Four exercises Non-League and Sunday League players must do to be ready for post-lockdown football!
This article has a variety of four different exercises you must involve in your lockdown training plan. Improve your balance, strength, co-ordination, endurance and explosiveness by simply practising these four components.
We interviewed personal trainer and fitness enthusiast Adam Morris and asked him for a simple training plan to aid any level of football player. Go check out his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/adammorrisfitness/ for further workout plans.
First of all, lets workout why you need to improve the five previously stated aspects.
Balance– Balance is one of the most important physical aspects any player can have. To beat a man, or to defend a skilful winger, balance is essential. You barely spend any time in the whole match standing on two feet. Training your balance will improve your mobility and agility drastically.
Strength- There is a reason Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs look like something from comic books, because he spends endless hours training his strength. And whilst simply training during quarantine will not give you legs which match the Portuguese superstar, improving strength in your legs will aid you with power, speed and lessen your muscle fatigue.
Co-Ordination- This might seem like an obvious one, obviously you need strong co-ordination to improve on the football pitch. However, being able to improve your ‘Foot-eye co-ordination’ without even using a football is something less people consider. By simply adding four simple movements to your workout routine you will need to be focusing on what your feet are doing, therefor improving your co-ordination.
Endurance- Endurance is often considered by just running miles upon miles to improve your cardiovascular abilities. Peter Crouch said in his famous podcast that Tony Pullis use to make him and the rest of the stoke team run up so many hills that they nearly threw up every preseason. However, with the modernisation of fitness and especially endurance-based training, it has been discovered that doing shorter bursts consistently aids football players much more than hours upon hours of running.
Explosiveness- Lets go back to Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs. Ronaldo is ones of, if not the fastest players out of the blocks of all time and could jump so high, he could beat a giraffe to a header. And the fact his calves look like they belong on the incredible hulk is part of the reason for this. Having explosiveness in your game can change you from a mediocre player to un-droppable.#
Watch the video below and try it for yourself!
4×12 Knee Jumps (With optional 10 meter sprints after each repetition)
4×12 Backward Squat Rolls
4×12 Squat jumps
4×12 Supermans
Author- Ben Lee
nonleaguefootballsouthern.sport.blog 