Fitness for Football

Introduction

The fitness demands of Australian Football have changed dramatically over the past ten to fifteen years as the nature of the game has changed. The intensity of the game, with its emphasis on running and play on at all costs, has necessitated that greater consideration be given to the physical conditioning of the players.

Footballers today may cover over 15 kilometres per game, performing many short high intensity sprint efforts over distances of between five to thirty metres. Apart from running the player must also perform various physical activities such as kicking, marking, handballing, tackling, bumping and jumping. These actions and the running nature of the game demand players develop a number of important fitness attributes.

The following section will assist the coach in planning and implementing a complete fitness program for his team.

Components of Fitness

Success in physical conditioning will largely depend on how the basic components of fitness can be fitted into the training program and finding the most effective way of improving each component.

To participate in football a player must reach an adequate level in each of the following components of fitness:

Speed
Agility
Endurance
Flexibility
Strength

However, fitness is specific to each game and a coach must determine:

1. whether his players meet the general demands of the game, and
2. the specific demands of the playing position.

The specific demands of the various playing positions requires that one or more of these fitness components needs to be developed for successful performance. For example, a ruck-rover is required to cover a greater distance in a game than a set position player and consequently needs to develop a greater capacity for endurance in his preparation.

The development of any fitness program should ideally be individually structured and designed to correct a player's deficiency in any one of the fitness components. However, in practice, coaches usually have to contend with mass training involving large numbers of players. The task of catering to individual needs becomes a difficult one.

Various tests can be used to help determine player levels of fitness in each of the components of fitness. These are discussed later in this section.

Training Principles

There are 5 guiding principles that a coach should follow in developing a fitness program. These training principles are:

1. Progressive Overload
For gains to occur in any component of fitness the player must be subjected to gradually increasing training loads. As the player's body adapts, progressive overload can be applied by monitoring the following variables:
(a) Frequency of training - number of training sessions per week.
(b) Duration of a training session - the length of time given to each session (Volume).
(c) Intensity of training - the effort put into the session.

2. Specificty
All fitness training must be specific to the demands of the game. With running training, the intensity, the distance covered and the number of repetitions must be specific to the playing requirements. The demands of the various playing positions should also be considered.

3. Regularity
Match fitness cannot be achieved overnight. Each component of fitness must be developed by the regular scheduling of training sessions.

4. Variation
Variety can help maintain a player's interest in training. By varying the training venue or by applying different training methods, a coach can ensure his players are enthusiastic and willing to improve.

5. Individual Differences
A training program must cater for individual needs and preferences. Some players respond to hard training better than others. Others may require longer periods to recover from a heavy training session or game. This is particularly true for older players. Coaches should recognise these differences and either reduce the training load or lengthen the recovery period.

Build on Basics

Today's football places a number of physical demands on the players. Players require a basic level of fitness composed of endurance, speed, agility, flexibility and strength. The player must build on this basic level to develop a fitness level specific to football.

1. Endurance
This fitness component is commonly referred to as stamina and in football it is the ability to run or keep on the move for the duration of the game.

2. Speed
Speed has long been identified as a major fitness requirement in football. This characteristic is important for gaining and retaining possession, through leading, running at a loose ball or breaking clear of an opponent.

3. Agility
Agility is closely related to speed and refers to the ability to change direction quickly. Players need to be able to twist and turn, get up from the ground and accelerate away from an opponent.

4. Flexibility
This component refers to the range of movement at various joints within the body. Improved flexibility will assist speed and agility and prevent injury to muscles, tendons and ligaments.

5. Strength
Strength is the capacity to exert force maximally. It is demonstrated in football when a player breaks a tackle, jumps for a mark or crashes through a pack.

To with stand the physical demands of football, all components of fitness must be developed into the footballer's fitness program. The following section outlines the development of these components of fitness in more detail.

Endurance

The basic fitness requirement of football is an ability to run and keep on the move for the duration of the game. This is primarily dependent upon the efficiency of a player's heart and respiratory systems.

Endurance is a prerequisite for all playing positions and should therefore, during early pre-season preparation, constitute a major element of the fitness programme.

The development of endurance is best achieved through a progressive application of the following activities. A period of 8 weeks has been selected as an example of a pre-season program.

Continuous Running
Running over relatively long distances at a steady pace. Initially 3 training runs per week can be scheduled, with players running up to 8 kilometres per session.

