FEATURE SPANISH TRAINING
INVISIBLE T
THE SPANISH CLUBS HAVE EQUIPPED THEMSELVES WITH CUTTING-EDGE METHODOLOGIES TO ENHANCE THEIR FITNESS TRAINING:
GPS TECHNOLOGY, LOCAL MUSCLE VIBRATION, BIG DATA AND HEART RATE VARIABILITY TO NAME JUST A FEW.
SOCCER360 TAKES A CLOSER LOOK.I
s it possible to mould the physically
perfect footballer? We're talking
about the kind of athlete that's able
to get up and down the pitch for 90
minutes for 60 matches a season, whilst,
needless to say, never missing a game
through injury. The more you run, the
fitter you are. This was the mantra of the
rather rudimentary fitness regimes back
in the day when Real Madrid's La Quinta
del Buitre and FC Barcelona star Diego
Maradona battled it out for LaLiga glory.
There really wasn't anything to it. Those
days aren't all that long ago, but in terms
of fitness training it's as if we're harking
back to a time when dinosaurs roamed
the earth, with the game having advanced
light years since then. Today your average
training ground could easily be mistaken
for a science lab, brimming with state-of-
the-art technology the product of proven
research and painstaking experimentation.
It's all about optimising player performance
and leaving absolutely no stone unturned.
GPS technology, big data, neuropriming,
nutrition, vibration systems, isoinertial
technology, sleep studies, hydrotherapy,
zero-gravity equipment and psychology are
just a handful of the fields that are now very
much part and parcel of the modern game.
These concepts and systems are central
to the working life of your modern-day
fitness coach, who is tasked with educating
themselves to become an expert in a whole
range of different disciplines related to a
player's general well-being.
"The job title of 'fitness coach' is just one of
the many hats we wear", says Granada CFfitness coach, Victor Lafuente. "At the end
of the day, we're responsible for optimising
player performance. People seem to think
that our job is just to make the players
run further, jump higher and keep going
for longer. But there's far more to it than
that: sleep, ergogenic aids, the various
interpersonal relationships with the player,
etc. Our role isn’t limited to just planning
strength exercises."
In the modern game, it's absolutely
essential that fitness coaches adapt their
methods to the team's desired style of
play. In fact, the two things are inseparable.
"First and foremost, you've got to know
what type of football you want to play.
Are you looking to apply a high press or
counterattack quickly when you regain
possession? Every drill we plan is focused
on that and targets that particular aspect
of fitness," explains Sergi Perez, the man
charged with ensuring that the CA Osasuna
squad are in peak physical condition.
"Now all of this seems so obvious, but it's
not just happened overnight," reflects Dani
Pastor, fitness coach at RCD Mallorca, who
has now been in the business for 20 years.
"When I started out, the holy grail was La
preparación física del fútbol basada en
el atletismo (“Fitness training for football
based on athletics”) by Carlos Alvarez del
Villar. That tells you all you need to know.
What managers used to want was someone
who'd just send the players out to run. That
was all there was to it. It's now mainly about
working on the training pitch with a ball at
your feet."
A fitness coach working in football inCA.Osasuna coach Jagoba Arrasate, Bittor Alkiza (assistant coach)
and Sergi Perez (fitness coach) before a game against NumanciaValencia CF Cristiano Piccini, during an individual
training session, wearing the GPS system vest.