10 Essential Fitness Tips For Football Players

FIFA World Cup 2014 has started with a bang. Football players get us thrilled with their skills with the ball. But little do we realise that there goes an immense amount of effort to master the skills. The amount of physical fitness that a football player needs is huge.

There are a number of things footballers need to keep in mind when training and preparing for the season. Take a look at some fitness tips for football players.

If you are a budding footballer, then you must take a look at some football player workout that will help you to keep up with your game.

8 SIZZLING WAGS IN THIS FIFA WORLD CUP

Speed
An absolute necessity for footballers, you could call this the most obvious trait of a football player and you should practise as often as you can. Speed is very necessary for footballers; you have to run around for 90 minutes in day. So do a lot of running and sprinting. This is one of the important fitness tips for a football player.

Leg Exercises
The legs are the most important weapon for football players, and it is very important that you perform exercises of the lower body with perfection. Work on your calf and thigh muscles and give your leg the overall desired shape and strength.

Work on abs
You cannot run and be swift if you do not have good abs. Therefore, you should get rid of any excess amount of fat and built rock hard abdomen. Out of all the football player workouts, this is very difficult, but most important!

Upper Body Strength
Use barbells to do all the basic exercises for the upper body. You should do bench press, shoulder press, clean and press, rowing, and chin ups. A footballer has to have the strength to tackle opponents.

Build Stamina
Fitness tips for football player will tell you that you should have enough stamina in order to be able to run in the field non-stop. You are not really a good football player if you get tired after a lap. So, build you stamina by running, cycling and swimming.

Balance Training
Here is something from the book of pros. Balance training is important because it will help you to become stable and will also improve your kicking, passing and tackling. You should simply stand on a surface and lift one leg off the ground for 30 seconds.

Plyometrics Exercises
You have to leap in for a pass; you have to jump to head the ball, and thus you need power and sudden burst of energy. This you will get from plyometrics exercises. You need to do this!

Ankle Exercises
Your ankle is at constant work when playing football; everyone should know this one fitness tip for football players. Protect your ankle by strengthening it. Rise up on your toes and hold your position for a count of 10 and then gently lower your heels.

Strength Training
You need to do strength training, but make sure that you are healthy enough for this. You need to hit the gym if you want to play football, and always be doing strength training at the gym along with weightlifting.

Diet
You have to eat healthy food and not junk, if you really wish to be a footballer. Eat complex carbs found in rice, bread, pasta and potatoes. You should eat unsaturated fats found in sunflower oil, salmon and nuts. Also load up on protein and drink enough water.