match fitness

settopbox

i play soccer for a small local club. (pub football in all but name)
my fitness is fair but i am looking to step it up a bit.
ideally id like to develop sprinting and just general faster foot movement as well as having the ability to last 90 mins.
not big into fitness or anything but just feel that there are times in the game where a bit of speed or fitness is lacking.
im 5-11 and 12 stone, dont drink alcohol
any sort of advice is appreciated

Xavi6

Short, sharp sprints are great for improving your speed. You're never really required to sprint more than 25 yards in one go in football so no point practising for any longer at this stage.

I'm doing a lot of work on the beach with my team at the mo (admittedly it's sunny in Oz ) and I'm finding it building up my calf muscles a lot more than just regular running.

I'm 6ft and 13 stone and probably in a similar position to yourself. We do the odd long distance run (12 mins) but most of our stuff at training is working on sharpness over shorter distances.

ErinGoBrath

High intensity interval training is a great way to get match fit.

Google HIIT programs and get cracking!

Good luck

Roper

ErinGoBrath wrote: »

High intensity interval training is a great way to get match fit.

Google HIIT programs and get cracking!

Good luck

I don't agree. HIIT doesn't remotely mimic a 90 minute match in any way.

I'm not involved in football but I've compared notes with a few guys who are on what they do to increase speed etc. The old way was (drawing a figure from my head) doing 600 metres of sprints, so say 6X100 metres. But now apprently that is gone in favour of distance covered by any amount of sprints. So in other words my friend takes his team through 600m over the course of a training session which might be 4X50m, 1X100 and so on in any combination.

I got a good speed drill from him which uses the penalty box and 6 yard box. Start at the touchline- sprint to the edge of the box, jog backwards to the touchline, sprint to the 6 yard box, jog backwards to the touchline and then to the far edge of the 6 yard, back, far edge of the 18 yard box, back, then the far touchline and back. It's a good drill, you can do it on your own and it will help your burst speed over short to medium distances.

settopbox

sound advice by all.
looks like i'll just have to get started on it now.

jdivision

chopping your feet will improve leg speed. in addition look at the mechanics of how you sprint towards the ball. Amazing how many players I have to tell not to move their foot backwards before they move forwards, they lose a second doing it. first step should typically be high and short.

dv6

Good drill is to set out cones in the shape of a T, sprint from base to middle cone, then shuffle sideways to left cone, then right across to right cone and backwards to the base cone again, time yourself and work on it, your be amazed how much your times will change.