5 tips for footballers during lockdown

These five tips for footballers in lockdown have been put together in light of the extremely difficult times we are going through; none of us expected the situation to reach this point, but our health is the most important thing. Everything has come to a standstill – both our personal lives and the lives of those we follow week in, week out on our televisions or in person at our teams’ stadiums. We never thought we’d see our idols’ boots gathering dust, with all of them confined to their homes and training like true champions, because they don’t even know when they’ll be able to take to the pitch again to continue their fight to achieve their goals. But this isn’t just about professional, world-class players; it’s about us, you and everyone around us in semi-professional, amateur and youth football.

So grab a pen and some paper, put your PlayStation controller aside, and let’s find out what the five simple tips are for keeping fit during these weeks of lockdown.

1-Nutritious food for athletes

We must all understand that over the course of these days or weeks, our bodies won’t burn even a quarter of the fat we consume each day. Why? Because we’ll simply be standing, sitting or lying down, and by the third or fourth day our bodies will have become so accustomed to this level of comfort and lack of effort that they’ll simply stop burning calories. As such, anyone hoping to return to competition before the summer or during the summer itself needs to be very careful about what they eat. We are certainly not going to say anything new here, as we are not nutritionists, but in any case, we’ll leave you with the tips we’ve been following over the last few weeks on ‘eating well’.

Breakfast is essential, and it's common not paying much attention to it recently. But the truth is that during these days of lockdown, you’ll see just how much of a difference it makes. Starting the day with a good dose of fibre and fruit is perfect for keeping your body in balance during this period of reduced activity. Pasta, rice and foods high in carbohydrates should be eaten at lunch or at least around the time of any activity involving significant physical exertion. At dinner, try to eat only protein, such as white meat, fish or even vegetables. Between meals, and for those who aren’t allergic, nuts are an excellent option; therefore, avoid eating things like crisps, savoury biscuits, etc. All this is to avoid sugar and bread as much as possible.

2 - Home exercises

For all those who don’t have a garden at home, or even a gym, and who need to exercise, we’ll give you some basic ideas to follow at least twice a day during this period of self-isolation. You’ll do this so that, at the very least, you maintain the weight you had before this lockdown and, at the same time, we’ll ensure that your muscles don’t atrophy. As well as these simple exercises we are going to give you, it’s also very important that you don’t spend too many hours lying down or in the same position. Try to move your body every few hours.

The best-known exercises for goalkeepers at home – or for players in general – are those that can be easily done at home and are suitable for those without access to gym equipment, such as push-ups and sit-ups. However, you can always mix things up by adding the following exercises to these two: single-leg splits; side plank squats; bicep curls with weights (you can do this exercise using water bottles) and lunges. All these exercises are simple to do, and right now you can find someone demonstrating how to do them in any YouTube video. The benefits are huge, and you’ll see that when everything returns to normal, you might not be like Cristiano Ronaldo, but your body will be in better shape than you think.

3 - A look back at the current season

Football has come to a halt, as has the competition. So, there’s nothing better than carrying out a self-assessment of our individual performance, right up to our last match, to identify everything we did wrong and try to improve – and, of course, to recognise what we did well. Because in today’s football, there’s always room for improvement; and sometimes our best efforts aren’t enough. We can always work to try and reach a level we never thought we’d achieve. And another very useful thing is to take the opportunity to give our football kit a good clean – for example, our football boots or goalkeeper gloves, which won’t be used for two or three weeks.

4- Attention to health

Here at Fútbol Emotion, and everywhere else, we must try to raise awareness amongst those who may not be paying close attention. If you think you have been in contact with someone who has this illness that is affecting us all, monitor your symptoms and contact the NHS as soon as possible. For everyone who is at home right now and observing the quarantine, please continue with the good practices we have learnt over the last few days and do not let your guard down. Only then will we win this battle. Right now, the internet is full of countless blogs, news articles and videos discussing how to stay healthy and safe.

5 - Football films and books

We know that TV series and film apps are all the rage at the moment. However, we can also bring our passion from real life straight to our telly screens, whether through one of the videos on the Fútbol Emotion YouTube channel, or via the existing football content available to watch or read on the small screen. There are some great football films which, although they may not be as thrilling as a live football match, can always help take our minds off things. As for films, here are our top three football films: *Goal!*; *The Game of Their Lives* and *A Shot at Glory*. When it comes to books, and for those who enjoy reading, we have *Never Give Up* by Phil Knight, the creator and founder of Nike, and my all-time favourite: *Guardiola Confidential*, a book covering a year in the life of the Spanish manager who managed Bayern Munich.