Common misconceptions about football training

Habitual patterns of behavior are usually difficult to change. You can do something a certain way for a few years, and then someone will tell you another more effective way. But you won’t listen. Why change, you say, if it works anyway? But as you can guess, sometimes this approach leads to mistakes with negative consequences. This situation is also fully applicable to football training.  

There are many misconceptions about football practice. A good solution may be to attend training sessions with good coaches or academies (whose players go on to professional football) or enroll in a professional football camp or academy to get a new perspective on the training process. First, however, we’ll play ahead of the curve and look at the most popular myths about football training right now. Then, if you are interested in andar bahar online casino, follow this link.

Myth #1: weight training will make you slow  

Many believe that the more muscle you have, the slower you get, so many football players avoid weight training. They think they will lose their speed advantage on the field. 

Unfortunately, an athlete’s inability to distinguish between bodybuilding and strength training will lead to stagnant results. And worse, it will increase the likelihood of preventable injury. For example, bodybuilders gain mass by repeating the same workout multiple times. They tear muscle fibers to provoke muscle growth. 

Football players use a variety of weight training to increase strength and speed. Such workouts can be more helpful psychologically than physically; sometimes, you feel like you’re doing better than you are. High-intensity training is more suitable for increased power and speed.  

Athletes can actively avoid unnecessary exertion, metabolic fatigue, and excessive muscle damage because they must contain the explosive muscle response during weight training. When extreme cardio loads (running, jumping, or the intense movements typical of football training) are involved, athletes will have difficulty gaining mass. 

Strength training exercises must be performed correctly throughout the workout. The coach should end it immediately if a player shows fatigue during a workout. Approaches can be combined with explosive throwing, jumping, or sprinting for an even more significant effect. This change of explosive motion will benefit a player accustomed to regular workouts. 

Myth #2: Playing slow? Practice more. 

This misconception is often heard from people who are convinced that if an athlete is slow, he is out of shape. 

The illusion of a loss of form stems from the simple fact that a player lacks speed. Trying to compensate for the lack of speed by increasing physical activity will only accentuate the problem. Trying to increase fitness speed will often fatigue the player and make him even slower. It is a real sign of fatigue, and many coaches mistake forcing players to do this. 

Charlie Francis, a former Canadian Olympic sprinter, introduced the concept of “speed reserve.” The idea is simple: as an athlete’s maximum capabilities increase in a linear sprint, all submaximal abilities will also increase. 

For example, compare two athletes, one of whom runs the 35-meter distance in 4.5 seconds and the other in 5.0 seconds. It would be easier for the first athlete to run that sprint in 5.4 seconds because that represents an 80% effort, whereas the second player would have to put in 92%. 

Let’s look at it this way: instead of overreaching the athlete with unnecessary mileage and endless cross-country runs, the most effective approach would be a training plan where there is a simultaneous increase in starting power, acceleration, and top speed. In a separate article, we looked at exercises to develop speed, but here’s an excellent quick example: 

Monday: Acceleration. 

• Running at the wall, three approaches of 5 steps (stance, bend legs, run!) 
• Acceleration with resistance, 3 x 20 meters (grab, slide, partner) 
• Acceleration with ascent, 3 x 20 meters
• Long jump + throwing ball, 2 x 3 
• Jump over low hurdles, 2 x 10 jumps (with contact with the floor) 

Wednesday: Maximal speed 

• Ankle dribbling, 2 x 15 meters
• Captain’s pose (5 rebounds + kick), 2 x 15 meters
• Kick, kick, kick, 2 x 15 meters
• Hip alternation, 2 x 15 meters
• 10-meter sprint + run through the gate 15 x 3 
• 10-meter sprint + 10 meter hops + 10 meter kicks + 10 meter hops

Myth #3: Don’t squat down, so you don’t hurt your knees. 

The reasoning behind not squatting down is this. First, squats are unimportant because the joints move at different angles during the game. And second, they argue that football players’ loads are already high, so it’s more dangerous to load the knees with deep squats. 

In fact, on the contrary, it is not advisable to restrict the athlete from using the full range of motion of the joints. Remember that your weaknesses are part of you, and you must use them anyway. In injury prevention, avoiding specific amplitudes of activity contributes to weakness and is more likely to cause harm than good. 

Football is a unique sport that uses elements that no other sport has. Thus, given the need for unrestricted freedom, restricting movement can be dangerous for an athlete and seriously affect his game. Therefore, it is best to strictly follow a football workout plan developed by an experienced strength and conditioning coach. For example, see this good set of exercises to build strength.

When answering the question of how to deep squat, you must also look at the capabilities and form of the individual athlete. 

Myth #4: Develop only one leg because you use only one leg. 

In football, an athlete uses one leg more often than the other. However, it is necessary to develop both legs equally. It is a mistake to think that training only one leg is enough to make it strong. The athlete’s strength and momentum produced by unilateral effort (i.e., only one leg) are much lower than those produced by bilateral loading.

In theory, reducing the load during training sounds good, but the athlete should be prepared for maximum sprints and quick direction changes, i.e., the heaviest burden. In addition, by avoiding multi-joint bilateral movements, such as weighted squats or deadlifts, the football player limits his ability to generate and manage the various strength movements needed when playing football. 

Myth #5: Cones and lanes are only for coordination. 

Training with cones often tires players because most of the time, coaches use the same exercises, often without explaining their purpose. 

Many still believe that exercises with cones are only necessary to develop coordination, which is fundamentally incorrect. On the contrary, versatile training with cones allows effectively develop not only coordination but also speed, explosive speed of the athlete, quick decision-making when changing the direction of movement, etc. At the same time, it is undeniable that in certain sports, such as basketball, tennis, and boxing, their importance in the overall training system is more significant than in football. 

If you rely solely on footwork and change-of-direction exercises but avoid strength exercises to develop strength, this will only make the player more susceptible to injury. It is advisable to combine coordination exercises (e.g., with cones) and strength exercises to prevent this. 

In particular, a high level of eccentric strength and quick contact with the ground should be maintained by performing exercises with cones or counters, for example, to improve coordination. The abnormal force allows the player to reduce speed quickly and effective contact with the ground helps to change the trajectory of movement in the desired direction quickly.