Oslo Summit Targets Football Fitness

2014 was the year in which the UEFA Study Group arranged the inaugural fitness on football workshop in Oslo, Norway. Stakeholders within the sport of football were in attendance. Members of the football association in Norway and groups of people from other countries participated in an informative four-day workshop. The seminar featured an array of training phases and talks focusing on the requirements of present day football, which help football players be physically fit and ready to play.

During the meeting, each of the delegations in attendance from the various UEFA countries was allowed to demonstrate how they approach fitness and football.

Performance Enhancement

Just like any other sport, soccer players do use workout supplements within the healthy and legal limits to boost their performance. These include whey protein and the ignorantly stigmatized steroids, which unlike their reputation, are known to have lots of positive effects on the body. The challenge is to know the right kind and the best place to buy steroids. If taken in the right measure and coupled with the right exercise regimen, supplements do provide healthy and amazing results.

Agility and Speed

One of the crucial elements for an athlete participating in any sport is pace. Past footballers who have retired from the game have always done so mainly because their speeds dropped and they could not keep up. In order to boast of explosive speeds, footballers partake in intensive and smart endurance training.

Talented and physically fit footballers should not tire quickly during a match. Through endurance training, players improve their explosive power and endurance capability.

Rapid responsiveness and the ability to quickly change direction while at top speed are other virtues for good footballers. Endurance and plyometric exercises are a sure way of achieving speed as well as agility.

Nutrition and Post-Game Recovery

During the football season, footballers need to be in top shape to keep up with an intense and energy-draining football programme. Post-match recovery is a very crucial element in ensuring that a footballer is ready for upcoming training sessions in preparation for the next match.

There are a couple of ways to help in post-game recovery:

1.       Drinking fluids a few minutes after the match is an excellent way to kickstart your recovery programme.
2.      An ice bath at around 10° for roughly 15 minutes will aid in getting rid of aches and muscle pains.
3.       Having a properly balanced meal that is rich in proteins and carbohydrates 2 hours after the match is critical for replacing lost energy.

Injury Prevention

Cases of footballers suffering from injuries, especially muscular injuries, capable of putting them on the sidelines for long periods of time are common in football. Not all injuries are the result of rough tackling. Some of them are a result of improper training and failure to pay attention to the most critical muscles and joints. For footballers, the tissue above the knee on the inside of the thigh is very vital.

There is a need to pay enough attention to training these muscles because it is key to maintaining the knees’ movements to enable the player to dodge tackles and instantly change direction, just to name a few.

Strength and Balanced Body Structure

Lean and agile bodies are more often than not associated with the perfect or, rather, the best shape for athletes, but this has changed over time. In football, for example, strikers with leaner bodies are always preferred to the rather big-bodied ones. This has changed over the years as physical strength and power are taken into consideration too. Excellent body strength helps you frighten opponents and also shield the ball from their reach.