The Complete Handbook of American Football Training Equipment
A practical reference for coaches, trainers, facilities, and serious players on selecting, using, and maintaining gear that actually improves performance.
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
A vendor-neutral, practical guide to buying, using, and maintaining American football training equipment -- written for professionals, not shoppers.
About this book
This handbook is a working reference for anyone who purchases, operates, or maintains American football training equipment. It covers the full range of gear -- sleds, tackling dummies, blocking shields, chutes, parachutes, agility ladders, resistance bands, and more -- and explains in concrete terms how each tool is meant to be used, what it can and cannot do, and how to evaluate competing products on real specifications like materials, weight, and adjustability.
Unlike manufacturer catalogs or forum posts, this book is deliberately vendor-neutral. It teaches you how to read a spec sheet, what questions to ask a supplier, and how to match equipment to your specific training environment, player age, and position group. Each chapter builds on the last: from understanding the fundamentals, to selecting the right gear, to installing it correctly, to maintaining it so it lasts. The final sections focus on the business and future of the category: how to resell, rent, or service equipment, and where the industry is headed in terms of materials and technology.
If you are a high school coach with a tight budget, a private facility owner scaling up, or a serious player building a home setup, this handbook gives you the framework to buy less but better, and to keep what you buy working for years.
Reader Reviews
Kimberly Thompson
★★★★★It's a solid reference, and I appreciate that it's not trying to sell me anything. The chapter on specs was genuinely useful when I was comparing blocking dummies for our program. My main reservation is that some sections, especially the business opportunities part, felt a bit thin unless you're already on that career path. Good for a library shelf, but I wouldn't call it a page-turner.
Kathleen Young
★★★★★I run a small private training facility and this has already paid for itself by keeping me from buying a 'combination' sled that looked innovative but was apparently just two basic tools bolted together. The maintenance chapter is also more practical than anything I got from the vendors. I dock one star only because I wished for a few more photographs or diagrams when they discuss the differences between, say, a chute and a harness. Still, a very worthwhile read.
Ronald Smith
★★★★★This is the book I wish I'd had ten years ago when I started ordering equipment for our high school. We've wasted money on gear that looked great in a video but didn't suit our field or our players, and this handbook walks through exactly how to evaluate that. I've already changed my spring budget based on the chapter about prioritizing purchases. I've bought a copy for our athletic director and our league's other coaches. It's that straightforward and useful.
Anna Carter
★★★★★I do equipment maintenance for a college program, and the troubleshooting guide in Chapter 5 is exactly what I needed for the chronic issues we have with our sled pads and air dummies. The book's tone is professional without being dry, and I found the comparison tables for vinyl grades and foam densities very helpful. My only real gripe is that the future trends section didn't spend more time on automated tracking. But overall, a strong addition to the office bookshelf.