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Aerobic Fitness for Football Players Football requires running for extended periods of time; therefore, your players must be able to produce energy aerobically. Aerobic fitness is important for three primary reasons. Although football players, need to be aerobically fit, they do not need to be distance runners. Be balanced in your approach to fitness. Set standards, yet do not place fitness ahead of the ultimate goal of developing good football players and a good football team. A fit, skilled team is much more powerful than a fit, unskilled team. Following are benefits of aerobic fitness. Creates good cardiovascular capacity and strengthens muscles and tendons. Allows players to run at a steady pace without incurring oxygen debt, getting really tired and unable to recover. Allows your players to recover quickly from short sprints, making them more effective in the game. Aerobic fitness is best developed during preseason training. However, if your schedule cannot be extended to include fitness in the preseason, you can integrate fitness exercises and activities into your weekly training sessions. This can be achieved through steady pace runs, ball skill drills or fitness circuits. For more information on general fitness, please refer to the Athlete Nutrition, Safety and Fitness section in the general coaching section. Sample Aerobic Fitness Activities Steady Pace Runs These runs are slow, continuous long-distance running. These runs can last for 20-30 minutes. You can add variety to these runs by having your players run with the ball through cones, around benches or defenders.

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