Tips for keeping soccer players in shape during the summer

After a long season in which most teams play between 30 and 40 games per year comes the holiday period, this period is called “off-season”, is a necessary period for both players and the club, but produces physiological decline in the players who later in the return may affect us.

This period usually consists of between 4 and 6 weeks normally, and it is very important both to rest and disconnect from football activity, how to maintain small routines, which do not cost much time or sacrifice to the players to return to the preseason in an optimal state.

Therefore, as a summary bet9ja vip has provided the important things that players need to do within this period:

  • A good rest both physical and mental, where we must disconnect from football but knowing that we continue to be linked to it, highlight this issue, a good rest, a control of food and especially beverages, because due to the heat we can find ourselves dehydrated and control our sunset prolonged.
  • Another aspect to emphasize in this period is the attempt of maintenance of the obtained physical capacities, but a better adaptation to the training of the preseason.
  • Finally, it is important to assess this period, since a bad behavior during this transition can generate that the pre-season loads, which are generally higher, cause us injuries.

After all, it’s a period that’s going to give us better performance during the competitive period.

The aspects that we must take into account when evaluating this period and the work that we are going to develop for our footballers are:

  • Body composition: during this period it has been shown that there is an increase in body fat, and a decrease in muscle mass of players, all this is commonly due to inactivity, poor rest and a poor diet.
  • Neuromuscular capacity: inactivity produces in the brain that the ability to recruit muscle fibers decreases, and therefore, the ability we have to generate strength.
  • Maximum volume of oxygen (VO2 max.): athletes in these periods of inactivity lose the ability to carry oxygen.
  • Other aspects are also diminished in performance such as the ability to perform sprints, loss of speed, but the vast majorities are produced by the aspects mentioned above.

The proposals to develop for this holiday period should be made according to the specific capabilities of each player, depending on their physical capabilities, those made during the season, taking into account the propensities of injuries that usually have the players, etc..

In our great majority, we usually make general activities for all players; this is due to the few means that allow us to develop these studies.

A proposal of development of this period would be:

  • A first period of rest:
  • we could carry out this period a total rest, of between 1 and 2 weeks where the player would rest in his totality, we must consider the section of the on training, if it is a group for example, in which many trainings have been developed due to the duration of the league, play off, etc, it is convenient to carry out a period of total rest. On the other hand, if we believe that the player can do some kind of activity, we could recommend an active rest work, advising him to do activities without much volume of load such as walks.
  • The second period would be a period of work where the athlete could perform activities in search of that recovery / maintenance of general physical capabilities, it is important to emphasize that during this period is important to perform the activities in ascent of intensity, starting in a softer way in search of more aerobic capabilities ending with an alternation between aerobic capabilities and strength-power work.
  • In addition, it is important to emphasize that during this period never forget to perform flexibility exercises.

Example of a job for a team that rests 10 weeks, these are the last 4 weeks before the preseason period:

During aerobic work it is important to perform this type of work during the first week in progression, the series of the first week will be performed at an intensity of 50-60% and in which we will take breaks walking for 3-6 minutes (until we see that the recovery has been complete).

In order to carry out intervallic work, in which we work between 4 and 6 series at 80% it is important to warm up a continuous run of 3-5 minutes and a joint mobility of about 3-4 minutes.

Regarding the core work section: the type of exercise we find are: front and side plates, also this type of plates with movements, Mountain Climber, work with abdominal wheel …

In terms of flexibility and foam work is important to focus on muscles with greater propensity to injury, such as the triceps sural, hamstrings, psoas iliaco, adductors or buttocks.

With respect to strength work, it would be the anterior muscles together with the anterior rectum, and quadriceps the most worked. Performing, in general, multi-articular exercises and to be able to be with the greatest transfer to what may occur after the competition as accelerations, deceleration’s, imbalances …