Your workouts can look completely different depending whether you’re in season or in your off-season period. If your workouts look the same during both of these periods, you’re going to end up with a lot of problems.
As you’re in-season, your workouts should be tailored around match-day. The worst thing you can do as a footballer is turn up on match-day feeling fatigued all because your workouts aren’t tailored well enough to the schedule of your season.
You must have an effective in season football workout planner, something that works for you and provides you with the platform to perform come game day. All too often players overwork themselves with unnecessary work in the gym which ruins their performance.
You must avoid this. Yes, it’s important to work hard and progress your development within your workouts. But you have to set yourself up with the ability to play with 100% energy and focus. Otherwise, you simply won’t be effective enough on the pitch and you won’t be needed in your team.
You see clips of the pros working hard in the gym, and you think you must do the same right? Well the truth is, you don’t see all the work the pro athletes do. You don’t see the boring mobility work, the yoga, stretching, injury prevention, etc.
Why?
Because clips of these exercises aren’t interesting and won’t go viral on social media. Whereas a professional football player jump squatting 100kg will go viral.
This is why you must not assume something after seeing one simple clip. Pro athletes tailor all their workouts for match-day, focusing on both development and feeling fresh for matches.
If you’re a beginner in the gym, that’s not an issue at all. Start with the basics, and go from there. You can even start with a couple compound movements - push up, squat, plank, etc. Any work is better than no work, and we all must start from somewhere.
Football workouts can 100% be tailored for the ‘average Joe’ too. It’s not all jump squats and nordics.
There’s a few things players need to focus on when creating a workout program. As a footballer, there are certain things you need to work on that you wouldn’t get from an average workout program you’d find online. For example, agility. If you were to use a basic bodybuilder’s workout program, you would not really improve your power and agility as much as you should.
It’s so important how you move on the pitch, and these movements need to be attempted to be replicated in the gym. Because the best way to improve at anything is by doing exactly that.
Injury prevention is absolutely key as well when working out as a footballer. Your in season workout program should also include injury prevention exercises. Simply to keep maintenance and on top of your little niggles and pains that come with playing football. If you have any injuries in your history of playing, this should also be considered within your workout planner.