Football · Sport
How to get fitter for football
How to last ninety minutes, what to train between games, and how a match counts in the app, synced from Garmin, Suunto, Apple Health and Health Connect.
The movement
How to do one properly.
Every rep the same shape, so the numbers mean the same thing on day thirty as on day one.
- 1
Warm up with easy running and a few changes of direction before kick-off.
- 2
Play at the pace of the game: sprint when it matters, jog back when it does not.
- 3
Between games, run. Football fitness is repeated short sprints on top of a base of easy running.
- 4
Strength for the legs and hips, twice a week, keeps the hamstrings and groins in one piece.
- 5
Sleep and food decide more about the second half than any session does.
The way up
How to get fitter for football
Rung 1
30 minutes
Five-a-side after work. Enough to count.
Rung 2
60 minutes
A full small-sided game, both halves.
Rung 3
90 minutes
A match at full pace with something left at the end.
Two runs a week between games: one easy thirty minutes, one of short intervals, say ten times thirty seconds hard with a minute's jog. That pair covers most of what the game asks.
Add a leg session: squats, lunges and back extensions, twice a week, light and quick. The injuries that end seasons come from the muscles those protect.
How it is counted
On the board, however it got there.
Your watch or phone sends it. Garmin, Suunto, Apple Health, and Health Connect all report football on their own, so it lands scored without anyone typing. No watch? Say it out loud in the app instead.
Worth 3.3 points per minute in the app, so a challenge can weigh it against anything else you count.
Questions
Asked about football
How is football counted?
In minutes played or trained, so a game is sixty or ninety on the board. Log it when you are off the pitch, or let a watch do it.
Does the cardio count too?
Yes, separately: the runs arrive as running kilometres, the game as football minutes. A challenge can count either or both.
Does it count from my watch?
Your watch or phone sends it. Garmin, Suunto, Apple Health, and Health Connect all report football on their own, so it lands scored without anyone typing. No watch? Say it out loud in the app instead.
Is it free?
Yes. The athlete app is free: logging, challenges and every guide on this site. Coaches pay for their workspace; the people they coach do not.
Other exercises
Everything else we count.
Push up
How to do more push ups
Pull up
How to do more pull ups
Squat
How to do more squats
Plank
How to hold a plank longer
Sit up
How to do more sit ups
Dip
How to do more dips
Burpees
How to do more burpees
Lunges
How to do more lunges
Jumping jacks
How to do more jumping jacks
Skipping
How to skip rope longer
Extensions
How to do more back extensions
Battle ropes
How to last longer on battle ropes
Running
How to run further
Cycling
How to ride further
Swimming
How to swim further
Rowing
How to row further
Steps
How to walk more steps every day
Hiking
How to hike further
Basketball
How to get fitter for basketball
Tennis
How to get fitter for tennis
Dancing
How to build stamina for dancing
Yoga
How to make yoga a daily habit
Do more football.
Let someone see it.
Get the app, log what you did or let your watch send it, and hand your friends the code.