If you’re a parent in Abu Dhabi you might be wondering how to add a bit more fitness to your kid’s lifestyles. Football in Abu Dhabi is a great sport which is loved by many children. We asked a professional football personal trainer for his top 5 tips when it comes to being fit for football.
The top 5 training methods for increased football fitness
Question: When it comes to ‘football fitness’ what would you say are the top 5 training methods to enhance football fitness?
If you’re goal is to become a professional football player in Abu Dhabi or you are just looking to improve on an amateur level you need to be focusing on these 5 things:
Cardiovascular Endurance (Stamina)
You can have all the football skills in the world but without the endurance to go along with it you’re going to struggle.
Interval training is a popular method in the world of football to help improve VO2 Max.
Combine interval training with a mixture of jogging and maximum sprinting.
Agility
Ability to change direction in football is key.
As a football player in Abu Dhabi you need to be able change direction quickly, safely and while keep possession of the ball.
Put some cones down and dribble in and out keeping the ball tight to the feet and time yourself.
Try beat your time each go.
Sprint Speed
In the game of football sprint speed is now vital no matter what position you play in.
If you are going to be a top player you need to maximize your speed.
It will help with beating players to a lose ball, taking on opponents and for getting back in time to make a crucial goal saving tackle.
Getting in the gym and training your hamstrings and practicing sprinting mechanics etc.
Core Strength And Stability
Up there with the other 3 key things in football fitness is core strength and stability.
Core muscles are important for a soccer player as they serve a base for endurance, posture, strength, power, coordination, and reducing likelihood of injury.
Exercises to help strengthen the core can range from squats to TRX movements to as simple as doing the plank.
Rest and Recover
Last but definitely not one to forget.
Without this in your training programme you probably won’t be able to reach your peak fitness and on the road to getting injured.
Make sure you allow rest times between training and games.
You should make sure your diet is correct and perform exercises to aid in recovery such as foam rolling etc.