Football and Fitness: The Science Behind Player Conditioning

Professional sport is always accompanied by intense physical exertion. That is why football players must always be in shape. Many players in the starting line-up run more than 10 kilometers per match. And to withstand such loads can not every person. 

So that the coach can make predictionsand the team correct scores it is necessary to lay a good preparation at the beginning of the season. For this purpose, players are taken to training camps. And they should get used to heavy loads at a young age. Then with the transition to older teams, they do not feel a big difference in preparation. 

Young coaches need to know what to emphasize in the preparation of players. Experienced coaches always share their knowledge. Let’s take a closer look at the formula for preparing players for a long season and reaching peak form at the right moment. 

What exercises do football players do to keep fit during pre-season training

Many things are important for professional football players. These are technique, kicking, dribbling, the accuracy of passes, and many more. However, to perform such actions throughout the match, a player must have good physics. First of all, it is developed through:

• running exercises for speed;
• regular sprints;
• endurance exercises. 

During a match, a player will rarely run at top speed. However, to achieve the correct score, he needs to be able to switch on in time and develop acceleration. In this way, at short distances, the striker can run away from the opposing defenders. Conversely, a defender can catch up with fast forwards and prevent them from scoring. 

However, in addition to running fast, the player will also change direction regularly. Therefore, traditional running exercises will not help to develop speed properly. For that, you also need to develop agility and the ability to quickly outmaneuver your opponents. Also, agility in running exercises will help to avoid injuries when accelerating. Therefore, it is important to develop comprehensive exercises to develop the above components. To do this, we need to break down the 3 main components in more detail with exercises. 

Running exercises for speed

Every professional team has an analyst who provides the coaches with information on all player activities. Many analysts note that in general, players move more when practicing on larger fields with more players. They move especially actively when playing 11 vs. 11. 

Players perform more accelerations and decelerations during these drills. Therefore, if players need help to develop maximum speed when running with a lot of changes in direction, it is worth training on larger fields with 22 players on the field. 

If the players need to improve their agility and are good at running, it is worthwhile to do some training on smaller pitches with fewer players (e.g. 5 vs. 5). It is best to combine such drills so that the players can hone their skills in both directions. 

Repeated Sprint training

Repeated Sprint training is very important for players. They can be used to significantly increase the lead over the opponents in short distances. This skill also gives team players an advantage over their opponents. While the opponent is just about to start, a player who can sprint will already overtake him by several steps. With the right training, he will only get further away from the opponent. But how to achieve such results is not understood by everyone. 

Scientists in the field of sports performance development ensure that by training in the 3×3 format on fields no larger than 30×25 meters. This kind of training for a week can significantly increase the overall preparation of players and the ability to make better and longer spurts during matches. 

Endurance

This item is probably the most important for players when laying down their preparation for the whole season. The stamina indicator clearly shows how long a player can maintain a high pace of play during a match. That is why some players are changed after the start of the second half. Also, many substitutions are made after an hour of play, because after that the players’ performance decreases rapidly. 

To offset these moments, coaches try to build up good stamina in players during pre-season training. Scientists have found out that short so-called dueling exercises between players for 20-40 seconds can improve players’ stamina. Such exercises should be done with the recovery period in mind. Then there is a possibility of increasing stamina by 4 times.

As an alternative, you can conduct similar training of players in fours, dividing them into pairs. But in this case, the ‘duel’ should take place for 90 seconds and you must also take into account the rest period. Thanks to these trainings endurance increases 3 times. Young coaches should keep these drills in mind and develop their players with them.

Conclusion

As you can see, it is not enough for players to hone their tactics and techniques to achieve correct scores. Physical conditioning and the ability to move quickly on the pitch should not be forgotten. If the coach is willing to build on the player’s agility, speed, endurance, and ability to make repeated sprints, the player will be able to reach great heights.

Through the above drills, players improve their conditioning and will be able to play matches at a higher pace. If this is not done, it is likely that in the first half, the team will be able to play at a high level, and in the second half, there will be a significant slump. Of course, there will also be slumps in players who have good conditioning during the season. But this is the exception rather than the rule. 

That’s why coaches need to help players get the right skills and form. This can be achieved with the help of the drills that are described in this article.