When I was at Nepal nearly 2 years back, I observed several different clubs’ training sessions.

One of the coaches, whose initial is J K, was making players RUN and RUN and RUN. It was hideous. Due to lack of sports science and latest education, I know a lot of coaches still do this in Nepal.

They make players run for MILES. They think the longer you can run, the fitter you are.

Instead, we need to look at this way. Obviously, Usain Bolt needs to be fit for his sport, but does he need to run MILES and MILES at a jogging pace to succeed in his sport? Of course NOT.

His sport requires him to run at the fastest speed within 100m, and therefore his training doesn’t need long distance running. In other words, fitness in sports is SPORT-SPECIFIC. You need to train how you play.

Now looking at football. Football is a game that consists bouts of HIGH INTENSITY SPRINTs, turnings, walking, jogs, change of direction, acceleration and deceleration. Hence, the training for football needs to mirror the demands of football.

The best way to build stamina (develop conditioning) for football is by doing HIGH INTERVAL TRAINING. This is basically where you perform RATIO of SPRINTS and WALKS.

Example: You sprint for 20 second and walk for 30 second for 20 repetitions. You can VARY the ratio of sprints and walks to address your fitness level. No Jogging by the way because latest research shows jogging can result in loss of flexibility.

This HIT, alongside with TEMPO RUNS and SHUTTLE RUNS, is the best way to develop your conditioning base (STAMINA). To be more specific with HIT, the most renowned type is called FARTLEK training and TABATA training.

Now, next time your coach makes you run MILES and MILES to get you fit, tell them that you hardly run for miles and miles in football at the same pace.