What many football players don’t realise is that fitness is the fundamental aspect of their game that defines whether or not they can perform at their best for the entire match. Think about what I have just said. They need to perform at their best for the entire match. Now many players I know are very good technically, they are just great on the ball. However, when it comes to the game and putting in the hard yards, they will slack off and tire out much quickly than others on the team. This all due to fitness, lack of stamina and the slow decline of speed bursts that are required to get past defenders.

What Else Does Lack Of Fitness Mean?

It means lazy actions towards the game. This happens to be one of my most hated things about not being fit. Let me give you an example of lazy actions. Let’s say in the game that you are absolutely smashed and it’s only half-time. When you come out onto that field for the second half, I’ve got some bad news for you, your game will suffer, not only your running. Being unfit means that every touch that you do will be one that you have put a lot of effort into, when really, you don’t want to be putting much effort into the pass, and more effort on attacks made against the opposition. If you lack any effort for the pass, the chances are that you are so tired that it will come off your foot in a way that you don’t want it to, which can lead to loss of possession and even worse a counter-attack against you.

My Own Personal Experience

I can testify as to the mentally breaking feeling you get when you are unfit. Fortunately that isn’t the case right now, but when I first started, 15 minutes into a game I would be puffing and panting, unable to concentrate on the game, but rather on my breathing and what I needed to do to stop from falling over. Every single pass would take a lot out of me and half of them wouldn’t even be accurate, which resulted in a lot of frustration and clouded my thinking. When I think about those days, I really get distressed because that is not the way we play football and shouldn’t be played. Something like fitness that you can do something about needs to be addressed. If you don’t work on your own fitness then you immediately put yourself at a disadvantage to your opponent.

Fitness Plays A 75% Part In Terms Of How Well You Do

Maybe even more. If you don’t have your fitness down packed, then don’t even think about having a technically sound game for the entire 90 minutes. The following is a quote that I want to leave you with and will help put this in perspective for you.

Fit English players will always win against unfit Brazillian players