LA fitness news

Fancy Football?

May 20, 2010

Top class footballers have a rare combination of speed, strength, balance and stamina sprinkled with a liberal measure of what can be best described as the x factor. So we thought we’d take a look at the kind of training that makes the top pro footballers the athletes they are and how you can replicate it.

Core.

 Football is a game of rapid movement and sudden changes of direction and if the muscles of the midsection (the core) are not strong and robust, it is highly likely that injuries will occur. Our fitness coaches have literally hundreds of ways in which they can add to your repertoire of core exercises, so please ask them for their help.

Strength.

In addition to being gifted with rare agility and balance, a player like Wayne Rooney uses his extraordinary strength to maintain control of the ball with defenders all around him. Leg strength is obviously critical but upper body strength is equally important for shrugging off challenges. Our fitness coaches can take you through a range of strength training workouts that will make you much more powerful and robust, whatever your sport maybe.

Speed.

 There aren’t too many donkeys playing professional football and that’s because most of the players constantly work on their speed off the mark. Take a look at this compilation and tell us whether you think its partly Ronaldo’s raw speed that terrorises defenders. He’s not bad on the ball either, take a look at our video on the right. Our fitness coaches can help you develop speed off the mark with a series of short sprints that will stimulate the fast twitch fibres that are essential for sprinting. It’s all about power and stride length in those first few steps.

Balance.

 Ever noticed how easily the top players ride tackles? It’s pretty rare to find anyone playing at World Cup level who hasn’t got exceptional balance. Most of them are genetically gifted in this department but even then they have to work on it. You can too. Take a look at the video on the right of the legendary Zinedine Zidane and tell us whether you think balance is a key part of his genius. There are a number of simple floor exercises that our coaches can teach you to help with balance, for example using the Bosu ball is very effective.