Fartlek Running
Varied bursts of faster running throughout a session of continuous running.
e.g. Sample fartlek session
Distance - 8km
a series of varied bursts of speed from 10 to 200 metres
interspread with periods of jogging and walking

Longer, Slower Interval Running
A series of repeated running efforts at a specific speed and over a specified distance is alternated with periods of recovery. Interval training is usually worked on a work to rest ratio of 1:1 or 1:2. A work to rest ratio of 1:2 indicates the rcovery period is twice the work period. A 10 second sprint would therefore have a 20 second recovery period. A typical longer, slower interval running session would be:

Warm up jog 1-2 km with stretching exercises
5 x 100m in 16-18 seconds with 60 seconds recovery
Jog 400m
4 x 200m in 36 seconds - walk - jog recovery of 120 seconds
Jog 400m
3 x 300m in 60 seconds - walk - jog recovery of 180 seconds
Jog 1km to warm down with stretching exercise

Shorter, Faster Interval Running
As the season approaches and the players' endurance level improves, the workload needs to be more specific. A shorter and faster running schedule is introduced. The intensity of effort can be increased while the distance of the run is reduced. A typical session would be:

Warm up 1-2 km with stretching exercise
5 x 100m in 16 seconds with slow jog recovery (50m) and walk recovery (50m)
5 x 75m in 10-13 seconds with walk-jog recovery of 40 seconds
Jog 400m
5 x 50m in 7-9 seconds with walk-jog recovery of 30 seconds

Shorter, faster interval training leads into the preparation stage of the pre-season.

Testing for Endurance

20m shuttle run
15 minute run for distance
1600m time trial

Week	Activity
1	Continuous Running
2-3	Fartlek Running
4-5	Longer, slower interval running
6-7-8	Shorter, faster interval running

Speed

In football, speed refers to how fast the player can move in a straight line. A player must be able to continually chase opponents, lead for the ball and accelerate away from the opposition at a fast speed for four quarters. The development of speed is best achieved by the following activities:

1. Technique Training
The principles of basic speed technique include:

run on toes
high knee lift
slight lean forward
use arms to drive forward
take longer strides
run in a straight line

2. Acceleration Sprints
A 150 metre run through may be split into 3 sections:

the first 50m to gradually build up speed
the middle 50m to maximum speed and
the final 50m to gradual deceleration

3. Reaction Drills
This type of speed training involves the player reacting as quickly as possible to a call from the coach and to accelerate from a standing position, running on the spot or while striding out in a run through.

Testing for Speed

10 / 20 / 40 metre sprint

AGILITY

In football, agility is the ability to change direction quickly. An agile player is able to get up off the ground, recover and balance or baulk or get around an opponent in a confined space. There is no standard agility run used in football.

A coach can develop a simple agility run involving short sprints and sharp turns around a set of markers. The degree of difficulty can be varied according to the age and ability level of the team.

Flexibility

Flexibility refers to the range of the movement possible at various joints. The more supple or flexible the joint, then the greater the range over which the muscles surrounding that joint can operate and thus work more efficiently.

Flexibility exercises will:
1. Maximise the muscle range of motion
2. Prevent injuries to muscles, tendons and ligaments
3. Improve speed and agility

Flexibility is best developed through Static Stretching. Other sports specific methods include:

P.N.F.
Ballistic - moving or dynamic stretching

Stretching must be strictly supervised and should be preceded by large muscle group warm-up activities e.g. jogging or easy striding.

Testing for flexibility:

Sit and Reach

STRENGTH - POWER

In football strength is important to the player particularly in the muscles of his legs, shoulders, hands and abdomen.

Strength is the ability to exert maximum muscle tension (force) for a short period of time. Strength is important in football but power, of which strength is an ingredient, is even more essential.

Power is best witnessed in a game when a player leaps for a mark, crashes through a pack, breaks a tackle or takes off quickly from different starting positions. Power is simply a combination of speed and strength.

Strength Building
Basic strength building methods include:

Body weight exercises - players use their body weight for resistance, e.g. press ups, squats
Partner exercises - players use a partner for resistance by either adopting various wrestling holds and working in opposition to a partner or by having the partner as a dead weight
Free weights - dumbbells and barbells are used to perform a variety of resistance exercises
Fixed apparatus - e.g. Universal, Nautilus stations
Circuit Training - a series of exercises performed in quick succession

Testing for Power

Vertical Jump
Standing Long Jump

Planning the Training Program

Australian football is usually played between the months of April and September. Modify the following according to the timing of your local season.

1. Transition Period (October - November)
Players should be discouraged from taking a complete break from all physical activity. They should all keep active, participating in activities which are low intensity and moderate volume with fitness levels around 50%-60% of maximum during this period.

2. Preparation Period (December - March)
A solid functional fitness base should be established with the emphasis on endurance and strength. High volume, low intensity. After a base has been established speed and power activities should gradually be incorporated with endurance activities decreasing. Skill activities should be the focus of the training.

3. Competition Period (April - September)
Training during this period should be appropriate to football. Activities should be selected to maintain pre-season fitness and develop individual and team skills.