Football: warming up

Get into the habit of warming up before a training session or a match. A proper warm up will let you stretch for a ball early on in the game and make you less likely to pull a muscle or get injured. Start off by stretching your calf muscles. To do this, lie on the floor, work your ankles and then get up and stride away for a few paces. Stretch your hamstrings by pointing your toes up with your heels on the floor and taking steps forward. To avoid groin injuries, lunge out to the side, keeping your back straight and stepping forward. Warm up your gluteal muscles so that you can stretch for a ball early on the game by pulling your knees into your chest. To stretch out your spine lie on your back, hug your knees into your chest and rock backwards and forwards. To warm up your kicking muscles or quadriceps, rollover onto your side, keep your knees together so you don’t damage your groin.