One thing many local footballers will be given by their football or fitness coach during pre-season, or during times away from the game such as the Coronavirus lock-downs in 2020-21, is an aerobic based running base. Although this is definitely necessary, it’s only one piece of the puzzle to ensure players are ready to go once the time does come to play (whenever that is). This is probably the hardest thing about current times in relation to training for sport and more specifically football in this case. No one actually knows when the season is going to start again. However, when it does start, it’s more than likely going to be at the drop of a hat and having time to train and prepare as a team is going to be minimal.  We asked our trainer Dylan Vizzarri who plays Division 1 Football for Blackburn (pictured below) and a highly experienced strength and conditioning coach to explain exactly how he is overcoming this situation and the critical things you need to know for staying in shape.

Some are treating this time similar to that of an off-season, which for the first month or two is probably the right way to go about it. However, as a potential start to the season approaches, it’s important to expose yourself to the physical stresses that is required of you on game day to be as ready as possible if the green light is given.

Given the current circumstance, these training qualities I am going to outline in this article are even more important to complete in your own training which is a compromise compared to the typical November off-season. The normal program allows for certain variables to be manipulated and properly periodised to ensure these training qualities are progressively introduced throughout the pre-season. This is covered in great detail in our previous article – The Best Strength Training Methods for AFL Football

Unfortunately these circumstances do not allow for this careful planning so you have to cut some corners and do the best you can to maintain physical strength and fitness.

Going straight into games with minimal time to physically prepare presents a whole host of problems from a player readiness point of view. The volume and intensity of a game is almost impossible to replicate in team training, let alone on your own. Big spikes in load that a full game presents substantially increases likelihood of injury. There is a way, however, to be as prepared as you possibly can be and in turn reduce your chance of being injured, and also perform well.

On top of your aerobic based running, be sure to implement the following into your weekly training schedule:

1. High Speed/Max Velocity Running

Yes, it’s important to have a strong aerobic capacity, but speed is where the game is won and lost. You’re almost guaranteed to have to do this during a game and if you haven’t exposed yourself to it prior, your chances of injury increase dramatically. Not to mention you may get faster by training it.

Max velocity exposure is a proven protective mechanism against hamstring strains, i.e if you’re not sprinting maximally on a regular basis, you’re increasing likelihood of a hamstring strain.

Before your running session and after your warm-up, simply add in 4 x 50m max effort sprints with a walk back recovery. 

Also try and add in some shorter interval sets such as 6 x 150m efforts in less than 25 seconds, resting 90 seconds between sets. This won’t be at max velocity, however, this is just as important as the ability to tolerate high volumes of high-speed running at close to lactate threshold is critical in football.

2. Agility & Change of Direction

Most running programs can replicate the overall volume of what a game requires, however, what really makes you sore after that first game is the high intensity accelerations, decelerations and unpredictable change of direction movements that is thrown at you throughout the game. 

Rapid decelerations (breaking/slowing down) puts enormous stress on your lower limb joints. Combine that with changing direction and now your groin/pelvic region is also under huge amounts of stress. If this is suddenly experienced in high volumes and intensity, chronic stress related injuries may begin to present themselves.

Simply add in cutting movements towards the end of your warm-up to prevent this from happening.

Zig Zag, lateral shuffles, shuttle runs, kick a footy in the air and react to where is going. Be as creative as you like, just make sure you’re exposing yourself to it in some way shape or form and gradually increase how much you do.

Below is a great video with several ideas of exercises I use a lot with football players to enhance change of direction and prevent ACL injuries.

3. Don’t Forget To Practice Your Kicking Skills

From a skill and touch point of view, kicking is an obvious one to be doing, however, is often neglected. Not kicking can also result in quad and groin issues if suddenly reintroduced combined with high game day volumes.

Simply add in some kicking in between interval sets or on separate days.

4. Strength

Strength training is vital at this time as it will tie everything together and compliment everything previously mentioned. It will prevent injury, enhance performance, and make you more durable (able to tolerate higher loads on the field).

This may be difficult for some as availability to gym equipment may be very limited.  This is where you need to get creative when adding load. For example I put books in a backpack and wear it as a weight vest. Resistance bands are another effective and versatile option that you can use that can replicate the loads you are used to in the gym. The best part is they cost hardly anything and you can easily take these with you to the park when practice your kicking skills and running workouts. You can easily have an intense training workout at the park that ticks all the boxes.

Read this detailed article for tons of other ideas – Advanced Resistance Band Exercises to Use During Coronavirus Lockdown

Here is an example of a full body strength workout that can be completed from home:

• Warm up with a jog for 5 mins
• Hip Extension 3 x 15
• Horse Stance 3 x 10 each side
• Resistance Band Push Up 3 x 15
• Walking Lunge 3 x 20
• Resistance Band Single Leg Deadlift 3 x 10 each side
• Chin Up, Inverted Row or weighted row variation 3 x 10-12
• Lateral Lunge 3 x 8 each side
• Suitcase Carry (literal suitcase carry) 3 x 20m each side

Get The FREE Reports Below

Before going any further I encourage you to download our Free Report below about Strength Training For AFL Football. Back in 2011 we put together a very simple free report on training for football but so much has changed since then we thought we should update it. We added another 30 pages of information with programs, exercise pictures, and instructions explaining exactly how to structure your season the right way to get results.

Click the image below to get your FREE copy.

Summary

There is many things out of our control at this point in time so there is no point getting stressed about these things. Instead focus on the things you have control over and be creative with your approach. Not only will this keep you sharp physically it will do wonders for you mentally and prevent you going out of your mind without the rush you would normally get from playing the game you love. I hope this article gives you some ideas and more structure to your training.

If you would like specific help setting up your training plan we are providing Online Training programs where we set it all out specifically for you. To find out more click here and we will be in touch within 24 hours to explain how it works.

About The Author

Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 15 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specialises in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.

References:

• Functional Training for Sports - by Mike Boyle
• Movement - By Gray Cook
• Corrective Exercise Solutions - by Evan Osar
• Athletic Body Balance by Gray Cook
• Diagnosis & Treatment Of Movement Impairment Syndromes - By Shirley Sahrman
• Low Back Disorders - by Stuart McGill
• Back Pain Mechanic - by Stuart McGill
• Anatomy Trains - by Thomas Meyers
• Motor Learning and Performance - By Richard A Schmidt and Timothy D Lee
• Assessment & Treatment Of Muscle Imbalance - By Vladimir Janda
• How To Eat, Move & Be Healthy by Paul Chek
• Scientific Core Conditioning Correspondence Course - By Paul Chek
• Advanced Program Design - By Paul Chek
• Twist Conditioning Sports Strength - By Peter Twist
• Twist Conditioning Sports Movement - By Peter Twist
• Twist Conditioning Sports Balance - By Peter Twist