improving pace and diet for football
i play football and am looking at ways of improving my performance. i am trying to imrove my pace over short distances..
background: i'm 19 and am very thin (weight about 9 stone; 6ft). recently started working out upper body and now want to get better at football.
current training:
-doing leg extensions and do 3 sets of 20 reps on a machine.
-squats with dumbells in my hands which i hold for 30 seconds - can only mange four or five at once though.
-30 press ups per day.
-punch bag with light dumbells for a few minutes.
- benchpresses
what else should i do?
what i want:
i want to get a lot faster at football - is there ways i can do this or are some people just born faster than others?
how can improving my diet help? i hear about testosterone but dunno what it is or what it does? what will improve my pace abd play in general?
any feedback great appreciated..
improving pace and diet for football
could i just add that i'm training on my own
improving pace and diet for football
Hi callum,im working on the same thing here ill be 18 this year and i play as a winger i have asked alot of people and i have searched through the net and found out that the best way to improve pace is to sprint short distances (50 meters 100 meters)16 sec in 100 meters at least for a pro football player (pele runs at 10.8 sec pretty fast), avoid excess workouts but the only problem is that i dont know how many days a week and how many min per sprint i should rest try avoiding attaching weights to foot cuz it has bad effects on performance and agility(i dont think exercise machines help, specially dumbells its better to build ur legs by running and sprinting [imagine a muscular leg that is trained specially for running and sprinting imagine how fast a person can get])
diet:as a football player u need carbohydrates more than anything at least 2400 carbohydrate calories per day that means 3 bannanas and a few slices of bread (cereals like cornflakes are perfect).
did this information help u?
feel free to share experiences with me cuz i also need to better myself
good luck on ur training.
Callum
Callum - you might get better answers if you structure your posts better. Get one question answered before you start on another.......like the role of testosterone etc.........
You most certainly should not be training your upper body and neglecting your lower. Strength training at 19 years old can be very beneficial to sprint performance if done correctly. However, the routine you are currently doing could be greatly improved.
Do you use a gym or are these things done at home? You should look into sprint training as this is obviously going to be beneficial. kvshskaterz has touched on this in his post....
CALLUM
One question, are you talking about English or Ameriacn football? The following advice can be used fo both but im basing it on English football (soccer).
Pace can come through genes, some are born with the ability to run faster, thats life but their is always a way to improve what you've been given. Improved technique can give you an extra meter on your opponent, which can make all the difference. Especially in football.
i would say the average person can improve for example a whole 1.5 seconds over 100m with better technique. Before i started to train and pick up speed techs i could run 100m in roughly 13/14 seconds. Now i can run 100 meters in just over 11 seconds, 11.5 on a field in footy boots. i would say that i am naturally blessed with speed, but suffer in the strength departement so you have to pick positions that suit your physical ability. Heres a few simple tips :
>Your upper body should be lose, my old P.E teachers told me that a proffesional sprinter should be able to run 100m with a crisp in his fingers and it still be in one piece at the end (i havent tried it lol)
>look at your own tech, lots of people can hve 'fast-feet' but neglect the length of their legs, increased stride pattern can go along way.
>upper body strength important, very important in football but dont sacrifice pace for strength, pace is a much stronger ally.
>footwear, if your a pace player then light-wiegtht boots are a must. different players have different boots, some need better traction than other etc.
Practising, drills and improved diet can give you the extra few yards or seconds you need. Its sticking to it thats the hard part, injuries are your worst nightmare (they are for all athletes) due to regression. but once you have pace its nice to know it will always be there.
hoped this helped.