If you read our last article about the truth on cardio for keepers, then you’ll know that most people have it completely wrong. The fitness requirements for a keeper are vastly different from the other players on the pitch. You need to make sure that you’re doing the right things if you want to the right results.
But don’t worry, we’re not going to leave you in the dark any longer. In this post we’ve put together some solid tips to helping you get the right regime put together so that you can start making some serious goalie gains.
HIIT
The focus here is on high-intensity interval training (HIIT). That means short bursts of exercising at as close to your max level as possible.
You can do pretty much anything for this. The key is making sure it’s intense.
Let’s look at a simple framework for a routine that you can actually put to use.
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Warm up
For this you need to make sure your body is completely ready to go. If you go into this cold then you are putting yourself at risk of an injury. It’s the same as any kind of training.
Start with getting your heart rate up and your blood pumping. You should be breathing harder, but not out completely out of breath. Do this for around 15 minutes and then do some good stretching.
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Go hard
This can be anything really. You can sprint uphill, sprint up the pitch, punch a heavy bag, etc. This just needs to be something that you can really go hard at for 20-30 seconds.
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Let your body recover
This is the most important step and I already know you’ll be tempted to skip it. Why? Because this is also the most boring part. However, you need to let your body recover between your high intensity sets. This is the key to being able to do this type of exercising for longer.
You NEED to do active recovery for at least 40-90 seconds. DO NOT SKIP THIS PART!
Active recovery can be something as simple as some planks, pushups, star jumps, etc. But you don’t go hard here, you just do them at a steady pace and allow your body to stabilize.
This means that when you do your next round of high intensity, you can go your absolute hardest. If you skip this step, you will soon fatigue and you’ll just be working out at the same level of everyone else. If you’ve been listening you know this:
We. Don’t. Want. To. Train. The. Same. As. Everyone. Else.
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Repeat steps 2 & 3
A good starting point is to repeat these steps 6-10 times.
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Cool down
Once you’re done. Cool down properly, don’t just stop abruptly, do some slow jogging and some good stretches to finish off the session.
