By Doctor Nicola Sacchi - Author of the book: Drugs and doping in sport -
Many times in the gym there are footballers, amateurs and amateur athletes who want to train specifically to improve their skills for this sport.
Athletic training is also important to reduce the risk of injuries during the season, as a trained body allows you to better manage the efforts and possible traumas resulting from sports. In particular, by strengthening the legs appropriately it is possible to reduce the incidence of injuries to the knees, which are the most classic of accidents, often the cause of forced stops for a long time which at times also lead to the abandonment of sport; a good physical preparation therefore allows the athlete to have a more serene and long-lived career.
There are numerous reasons for following a good athletic preparation for a football player and there are numerous athletic components indispensable for this athlete, as football is a situation sport with a mixed energetic commitment, this implies the use of numerous physical components.
First of all, it is necessary to underline how a good generalized muscular trophism to the whole body is essential to support the contrasts with the opponents. Every sport in which there is direct contact with the opponents requires the athlete to be physically fit to better manage these contrasts.
Football, as a situation sport, requires the practitioner to have a high degree of reactivity and coordination; only if these abilities are perfected to the maximum it is possible to respond quickly to the evolution of the situation in the field, which can change drastically and abruptly in the span of fractions of seconds. For this reason, the player's ability to react reactively is decisive in the outcome of a match. Frontal, lateral and rotational movements are necessary movements for the player, consequently they must be practically trained to improve on the field, adequate physical preparation must use exercises able to move the player in all directions, improving responsiveness and coordination.
The need to interact directly with the adversaries, often coming into contact with them, implies the need to have a high degree of explosive strength and power, essential to respond to the adversary's action. It must also be added that explosive strength is the basic physical capacity indispensable in any situation sport, as reactivity, power and speed also depend on it. Explosive strength is needed to make changes of direction, avoid opponents and perform reactive movements smoothly. The explosive strength is improved with ballistic exercises capable of engaging the body in the expression of strong contractions with extreme rapidity, thanks to the synergistic involvement of a large number of muscle groups. This athletic ability, if well trained, improves the body's ability to express rapid, sudden and reactive movements, allowing quick changes of direction and ensuring the ability to actively respond to the difficulties of the court.
Obviously a player must also be fast and agile to overtake the opponents and reach the ball before them. Training speed and agility is only possible with exercises based on the execution of shots in different situations, therefore particular exercises too often discarded from the training cards proposed in traditional fitness centers.
Since football is a sport with a mixed energy commitment, it is necessary to include cardiovascular work elements to train the aerobic component of performance.
