Successful sprint training in football – with sports bands

We show you successful sprint training in football – with sports bands and FLEXVIT!

Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. Even in their infancy, many dream of one day taking to the pitch as a professional. Especially in Europe, professional football delivers some of the most important sporting media events

In addition to outstanding technique on the ball, however, both professional and amateur players need speed above all else in order to distance themselves from their opponents. Whoever gets to the ball first has an enormous advantage. To be convincing in sprinting, you need strong, powerful hamstrings and powerful thigh and gluteal muscles.

Sprint training in football: What happens during a sprint?

Whether it’s jumping power, speed when sprinting or quick reactions when changing direction in a game: all these skills involve various factors and prerequisites of the body.

Logically, in addition to the entire leg musculature, especially those muscle groups that control the movements of the thigh and the trunk play a decisive role. For example, the hip flexor is strongly involved in athletic movements such as sprints or jumps. To perform these quickly and in a controlled manner, the hip flexor needs strength and stability. In addition, hamstring and gluteal muscles as well as the quadriceps are partly responsible for speed in the legs.

The goal of sprint training is precisely to condition and train the fast-twitch muscle fibres – they are essential for your speed. Studies have shown that resistance training activates these specific muscle fibres and makes athletes faster and more powerful. With resistance bands from FLEXVIT, you can effectively train and improve the overall strength, reaction time and speed of your legs through targeted resistance.

The right training bands for your successful sprint training in football!

Sprint training in football with resistance bands

Resistance bands are the ideal companion when it comes to sprint training in football: they are easy to transport, can be used anywhere and, above all, allow speed to be trained in dynamic game situations specific to the sport.

They are also used to increase the intensity of regular sprint training in football, which players already do and are familiar with. By using FLEXVIT bands, a sport-specific movement is transformed into a resistance exercise. This is a huge advantage over isolated strength exercises, which of course also strengthen the muscles – but just not targeted in football-specific movements.

Depending on the exercise and performance level of the respective athlete, different strengths of resistance bands can be used for sprint training in football. This makes it easy to increase the intensity of the training, but also to adjust it again and again. A stronger resistance brings more power and intensity to the training, while lighter bands with more speed offer a different variation that also leads to great results.

Sprint training in football: change of direction and reaction

Anyone who plays football knows that the fast kick-off and speed are rarely required on a straight long track. In a dynamic sport, it’s all about the seconds that give the decisive advantage in sudden changes of direction. For these movements, you need a stable core. This is because the core muscles need to be conditioned for the balance that is required during sudden changes of direction. Sprint training in football with resistance bands can be used to develop leg strength, which brings the necessary power and speed to precisely these unpredictable game situations.

Reaction sprint after agility training with a flat pass – Football athletics training with FLEXVIT

In this training exercise, in addition to your basic speed, you also train agility, explosiveness and especially cognitive skills.

Fix the FLEXVIT Resist to an external anchor or a teammate with the multi-anchor. For agility training, build a challenging shape using cones or similar training equipment. In the video we have built 5 squares in the shape of a plus sign. Important: This should be arranged in such a way that the player is not able to keep his head permanently in the line of sight. This ensures that he loses sight of the 2 coloured cones that are about 3 m away.

On the coach’s command, the player then moves out of the exercise to the coloured cone that the coach has named. On the outside of the cone, the player then receives a flat pass which he has to pass back cleanly.

The cognitive demand can easily be increased by adjusting the commands, for example. As far as the strength of the legs is concerned, you can also easily create variations by changing the shape and size of the cones. In addition, the resistance can be changed and adjusted through the distance between the player and the anchor point.

Sprint training in football: Fast feet

With the FLEXVIT Mini, you can easily train your kicking and leg strength in many different game situations. Especially in combination with a coordination ladder, you not only improve your cognition and leg muscles, but also your coordination. This can be an advantage if, for example, you want to dribble out an opponent and then sprint. Another example is when you, as a defender, stand up to your opponent, then win the ball and go into a counterattack. These situations require leg coordination, quick feet with and without the ball and, of course, powerful sprinting.

Place the FLEXVIT Mini just above your knee and place a coordination ladder on the floor as usual. The extra resistance of the band activates your legs. This surplus of strength will then allow you to draw on greater power resources in real game situations, where of course you are not wearing a resistance band.

Perform a combination of movements along the coordination ladder and finish directly with a maximum sprint of about 10 to 15 metres. Then return to the beginning of your coordination ladder at an easy run or trot. Use this run to actively loosen your legs after the strenuous sprint. When you reach the coordination ladder, immediately start the next round of sprint training. Do about 10 to 15 repetitions until you give your legs a longer break.

Sprint training for footballers: optimising game situations

A sprint is not always just with the ball at your foot and away from your opponent. Often it is also about who gets to the ball first. Seconds are often decisive here and often, when you have the ball, you want to try to take a shot or attack the goal directly. Very special skills are needed, for example, for headers, as this often involves a sprint followed by a jump.

Here, too, the use of FLEXVIT tapes can create great effects in the game. Use a multi-anchor and the FLEXVIT Resist. Fix the band to an external anchor point or have a teammate hold it. Your starting position should be such that the band is already exerting a slight pull on your body. Now sprint 3-4 steps forwards powerfully and then jump off. At this point, another player should throw a ball to you, which you then pass back to him in a controlled and placed manner or in another, agreed direction.

This exercise trains explosiveness, fast sprints and bounce. In addition, this exercise helps you to have the necessary precision to get the ball exactly into the corner where you want it, despite fast movements.

Sprint training in football: Our conclusion!

Sprints are an integral part of football and of enormous importance for amateur and professional sports. Those who train themselves or their team in such a way that the opponent only sees dust in a duel have an unmistakable advantage. In addition to classic sprint training, resistance bands from FLEXVIT offer an effective tool for training speed in specific game situations, regardless of location and sport.

To get your team in shape, we at FLEXVIT have put together a special football set. The included tapes can be used optimally to complement your sprint and speed training. Of course, there are many other ways to use the bands. Whether agility, strength or endurance – with the football set, you can take your team’s training to a new level.

We have been guided in our selection by the user experiences of numerous athletic trainers. The different types and strengths of bands give you great flexibility in choosing the optimal resistance for your players (in terms of intensity, but also in terms of movement). With the special, high-quality material of the German-made FLEXVIT bands, your team will enjoy the pleasant feeling on the skin. No rolling up, no pulling on the skin and no sudden tearing as with conventional bands.

Discover more exercises for your athletic training in football – with our app!

Improve your speed with FLEXVIT fitness & resistance bands: