Warming up before the game – getting the most out of what is necessary
If you talk to footballers, hardly anyone will say that warming up - whether before training or a game - is one of their favorite things about the sport they love so much. Nevertheless, it is as much a part of football as the referee. That's why it's important: no top performance without a warm-up. There are huge differences in the scope, intensity, length, content and implementation of a warm-up program and let's get this much straight: there is no golden path. A very well-known example of this is the widely circulated video of Diego Maradona before the 1989 UEFA Cup semi-final against FC Bayern Munich. Basically, you can't call it a "warm-up", it was more like just a dance with the ball, in which he got himself in the mood for great things - and possibly deliberately distracted his opponents and provoked them a little. In any case, it worked. With two assists, he put SSC Napoli on the way to the final of the UEFA Cup. I myself coached a team that took a completely different path. Each warm-up lasted almost 35 minutes and was characterized by high intensity, including some stabilization and strengthening exercises. As with Maradona, it also led the players to perform very well. And that is one of the most important findings for me personally: a good warm-up program must be suitable for the players, not for the coaches - after all, it is the preparation for the coaches. Before we get into practice, however, a little excursion into theory: "The warm-up training, also called warming up or in English warm-up, describes processes and exercises that are carried out in football before the actual unit (training or game)."(1) As the name "warm-up" suggests, the first step is to raise the body temperature and then activate sport-specific muscle groups. This reduces the risk of injury, stimulates the cardiovascular system and prepares the body for the upcoming exertion.
Now back to practice: in order to carry out these preparations in the best possible way and to get the most out of their own physical conditions, the players must know their bodies and know what measures are necessary to achieve the maximum possible performance. In my current coaching role in the U23 of a professional club, I have incorporated the good experiences of the above-mentioned team and kept the intensity of the warm-up high. In addition, I have incorporated findings from a placement at FC Augsburg in November 2022.
Since players from the professional team keep joining us, I heard from one of them that the warm-up program under my leadership was the most strenuous he had ever done. I replied that since the change in the warm-up "at that point it was almost a year ago" we had not had any muscle injuries in the game and that this was very important. Nevertheless, I thought about it, listened to the team a bit and found out that some of the players found the program to be too intensive. After the players suggested that we could leave out part of the strengthening, I made a bet with a wink that we could try it, but that they would then have a duty and could put the remaining energy into the upcoming 90 minutes. If the outcome was very positive, we would always leave out that part in the future: final result 7:0 for us and no more "stabilizers" before the games.
My conclusion: the challenge is to find a good balance between perfect preparation for the players and injury prevention - but if only it were that easy...
Sources:
(1) fussballtraining.de/ without
For completeness, you can see our current warm-up program here:
Structure:
A à zone for warming up, 20x7 (yellow cones) or 12 meters (blue cones) long
B à field for technical exercises and game forms, 20x20 meters
C à trapezoidal structure for goal-shooting exercises, width 7 meters on the short side and 11 meters on the long side, 8 meters deep
Run in:
First, the players take the balls and have 2-3 minutes to get used to the ball.
Then they warm up together under the guidance of the trainer.
3 lengths of normal running and running backwards to the baseline.
Then various movement preparations.
Running school with warm-up exercises.
Drinking break with independent, dynamic stretching (approx. 5-7 seconds per exercise and with movements a NO static holding).
Technical part:
The 10 starting players are divided into defensive and offensive
There is a player on each outside line, whose colors are assigned to the teams, whereby the colors of the players only come into effect in the game form. If there are 5 or more substitute players, these can be included as additional players in the first part to create more passing stations
1 à The balls are with the players. The starting players in the center run to the players, receive the balls twice and clap with their right and left hands. They then run to the next free outside player.
2 à The starting players in the center ask for the balls from the players and look over their shoulder. After the pass, the first contact is taken into the movement and the ball is played to a free outside player after a short dribble.
3 à The starting players in the center ask for the balls from the players and look over their shoulder. After the pass, the first contact is taken into the movement and a free player in the center is looked for for a clap ball. After the clap ball, the ball is passed to a free outside player. The player who plays the clap ball then moves into the free space with a short increase in speed (connection movement).
4 à The starting players in the center demand the balls from the players and look over their shoulders. After the pass, the first contact is taken into the movement and a free player in the center is sought for a pass. The player who receives the ball takes the first contact into the movement and passes the ball to a free outside player. After EVERY pass in the center, there is a short increase in speed into the free space (connection movement).
After the technical part, a 5 + 2 against 5 + 2 is played. The assigned players change the direction of play after each ball win, which simulates the switching behavior. Duration approx. 50 seconds, 2 rounds
Shot on goal:
Variation (green arrows) à The ball is played diagonally to the player at the front cone. The player takes the first contact into the movement and finishes with the second contact on the goal. One repetition on each side
Variation (red arrows) à The ball is played diagonally to the player at the front cone and is allowed to bounce back onto the passer. The passer finishes directly on the goal. One repetition on each side
Moves:
The two central defenders and a defensive midfielder are in the space in front of the center line and let the ball circulate. The full-backs are high up on the wing. The remaining players are in the center in front of the penalty area. If there are two defensive midfielders, switch after about 2-3 minutes.
Variant (red arrows) à after the ball has circulated, the defensive midfielder or the center-back furthest from the player plays a high diagonal ball into the path of the diagonally approaching full-back. After the full-back has got the ball under control and possibly dribbles diagonally, he plays the ball flat and sharply to the crossing strikers, who shoot at the goal.
Variant (blue arrows) à after the ball has circulated, the defensive midfielder or the center-back furthest from the player plays a high diagonal ball to the foot of the wide and high-standing full-back. After the full-back has brought the ball under control, he crosses the ball from the half-field to the crossing strikers, who shoot at the goal.
The passes can be varied. For example, the center-backs can also move wider and play a flat pass to the full-back closest to the ball.
Duration: approx. 4 minutes
Sprints:
Finally, 3 more starts are made. For this, the players line up in a circle around the trainer (distance from the trainer approx. 7 to 10 meters).
The players run slowly towards the trainer and on command they turn and sprint outwards.
Further changes of direction can be incorporated using further commands.
