Soccer Fitness
...fitness training methods and their main principles. Find out their significance on soccer performance and learn how to develop your own training routine. The different fitness training methods here are classified in categories depending on their function and significance on performance.
Preparing your body for soccer is a process that is often overlooked, especially at the lower levels of the game. There are three main aspects that must be touched upon in order to achieve maximum physiological readiness.
Circulation - Picking up the Metabolic Rate
Passive
Before jumping into a competitive event, the body's cardio-vascular activity needs to be increased gradually. Up to 30 minutes before kickoff, it is recommended to drink tea (preferably with a lemon and sweetened by honey rather than sugar.) The tea contains caffeine, which will increase a player's heart rate. Tea is rich in Sodium, a mineral that regulates and balances the amount of fluids outside the cells in the body, aiding in muscle contraction and nerve function. Sodium is usually lost during endurance events like soccer in the means of sweat.
Prior to going out to the field, light massage should be applied to the poorly circulated parts of the body like the ankles, knees, lower back and shoulders. This is especially important in cold weather.
Active
The active warm-up must begin about 20-30 minutes before the actual event. During this process, the body has to be warmed up through active exercises such as light jogging. The intensity should be gradually picked up. Incorporating different muscle groups at this stage will uniformly warm up the body.
Musculature - Stretching
Stretching is misunderstood and misused by many coaches at the lower levels of the game. First off, it must never be used on "cold muscles." Unless you're body has been warmed up, stretching can only cause harm....
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