practice.

Get very low and grab his ankles and hold on as hard as you can until your teammates come make the tackle.

Don't lead with your helmet. Lead with your arms and a shoulder. Don't make contact before the receiver touches the ball.

No. It will cause bad leverage and you wont be ready for a opponents truck. Just explode into the other player's legs or waist and you'll be fine.

Head up, protect the ball, and when you're about to hit the person, make sure you're lower than your opponent and drive through them.

It's a simple matter of speed and strength.

I don't know how tall or how old you are, but a linebacker could be a good fit at high school level or lower since you can read plays. If you are high school or higher, you could be a cornerback or wide receiver also.

You already have a lower center of gravity, so use that to your advantage. Stay low and drive right into them. You need to have strong legs and momentum. Never stop driving either. You won't always get someone down on your initial hit, but you can drive your feet and push them off to get them out of your way to get more yardage.

It depends on whether you're on offense or defense; you could dislocate your arm if you drop your shoulder on defense. Focus on getting lower than your opponent with your head up. Make sure to drive your feet. If you're on offense, you want to get lower than your opponent, protect the ball, keep your head up, and drive your feet.

You could be a lineman, but some coaches might want to try you at full back.

Yes, you can. Practice will help you develop these skills, and will also make you stronger and better at football.

If you don't have the size advantage, use psychology instead. Practice your frowning and intimidating stare in the mirror and use it on your opponent. It may sound funny, but making a growl or other noise before hitting can also be quite intimidating. Try to make your opponent afraid of you despite your size, which will make tackling easier (and give you more confidence, especially if your reputation spreads).

You should look into positions that do not require hitting.

Not all girls suck at football, and that's a sexist statement to make in the first place. Women tend to be less interested in sports in general, and their playing style may be different due to biological differences between men and women, but that doesn't mean "girls suck" at football overall.

Wear the right gear, it'll give you the confidence. Remember that football helmets and pads have gone through years of tweaking and that it comes from a company with many years experience. And that if it wasn't safe, it would not be trusted by the thousands of players in the NFL.

Develop a strong punch. The initial contact you create with your hands during a bull rush technique will set the tempo for the game. First down is the most important for telling the offensive lineman that you will be there all day to make him work. You can improve your contact skills by using a flat hand to punch a heavy bag or another player holding a shield pad. Boxing training will take your game to the next level for this style of play.

Football is a team sport. Focus on maintaining contact with a larger ball carrier. If you bring him down, great! If he runs up the field with you hanging from his jersey, at least you are slowing him down so your teammates can stop him. Letting your teammates help is how you gain the advantage on a large ball carrier.

Focus your strength training on your quadriceps (thighs), glutes (rear-end), and abdominal (stomach) muscles. Power is generated by the hips. Hands are used to control your opponent but generate little power. If you are a beginner, you can focus on doing body weight squats, burpees/up-downs, and leg lifts. There is no substitute for drilling gameday scenarios, so you will also need to do a lot of work hitting football bags. A heavy bag is also a good resource to work on explosiveness. Practice hitting the heavy bag in the manner you imagine yourself hitting other players in a game.

Read up on the phrase, "come to balance". This is a body-control concept used for tackling in American football. There are different schools of thought, but it is irrelevant how fast and strong you are if you miss the tackle. Body control is the key to successful tackling. A good tackle brings the ball carrier to the ground in the most efficient way possible. Avoid being overly aggressive, and focus on the primary job, which is limiting the yardage gained by the ball carrier. Staying low is important: you want your shoulder to contact the ball carrier's hip in most tackles.

Unless you are much bigger than your opponent, expect to fall with him.