Drills

The 4-Minute Drill (Aerobic)

WHAT TO DO: 

Use cones to measure out a distance of 100m (the approximate length of a full-sized football pitch), with cones placed at regular 10m intervals. Run up and down the full 100m line as hard as you can for four minutes, and measure the total distance you cover. Rest for two minutes then repeat the exercise. Now work out your average distance per set by dividing your combined distance over the two sets in half, and check your times against the chart below. 

HOW YOU RATE: 

Sunday League footballer = 1000m 

Good amateur footballer = 1100m 

Championship footballer = 1200m 

Premier League footballer = 1300m+ 

Horrible 100s (Anaerobic immediate / Phosphocreatine)

WHAT TO DO: 

Measure out a distance of 100m (the approximate length of a full-sized football pitch) and sprint the distance as fast as you can. Repeat this 6-8 times in a set, with 40 secs rest in between each repetition. Measure your time for each rep, then add the times together and divide by however many reps you completed in order to work out your average time per 100m. If you choose to do a second set, allow 2-3 mins of recovery first. 

HOW YOU RATE: 

Sunday League footballer = 18 sec/100m 

Good amateur footballer = 16 sec/100m 

Championship footballer = 14 sec/100m 

Premier League footballer = 12 sec/100m 

Napalm Shuttle (Anaerobic short-term / Lactate)

WHAT TO DO: 

Set up a 25m shuttle-run course with cones every 5m. Perform shuttle runs (run to the first cone and back, then run to the second cone and back etc) for 30 secs and record the total distance covered. Repeat the shuttle run six times with 30 secs recovery in between each set. Divide the total distance covered by the number of sets performed to work out your average distance covered. 

HOW YOU RATE: 

Sunday League footballer = 90m 

Good amateur footballer = 100m 

Championship footballer = 110m 

Premier League footballer = 125m