Football fitness can be the difference between you getting on the pitch or watching from the sidelines. No matter if it is preseason or midseason, working on your football fitness is key. The average professional football player covers 10 kilometres during a match. That isn’t a slow jog and much of that distance is covered through lung busting sprints.

If you want to succeed at any level of football today, you must work on your football fitness throughout the year. These drills can improve your fitness and keep your name on the team sheet all year long.

1. Box Jumps

Box jumps are a great exercise to increase the explosiveness in your legs. The drill can improve the lower body and give you that split second needed to reach a 50-50 ball or to make a last-ditch tackle.

Double legged box jumps are great for building explosiveness. But single legged box jumps focus on the muscles to develop each leg more thoroughly. Four sets of 10 jumps per leg will improve your power. You can increase the box height each week as you improve.

2. Zig-Zag

Not all exercises and drills are in the gym. There are some great fitness improving drills you can do with a ball at your feet. For the zig-zag drill, you need to place a set of cones in a zig-zag formation rather than one right after another.

Starting from one end, push a ball around each cone as you weave in and out of the zig-zag formation. Every time you go through the cones you should increase your speed. You can also do the drill without a ball to improve turning before adding a ball.

3. Jog-Tempo Run

You can complete this drill either inside on a treadmill, outside on the football pitch, or wherever there is enough space. The jog-tempo run allows you to improve your VO2 Max, the maximum rate at which your body can consume oxygen during a game.

The better your VO2 Max is, the better stamina you can build as you will be able to run for long periods of time.

The best way to do this is to alternate jogging and running at a high tempo. Start off my jogging for four minutes. After the four minutes are up, switch into a high tempo run for four minutes. You can alternate between them four times to complete the workout.

These drills will help you improve your fitness and keep you on the pitch late in matches.

For more information and to see how Premier Football UK can help your football career, please visit www.premierfootballuk.com.