How to improve the physical condition of a football player is aerobic strength, speed and power training!
Fitness is crucial for all soccer players. The components of the most important skill in football include aerobic capacity, flexibility, strength, power and speed. From these components of fitness in aerobic capacity and strength can be further improved by physical training, while genetics play an important role in determining the flexibility, power and speed. The focus of this debate will be on fitness tests and training to improve the physical condition of a football player (with an emphasis on fitness rather than soccer skills).
Fitness Test for football
Prime test of a football player should be done regularly for training purposes and progress can be measured. Ideally, a battery of aptitude tests are designed for a team (or individual players, if their role in the game are very different) and carried out before and after training blocks two to three months.
In football players’ aerobic capacity is essential for all functions other than goalie. The best test to measure aerobic capacity are time trials or the sound test. The testing time would be between 3 and 5 kilometer run continuous maximum effort. The test sound is actually a shuttle run 20 meters back and forth until exhaustion is more specific than a time test of football skill, and also requires a good degree of agility.
Strength is important in contests for the ball and running and kicking form. Resistance tests are tests of maximum force when the player does as much weight as you can in a single effort. These would focus on the core abdominal muscles, hamstrings and quadriceps.
Scores on aerobic fitness and strength should be the focus of training and improvement, but the components of fitness then also be tested:
The static flexibility of the hamstring stretches
Maximum power vertical and horizontal jumps
sprinting, for example. 10, 50 and 100 meters
Agility time around a cone field
Training for football
After testing the fitness of the players with the previous tests results should be analyzed to determine their strengths and weaknesses. The aim of their training then must be to maintain (or improve) their strengths and transform weaknesses into strengths. Most of the training should include the implementation (eg 60-70%) at different speeds (the development of aerobic capacity, strength and speed), gym work force (10-15%) and flexibility ( 5-10%). The goalkeeper will probably focus more on agility, power and speed with much less emphasis on aerobic capacity. Exercises to improve soccer skills and tactics become part of the program for fitness and skill level is developed at the same time.
Here’s a brief example of a training program for a football player:
Out of season (1-2 months):
- Running smoothly (1-2 days per week)
strength training (1-2 days per week) -
- Speed / power development (1-2 per week) (can be done after running easy)
Pre-season (1-3 months)
- Easy to run (2-4 per week)
strength training (3-4 days per week) -
- Speed / Power (2-4 week)
- Flexibility, agility, skills should be incorporated into the sessions
In season (5-7 months)
football game (1-2 week) -
- Easy slopes (3-5 per week)
feed rate (3-4 per week) -
- Flexibility and agility worked on every second day
- Skills (6-7 days a week)
Soccer fitness is important and as discussed can be significantly improved through training. To ensure that training has a positive impact on a condition of the players always prove their fitness before and after training blocks and come on game day should be at its best.