Following are the best soccer fitness tips to make you play the best on the pitch.

If you play soccer and want to make your team proud and help them to win games, then you need to know some basic soccer fitness tips. Even if you are amazingly good with a soccer ball and have lots of fancy moves, you need to be fit enough to play well for the whole game.

Firstly you need to remember that the kind of fitness you need to have a good soccer player is not the same as what you would need to be a good swimmer, or a good cyclist or even a good marathon runner. During a soccer game you will spend some of your time jogging, also some of your time walking, and even some of your time just standing still. And of course do not forget that there will be moments when you will need to kick into action and sprint the length of the pitch, as fast as your legs can carry you. You probably do not realize this, but the average player will travel around 8-12km in a single game. That’s a lot of ground to cover!

Most important of the soccer fitness tips is that you need to train your body to be able to do everything you might ask for it in a game. For much of the match, your heart will be beating very hard, near at its maximum, so you need to have very good cardio. You will also need very strong and flexible legs – how many times have you aimed a kick at a ball that was just out of reach? If you work on your flexibility now you will find that soon you will be able to move quicker and easier and make passes and even score goals that you would not have been able to do before.

Let’s start with the cardio. One of the important soccer fitness tips is that instead of just jogging for a set period of time, you can try what’s known as Fartlek Running (no chuckling at the name please). What you do is decide how long you are going to spend on it, let’s say 20 minutes to get us started. Then you need to concentrate on changing the speed through the run, but make sure that your heart keeps pumping. This should feel pretty much like how it does when you’re playing a soccer game. So you can start with a jog for a few minutes, then sprint for a few yards (just like you would if you had to chase that sudden long ball), then walk for short bit, jog backwards, sprint again …. you get the idea. This will have you sweating in no time, and really up your fitness for your next big game.

Another of the import soccer fitness tips is that you will need to work on your strength and flexibility as well, as these are important for your overall fitness. Circuits are really good for this because you can mix up a few different exercises and get your whole body working. Jumping jacks and burpees are really great for working your leg muscles, as well as your cardio. Make sure you do them long enough to feel your calves start to burn! Press-ups are another good exercise because they work not only your upper body but your muscles too. Only your feet and hands are on the ground, so it’s your abs that is doing all the work to keep your back straight. After each training session, spend at least ten minutes stretching out, focusing especially on your legs. All that working out will make your muscles tighten up really fast if you do not take care of them and you might find you can barely move come match day!

Last but not the least of the soccer fitness tips is that always sure that you warm up properly before a match or training session, and that you cool down afterwards. Do a few gentle stretches, especially for your legs, and have a short warm up and cool down jog. This prevails injury and will help your heart-rate get back to normal after the match. If you follow these simple soccer fitness tips your game will improve in no time!

Source by Freeha Irfan Ahmed