During the off-season rust sets in. Before you know it your fitness levels have plummeted, your first touch has abandoned you and the sharpness of your mind has ground to a halt.
By the time pre-season comes round you’re an out of shape, dribbling donkey. Eey-ore.
But instead of turning up and making an ass of yourself, let FFT and the Nike Academy guide you through a summer of training to keep you razor sharp, both in body and mind.
In this video the Nike Academy’s performance director, Jon Goodman, takes you through a simple drill that engages the brain, maintains reaction speed and improves endurance.
“This drill gets the players to process a small amount of information and gets their bodies moving as well, so it’s a little bit more functional than straight line running,” Goodman explained to FFT.
“The more information the brain has to process, generally the slower we become, so we start off very, very simple.
“If it’s too easy for the guys you progress it on to challenge them mentally as well as physically.”
Goodman believes it’s just as important to work on the fitness of the mind, as the body – which pays off in the closing stages of the game when you’re running on gas fumes.
“We’re trying to create efficient footballers so the better technically and mentally you are the better you are at processing information. As the game wears on you’ll gain a definite advantage.”
Get to work with this conditioning drill and make sure you’re switched when the first whistle blows at pre-season training.
You can find out more about how you can get involved with the Nike Academy, and watch the players’ progress this season, by visiting facebook and NikeFootball.com.
Also see:
Get faster for football
Improve your speed, stamina and strength
Run harder, react quicker
Build endurance and a rock solid core
