Pre-season Fitness for Field Sports

With field sports such football and rugby’s seasons starting soon it is important to start the season off to a flyer and be in the best shape you can. Being fitter than the opposition will not only give you the physical edge, but will also give you the mental edge as your decision making in the latter parts of the game will not be hindered by fatigue.

Field sports will generally involve short sprints, with walking or jogging in between, as well as fast changes of direction.

Here are some basic drills that will train your body to be fitter, quicker and more agile during the game.

1.       Shuttle Runs: Place 4 cones out in a straight line about 5 metres apart. Run from the first cone to the second and back, Then to the third and back and finally to the fourth and back. Make sure you touch each cone and you can increase the difficulty by adding and exercise at each cone. Examples of this might be 10 star jumps or 5 press ups.

2.       Zig Zag Cones: Place 6 cones in a Zig Zag fashion about 10 meters apart. From the first cone, sprint around the outside of each cone to the end and then sprint straight back to finish. Really focus on planting the outside foot at each cone to give you the best change of direction at speed.

3.        5 minute Circuit: Perform each exercise for 30 seconds with no rest in between. Repeat to make it last 5 minutes.

·         Standing Squats

·         Squat Thrusts

·         Clapping Press ups

·         Lunges

·         Burpees

4.       Power: Holding a cone perform 6 standing long jumps. Place the cone where you finish and walk back to the start. Now complete 5 sets of 6 long jumps. Your target is to reach at least the distance of the cone each time.

5.       The Sprints: Start laying face down, on the go jump up and sprint 20 meters as fast as you can . Your recovery is the time it takes to walk back to the start. Repeat this 10 times.

This as an example of a pre-season fitness session.  At ActivZone our instructors are qualified to design almost any sports specific session. If you would like more information about training for specific sports, or would like an instructor to take a group session, please contact us on 01483 448666 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            01483 448666      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit our website www.activzone.co.uk