Most of what we do in our lives is shaped by habits. They form the invisible architecture of paths we take, goals we achieve, and stories we create. Therefore, it is important to have the right habits. Here in this post, we will discuss top four healthy habits of successful football players:
- Football Players Sleep Right
If you are currently receiving private football coaching and want to become a professional football player one day, it is important that you sleep right.
Here is what you should know:
- Professional athletes go to bed early and wake up early. This allows their muscles to recover. After grueling training sessions during the day, tissue repair and cellular regeneration occurs during deep sleep.
- Football players need to have the ability to make split-second decisions. Poor quality of sleep can result in slower reaction times.
- Sleep-deprived athletes also have difficulty memorizing new information.
- Attention deficits due to lack of quality sleep can also hinder an athlete’s learning ability.
- As a young football player, you should be consistent with your sleep. For starters, remove all digital screens from your bedroom and block out the blue light.
- Football Players Warm-up and Stretch Correctly
Several young players ignore this healthy habit of professional football players.
Even as team and personal football coaches emphasize on its importance, warming up and stretching up well before and after a match or a practice session is one of the most underestimated routines.
Many young players tend to believe that stretching muscles is necessary for warming-up the muscles and preparing them for physical activity on the field. However, mounting research has shown that stretching your muscles before they are warmed-up, can actually them. It can even lead to injuries on the field.
If you believe you have warmed-up & stretched incorrectly in the past, speak with your personal football trainer or fitness trainer for some tips on how to do it right.
- A Football Player Listens to His Body
Football players who keep moving from one level to the next learn to adapt to conditions around them early on.
If you feel like you are exhausted after a strenuous training session, it may be a good idea to ‘take it easy’ the following day. This will help prevent long-term muscle fatigue.
Do not hesitate to discuss such matters with your private football coach.
Yes, you need to be consistent in practice; you should continually aim to gain more strength, speed, and stamina. But you should also learn to relax. You need to learn to listen to your body.
- Football Players Continually Work On Improving Their Mindset
While people would like to believe that professional football players lead perfect lives, it’s often not the case. Football players, like everybody else, have issues and like it or not, those issues reflect on the field.
Some examples of issues that football players struggle with are:
- Personal issues (problem at home , school or college)
- Fear of failure
- Scared of an opponent
- Fear of disappointing parents or coaches
- Fear of an injury affecting their future prospects
- Fear of losing a scholarship
As a young football player, you need to keep working on your mindset. The human mind is much like a muscle. It requires practice and training if you want it to be on your side. You need to practice for developing mental toughness. You need to learn how to be calm. You need to understand how to be-in-the-moment when you are playing football.
You can meditate at home or have a pre-match routine to lift your spirits up. You can also talk to your personal football coach and ask for his guidance. In some cases, you may also need to visit a psychologist.