Reebok Fit2Kick: Workout for Midfielder Position – Stamina Buildup

#1 The importance of stamina for a midfielder

Ever noticed the stats whenever a player is substituted? There is always a mention of the number of kilometres that a player has run during his/her time on the pitch.

What is actually noticeable about the stats of midfield players is that they tend to cover considerably more distance than what other players do.

With the average distance that a midfielder covers being between 7 km to 9 km at least, it becomes highly important that your engine is fit enough and your legs strong enough to cover this distance as well as maintain the hard pace of the game.

Your stamina has two aspects that you need to cater to:

• – Longevity: The length of time through which you can keep running. This is highly important because as a midfield player you tend to pull the strings of the team and for this you need to be in constant movement.
• – Speed: For a midfielder a football match is never the proverbial ‘Walk in the Park’, it is more like a sprint that continues on and on for 90 whole minutes. Thus, it becomes really important that you are able to do justice to the pace of the game.

#2 The Stamina Build-up Workout

Our next set of exercises helps you develop your speed and longevity, and can be the X-factor which pushes the selection to the first team in your favour, over and over again.

As always, remember to start by stretching and warming up (use the workouts mentioned in the last article); that will help prepare your body for this particular workout session.

Number of Exercises: 2

Time Duration: 20 minutes for the entire set

No. of Reps: mentioned ahead

This session helps you run longer, faster and harder than the rest of the crowd. It also helps prevent any kind of injuries while running like pulled or torn muscles, twisted ankles etc.

#3 The 200 metre run

Target Area: Stamina and Speed

The length of a football field, as you may know, is about 90 metres from goalpost to goalpost.

As a midfielder, you will have to run from box to box throughout the game, which means that you will be averaging a distance of about 180 metres to 200 metres per sprint.

This particular exercise helps you maintain a good speed as well as keeps you fit enough to be able to do it over and over again.

To practise the sprint, follow the below steps:

Step 1: Mark a start and an end point.

Step 2: Explode forward from the starting point as if trying to run a race. Run as long as you can keep this pace. When you feel that you will not be able to keep the pace, slow down, jog forward till you have regained your breath and then start running as fast as you can again.

Step 3: When you reach the finish, stop, relax your body and then take 15 deep, refreshing breaths.

Step 4:Repeat the above three steps.

You have to do at least 10 runs (i.e. two runs per round for a total of five rounds) before you move on to the next exercise.

ALWAYS, run on your TOES!!

Breathing: Inhale and exhale evenly while running, and remember to breathe in and out through your nose. This helps you get winded less easily.

Levels: Try and run the entire 200 metres at the fastest speed possible. Pause for lesser amount of time between the sets.

#4 The Push Up

Target Muscles: Chest, Arms, Back and Shoulders

This movement helps develop a range of upper body muscles and it does so using an individual’s body weight.

This exercise has two basic steps:

Step 1: Assume the push-up position, keep your hands at shoulder width and your legs slightly apart (helps maintain balance).

Lower your body till your chest touches the ground. Remember not to let your body sag in the middle; tighten your stomach and your abs.

Step 2: Push back up to the initial position.

Your set ends after you have done 10 push-ups, and you have to do a total of five sets.

Breathing: Exhale while going down; tighten your stomach while exhaling (which essentially means you breathe using your stomach). Inhale deeply while going back up.

Levels: To increase the difficulty, increase the reps in each set and the speed of each rep. Do this exercise faster, longer and harder for better results.