Get in shape
Five principles to guide your training.
1. Shore up your centre
A strong and stable torso is responsible for connecting movement between your lower body and upper body, maintaining your posture, increasing performance, and protecting you from nagging injuries. So as you start conditioning your body for the football season, aim to strengthen and stabilize all the muscles from your hips to shoulders.
2. Train in multiple directions
In football you are constantly reacting to other players around you. This requires you to be ready to move in any direction in order to keep up with the action on the field. When defenders chase and react to their opponent, their movements may appear random. However, they are actually linked movement skills whose complexity can be broken down into small manageable training packages.
3.Take your workout with you
Traditionally, if you want to get stronger – you go to the gym. But what happens if you don’t have access to a gym? Does this mean you can’t get stronger? Of course not! We all carry with us our own personal set of weights to train with - our body weight. There are a wide variety of highly effective strength exercises you can do that use your body weight as resistance. Understanding how to strengthen your body, without the need of a gym or equipment, gives you the freedom to do your strength training wherever you are. Whether it’s a short strength session on the court after a practice, or something you do each morning in your room before you start your day, you can train all your major muscle groups with simple exercises. Try a couple of sets of eight to ten reps of movements such as pushups, glute bridges, pullups, and bodyweight squats.
4. Train your glutes
Strong glutes will make you a more powerful football player, so train them every chance you get. Every time you lower your centre of gravity, initiate the movement with your hips. Whether it's going up steps, squatting to pick something up or simply rising from a chair, get yourself in proper position. Squeeze those glutes until your legs are straight. Your chest should be over your knees. When you go upstairs, make sure your toe is pointed ahead, and push through the hips until your legs are extended. That might mean you have to skip every other step, but that's okay. Otherwise, you put all the pressure on the knees. Think of life as one big glute workout and you'll see amazing results. Every time you walk, move and bend, squeeze those glutes. Don't take them for granted.
5. Back off when you need to
If you're working hard all the time, you're never truly recovered. You might think you're working hard, but you're so mentally and physically fatigued that you're not nearly as productive as you think you are. Remember, this programme will only be moderately successful if you have a limiting lifestyle and for many people that limitation comes in the form of a lack of sleep.
Boost speed & agility
How fast you move on the field depends on how you apply force to the ground. Here are three things to think about.
1. Decelerate to move forward
Throughout a football match players are constantly changing direction. Whether they are reacting to an opponent with the ball, or trying to make a quick move to get past a defender, football athletes require both linear and multidirectional speed. Now, what you might be surprised to hear, is that in order to make any rapid change of direction you first must slow down. That's right, you must decelerate your body before you can speed up, or reaccelerate. The ability to quickly decelerate under control and then reaccelerate in a different direction can have a huge impact on your multidirectional speed.
2. Achieve new speeds
Too often, football players rely on a poor understanding of physics to move themselves around the field. We know from physics class that a force exercised in one direction results in an equal and opposite reaction, so if you want to move forward it only makes sense that you should apply the force into the ground behind you. It is quite common, however, to over-stride when running, or reach too far out in front of you, forcing you to pull instead of push yourself.
3. React faster
Football is a very complex game that requires each player to continuously interact with their environment. Players are constantly reacting to external cues on the field. Whether you are reacting to the body language of an opposing attacker, the verbal commands of a teammate, or the physical contact between you and your opponent when fighting for a ball, the speed at which you react to these cues greatly impacts your performance. It can mean the difference between defending a ball and allowing a clear shot on goal, which is why it is important to incorporate reaction drills into your training programme.
Prevent injury
Here are three tips to keep you on top of your game.
1. Train your whole body
In football many athletes aggravate their groins from the repetitive motions of kicking and cutting. This is the result of relying too much on the muscles on the inside of the thigh when they are on the pitch running, kicking and cutting. By 'waking up' the muscles which should be active, less stress will be placed on the groin, decreasing its potential for injury. For example, when striking a ball, instead of focusing on the leg kicking the ball, think about using your plant leg to help swing your body through the ball.
2. Schedule recovery days
In the pursuit of becoming a better football athlete it is easy to get caught up in the idea that more time on the pitch is better for your development. Everybody understands that in order to improve in sport you must be focused, dedicated, and work hard. However, this is too often taken to extremes. Scheduling in planned recovery days throughout your football training will help prevent you from overtraining your body. Think of recovery days in terms of active and passive recovery. Active recovery consists of aerobic and low impact activities such as long easy rides on the bike or swims in the pool. The idea here is to un-weight your legs, avoid heavy pounding, and limit your energy expenditure. Passive recovery can include things such as getting a massage, having a good night's sleep, or taking the day to enjoy your favorite leisure activity.
3. Play a new sport
If you feel overuse injuries creeping up on you and find it hard to cut back on your training, consider cross-training as an option. It will satisfy your need to train while taking some of the stress off your body. For example, instead of doing your football conditioning on the field, a more appropriate choice may involve swimming or cycling. These are two great options for cross-training because of the significant lower impact they have on your body. You will be able to develop strength, improve cardiovascular fitness, and avoid injury through cross-training.