Soccer Conditioning : Discover Post Match Recovery
You’ve probably heard it a hundred times that it is a good idea to alter the intensity in soccer conditioning on days following a competition. It helps in producing a quality effort in a match or equally a workout. Coaches tend to falter in their approach when a competition is around the corner.
When a tournament is approaching, it is best to employ a “less is more” approach to training. Carry on with the same amount of high intensity, however, cut down on number and duration of drills. It expresses a suitable amount of inspiration to retain the performance. Coaches act just contrary to it.
They increase the volume as well as the intensity and this leads to problems of over training and stress. For this reason, the players are not at their physical and mental best on the day of match.
It’s applicable to post match soccer fitness too. Depending on the length of the match, players feel worn out, stiff, and pain in their muscles after the match is over. As such, it’s necessary to have a workout session subsequently for the players to recuperate. This has the effect of letting the player’s muscles rest and bounce back to their usual self.
Again ensure that these sessions are not extensive. Usually, 15-30 minutes is what is required to do these workouts. The target should be to oppose the pressure that crops up through the competition.
The most common way to recover after a match is to perform cool down exercises. This type of soccer conditioning is a way to help the body slow down while at the same time keeping the blood flow normal through the muscles. Include light exercises such as such as shuffling, skipping, and carioca as supplements to static stretching.
Once you leave the field and get home, taking a cool or hot shower (whatever relaxes you) does wonders to this recovery process.
Introduce recovery sessions during, between, and after the soccer exercises to relieve the players off the training stress. Long and strenuous sessions may cause the players to under-perform and also feel fatigued.
As the workouts become advanced and the training sessions progress, the strength required for the session should decrease. This will allow the body to prepare itself for the next session.
On days that the players do heavy training or soccer workouts, follow it up with light training. There should also be a rest day in between. All sessions must be accompanied by cool down sessions. In this, you can include light movement drills, self-massage, as well as body stretches. This will deal with the soreness in the muscles due to breakdown of muscle tissues.
Now you have it! Incorporate these post match/workout soccer conditioning tips into your sessions and you will have a team that is fit, injury-free and full of energy, always. Our youth soccer coaching community has tons of knowledge in the form of articles, newsletters, videos etc. Benefit from these by enrolling today.
Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Drills.
