How Much to Throw During a Game Week

Preparing for game day isn’t just about throwing as much as possible—it’s about being strategic with your volume. Early in the week, you should maximize your throws, working on precision and mechanics while your arm is fresh. As game day approaches, you taper down, ensuring your arm is sharp without being fatigued. This approach is grounded in sports science and can make all the difference in how you perform.

Why Tapering Works

Throwing a football creates load on your tendons, especially in your shoulder and elbow. Research from the American Journal of Sports Medicine shows that tendons adapt more slowly to stress than muscles, which means tapering helps prevent overuse injuries. Early in the week, higher throw volume can promote muscle and tendon adaptation, but by gradually reducing volume toward game day, you give your muscles and tendons the recovery they need to maintain strength and flexibility for peak performance on game day. There are multiple ways to taper: undulation, linear, etc. For the scope of this blog we will use a tried and true simple linear taper to demonstrate how to properly drop fatigue by competition time. 

A Simple Weekly Breakdown

Here’s a streamlined tapering approach for a typical game week:

• Wednesday: High throw volume (80-100 throws), focusing on first and second down plays.
• Thursday: Medium volume (60-80 throws), focusing on third down plays.
• Friday: Low volume (40-60 throws), focusing on red zone plays and touching up any first through third down installation. 
• Gameday Sunday: Utilize your pre-throw routine, plyos and warm up throws to prepare you for game action. Warm up throws should be no more than 50 throws, and preferably around 30.  The goal is to emphasize sharpness, sequence and timing; without fatigue.

Conclusion: Taper for Performance

By strategically reducing throw volume as game day approaches, you’re ultimately setting yourself up for peak performance. The sports science backs it up: less can indeed be more when it comes to preparing for a quarterback's most important day of the week.

So, next time you’re tempted to keep the volume high through Friday, remember: save those extra throws for when it really matters—on Sunday.

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