For the vast majority of footballers training like a pro isn't possible. Football has to work its way around other commitments like work, school or university etc. However, we have put together a few key strategies that will ensure you perform to the best of your ability come game day.
Training
The first key fundamental to your training, is to try and preload your week as much as possible. This means that the most intense sessions that you undertake - whether that be gym work or football specific sessions - should be concentrated at the start of the week.
Plan your schedule so that you add 1-2 gym sessions per week, ideally as alternate days to football specific work. This will enable you to be as fresh as possible for your football specific training. Alongside gym work, you should try to target 2-3 football sessions per week. This means that if you only train once per week with your team, then you should aim to get back out on the pitch at least 1-2 more times before game day.
Once the season is under way, you should be still be targeting to improve your level of strength and conditioning, whilst ensuring that you pre-load your week to avoid fatigue come matchday. It is also vital that you prevent over-training which will also inhibit performance, and increase the likelihood of injury.
Diet and Nutrition
Whilst training is a vital aspect of improving your physical performance, it needs to form part of a wider process. You might prepare the perfect football or gym session, but the gains you aim to make will be insufficient if you’re unable to perform and recover adequality, as a result of not fuelling yourself correctly. Therefore, setting time aside to create a meal plan, that not only fits in with a heavy schedule, but also allows you to perform optimally, is essential.
There will always be periods during the week where it will be too difficult to prepare nutritious meals, due to time constraints and other priorities. On these occasions you can always supplement your diet with nutritional snacks like fruit, nuts and low fat yogurt.
One way to ensure you are maximising the gains you make through training, whilst balancing a busy lifestyle, is to take Whey90 protein isolate, which has been specifically developed to help footballers increase lean muscle mass and strength on the pitch. Each serving contains a massive 32g protein, 7.9g BCAAs and 20 essential and non-essential amino acids, all of which will maximise the gains you make through training.
Click Here to find out more about the importance of protein for footballers.
Rest and Recovery
The last thing you want is to pick up an injury that leads you to missing key part of the season. So, in order mitigate your risk of injury it’s essential you manage your workload and allow your body adequate recovery time.
Where your rest and recovery planning really comes to the fore is your pre and post-match routines. In the days leading up to a game it's important that you taper down the level of intensity and duration of your training. As stated previously, pre-loading your week will not only will this reduce amount of injuries you amass throughout the season, but also means you’ll also be less fatigued on match day.
Post-game is recovery is another key fundamental in your development, as invariably the quicker you enable your body to adaquetly recover after a game, the more time you’ll have to train effectively for the next game. Understanding your body is key to this process, as it is vitally important that your body effectively recovers prior to undertaking further strenuous training. Make sure that the only training you do for 1-2 days after a game is low in impact and intensity. Examples of low impact activities include swimming, cycling or rowing. These activities, when undertaken at a lower level of intensity can assist in alleviating muscle soreness, increasing muscle mobility and removing lactic acid from the body.
To further aid recovery and significantly reduce injury risk, try Collagen Shots, which are specifically designed to maximise collagen production and reduce injury risk for footballers. Our Collagen Repair Shots are formulated by industry leading nutritionists to promote healthy joints, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage, and each shot also contains 100% of your recommended daily vitamin C and copper
Click Here to find out more about the importance of collagen for footballers.
Training Week Example
|
Saturday |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
|
Matchday |
Rest Day / Light Cycle |
Light Gym Session |
Intense Football Session |
Intese Gym Session |
Light Football Session |
Light Gym Session |
Matchday |
This training schedule should be tailored to fit around your schedule, some weeks you may have more time to dedicate to each session than others, but ensuring that you complete some form of training is crucial to achieving your goals. Even if you can only spare 30 minutes each day to training, doing something is far better than doing nothing, and it will keep your body ticking over, ensuring you are ready for your next matchday!
More Information
To find out more on how to train like the pros, download our FREE four week football training guide HERE, and to learn how to provide your body with the necessary fuel to maximise your gains, you can download our FREE nutrition guide HERE.
