Pre-season training fitness plan for amateur footballers.
It’s almost the end of another football season now, but amateur and recreational footballers will already be looking forward to the start of next season.
If you play amateur football, then try our six week pre-season training routine for footballers, and start next season in the best shape of your career.
You will be training 2-3 times per week, and gradually increasing the intensity as you head towards the start of the new season.
We will start by conditioning your legs and building an aerobic fitness base.
As your training progresses, we will add in more intense, anaerobic work to get you ready for the continual sprints and recovery runs you should be making when you play a match!
Week 1
Midweek session – steady run for 30 minutes
Weekend session – steady run for 30 minutes
Week 2
Midweek session – 5km timed run
Weekend session -?interval run for 25 minutes
Week 3
Midweek session – interval run for 25 minutes
Weekend session – fast 600m run with 2-3 minutes recovery x6
Week 4
Midweek session – fast 600m run with 2-3 minutes recovery x6
Weekend session – 5km timed run
Week 5
Early week session – 300m sprints with 2-3 minutes recovery x8
Midweek session – steady run for 20 minutes
Weekend session – 300m sprints with 2-3 minutes recovery x8
Week 6
Early week session -?100m sprints with 60-90 seconds recovery x10
Midweek session – 100m sprints with 60-90 seconds recovery x10
Weekend session – 5km timed run
Here’s how to do the different elements of your pre-season training routine:
Steady runs – use these to build your base fitness and strengthen your heart muscle. ?Keep the intensity at around 60% of your maximum heart rate. ?If you feel the intensity rise to above a 6 out of 10, then slow the pace down, even if it means walking for a moment or two. ?The main thing is to keep going for half an hour at 60% intensity.
5km timed runs – use these to measure your progress throughout your pre-season. ?Simply run 5km as fast as you can and aim to beat your previous time each time you do a timed run.
Interval runs – use these to start getting your body used to the stop-start nature of football. ?Run around a football pitch – jog/walk the length of the pitch, and sprint the width of the pitch at 70-80% top speed.
600m runs – use these to build up your speed endurance. ?Two laps of a football pitch is around 600m.
300m runs – use these to build up your anaerobic fitness. ?One lap of a football pitch is around 300m.
100m sprints – use these to condition your lungs and legs for the numerous shorter sprints in a football match. ?The length of a football pitch is around 100m.
If you are young (or have good recovery abilities) then you may want to add some skill/technical work and strength work to your training.
Older players (or those with slower recovery) should keep supplementary work to a minimum.
In general, amateur footballers shouldn’t prioritise strength work over running ability.
Each workout should take around 30 minutes.
Allow yourself ?4-5 days of rest once you complete the six week training plan.
Make sure you warm up for the more explosive work, and good luck with your pre-season training!
