Warm up tips & tricks

From now, us start discusses about physical aspect:

• Stay warm.

If there’s a break in activity during the game or practice, do not let your muscles relax too much. Jog in place, do a few jumping jacks, and stretch to keep them pliable.

• Watch your time.

A good warm-up should take a total of 10-15 minutes, once a routine has been established. Any less is simply not enough to warm up, and any more will consume more energy that should be saved for the actual practice or game. In colder weather, however, you might need an extra 5 minutes of warming up for your body to reach a good playing temperature.

• Bring the goalkeeper into warm-ups.

Keepers need to get their touches on the ball, too, and require special considerations given their role in the game. In a possession game: Allow the keeper to use his or her hands. Often, keepers will want to and should play possession with their feet. It’s critical for the keeper to be able to use their feet when a defender or a ball is played back to them and they must use both feet to clear the ball. Set up a small goal in the center of the playing area and teams can take a shot once they reach a certain number of passes.

• Cool down.

It’s just as important to stretch after training and have a short cool down (light jog). A total of two laps around the field or four around half the field with stretching mixed in is sufficient. To some experts, stretching after training is almost even more important than stretching before. It’s an ideal time to stretch since your muscles are really loose and warm. Essentially, stretching after training helps the muscles relax, ensures normal resting muscle positioning, improves blood flow to joints and tissues, and reduces soreness and stiffness—the killer after a long, strenuous training session.