NFL training camps will be opening around the league this week. By the end of next week, most of the major college football programs will have started practice. It used to be when training camps opened the annual late summer ritual of double sessions had begun. That is no longer the case in both NFL and college football. Why is that?
There are a number of reasons for the decline of double sessions, but one of the main reasons is year-round conditioning. Back when I was playing football, and when I started working in the NFL in the early 1980s, there was no such thing as OTAs and offseason programs.