A Guide to Cardio for Footballers
Football or soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world with it being universally accepted as the sport that most countries participate in on the international stage. Soccer may seem like a simple sport since all you need is your body and a ball. Still, as it has developed and more money invested in the sport, it has become a refined art with sports science, nutritional science and more all lending their expertise to footballers.
These health care disciplines have overlapped with football to drive better results for players, reduce their likelihood of injury, improve fitness and recover time and of course, performance on the field. One of the most apparent parts required to be a successful soccer player is being able to run and move around for the full 90 minutes, which means you need your heart pumping at the right speeds and your lung capacity increased overtime to get oxygen to the muscles.
Improvement in the body can only be achieved through a range of cardiovascular exercises like running and jogging, but how much running does a footballer need to get fit? Let’s find out, shall we?
How often should you do cardio?
The typical football schedule consists of one game every seven days, so an in-season conditioning schedule is much denser than other sports which often have multiple games in a week. Traditionally, two cardiovascular sessions work well for in-season training.
Usually, they should be scheduled a day after the competition, which is ideal for a recovery session.
(A session lasting 20–30 minutes with a heart rate around 60–70% of your max) along with treatment and any therapy needed.
The general rule for training during the season for any sport is to perform two high-intensity cardiovascular workouts in a week to maintain your fitness levels. The game is considered one of these high-intensity days. This means if you don’t play in the game, then you should do some high-intensity intervals that day or the next to keep your fitness level up.
Cardio will include jogging, sprint drills, agility drills whatever are prescribed for your particular skill or position you play. Heart rate for this session is 85–90% of your max. This will allow for three days of recovery before your next competition.
Get the right footwear
One highly overlooked aspect of cardio is the footwear; many footballers train in their boots while others prefer to train in running shoes, this is a personal preference or a preference of facilities available. Sure if you have a grass or artificial turf close by your boots are an option, if not then road running would require a decent pair of running shoes.
Making sure you have the right footwear can reduce strain on the joints and keep you from pulling up and getting injured or running in a way that damages your body as you compensate for the poor support, so make sure your footwear is up to par.
Stay hydrated
During cardio and I mean proper cardio you are going to sweat, that’s one of the signs you’re doing it right, your body is under strain and stress and is trying to cool down and maintain a healthy temperature. To help your body stay in the correct zone for fat burning and muscle strain, you need to keep it adequately hydrated either by drinking water or having your favourite low sugar energy drink available during training.
Don’t think hydration is only for, during training, you should remain hydrated well into the rest of the day as your muscles repair from your workout too.
Switch it up with HIIT
You cannot go jogging on the filed or in the neighbourhood and think you’re going to get into football shape. Soccer requires a lot of explosive activity for things like dribbling or tracking back and is made up of many short sprints and switching direction during the game. These situations make it necessary for a footballer to have and train for explosive power through more HIIT training sessions.
Get ready for football
Now that you’re ready to start improving your cardio, you’ll be able to build a solid foundation for becoming a better footballer. Having the cardio as a floor for your workouts will help you remain more attentive to the more technical aspects. Activities such as passing, shooting and dribbling and drive better co-ordination with the ball as we all as with your teammates as your body starts to keep pace with what our mind wants it to do.
About the Author
Che Kohler is the co-founder of nichemarket, a South African Business Directory and digital marketing agency. He is an avid blogger who specialises in writing about marketing tech and cryptocurrency.
Originally posted on fitnessreporting.com
