THE REAL WORK: A Football Coach’s Manifesto on Conditioning (Patreon)

Inspired by Raymond Verheijen. Delivered in full contact.

There’s a lie we keep telling ourselves in football. It sounds noble. It sounds disciplined. It’s this: “Fitness wins games.”
But here’s the truth: fitness alone doesn’t win anything. Football fitness is only useful if it serves football logic. And if you're a coach who’s still doing laps for warm-ups or generic gym circuits for “leg day,” this is your wake-up call.

In football, conditioning is not a religion. It’s a tool. Use it wrong, and it dulls the edge. Use it right, and it makes the difference between players who fade and those who rise in the 89th minute.

Let’s talk about real conditioning — what it is, what it isn’t, and what every coach worth their salt should be demanding from every rep, every drill, every breath.

I. FITNESS ISN’T THE GOAL — FOOTBALL IS.

“Conditioning for football” is too often a borrowed term from athletics, crossfit, or old-school PE. Verheijen cuts straight:

“Physical fitness is simply a means towards achieving soccer objectives.”

That’s it. That’s the rule.
And from this rule flows the method:

• Every drill must simulate the match.

• Every movement must mirror football logic.

• Every repetition must feed decision-making under fatigue.

Jogging laps? Not football logic.
Straight-line sprints for 50m? Not football logic.
Isolated gym work without decision-making? Not football logic.

A sprint in football has a reason: to beat a marker, cover a run, press a back pass.
If the conditioning doesn’t embed that, it doesn’t count.

II. GENERAL VS. SPECIFIC: YOU NEED BOTH, BUT NOT EQUALLY

There are two forms of conditioning worth knowing:

1. General Soccer-Related Conditioning

This builds the base — the physiological foundation.
You’re not playing football, but you’re imitating it. Think:

• Sprint drills that include turning, deceleration, direction change.

• Endurance intervals that reflect the game's start-stop rhythm.

• Plyometrics that train how to land, jump, and change posture like you would mid-match.

These drills matter. They teach the body to endure football’s chaos. But they should never be abstracted from the goal. They’re the scaffolding, not the final shape.

2. Specific Soccer-Related Conditioning

This is where real transfer happens. It’s about physical work under match conditions.

• Sprinting because you’re pressing.

• Jumping to head a ball, not a cone.

• Shooting under pressure, with heart rate above 170 bpm.

This is match fitness. This is readiness. This is training that doesn’t just prepare the legs — it sharpens the mind.

Rule of thumb: if the drill doesn’t force decision-making or recreate the tempo, resistance, and randomness of a game — you’re wasting your hour.

III. SPEED IS KING — BUT NOT JUST ANY SPEED

Forget “fast” players. You want players who are fast at the right time.
Speed in football is not top speed. It’s:

• Reaction time (when to move)

• Starting speed (how quickly you move)

• Acceleration (how fast you hit top speed in short space)

• Change of direction (can you turn, twist, recover)

• Repeat sprint capacity (can you go again, and again, and again…)

And most of all:

• Decision speed — because a late sprint is a wasted sprint, no matter how fast it was.

Data doesn’t lie: professional players make 100–120 short sprints (1–10 yards) per match.
Amateurs? 40–50.
Difference between top tier and Sunday league? Timing, frequency, recovery.

Want to coach better speed? Coach better context.
Sprints must begin with cues — visual, auditory, tactical.
Sprints must end with purpose — ball recovery, pass, duel.
Speed must be read, not just run.

IV. LOAD ≠ SAME FOR ALL

Here’s what most coaches miss:
Players don’t carry the same load.

• A winger in a high-press system? Sprints every 10 seconds.

• A centre-back in a low block? Less running, more power duels.

• A midfielder in a box-to-box role? Acyclic chaos — 1600 movements, constant scanning, duels, deceleration.

Your conditioning must reflect their job description.

Cookie-cutter fitness plans don’t work. The “one-size-fits-all” approach is laziness in disguise.
Know their match data. Know their game demands. Then design per-position, per-role conditioning.

V. STRENGTH ≠ BIGGER MUSCLES

Forget the bodybuilding nonsense.
Football strength is coordination strength.

The player who jumps highest isn’t the strongest — they’re the best-timed.
The player who kicks hardest isn’t the most muscular — they have better neuromuscular coordination.

Conditioning for strength in football should look like this:

• Kicking strength (timed extension + balance)

• Jumping strength (explosiveness + arm swing + anticipation)

• Tackling strength (core + lateral chain + lower body)

• Starting strength (hip flexors + hamstrings + intent)

Focus on motor control. The nervous system is king. You train that with game-like resistance, not just weights.

VI. THE REALITY OF RECOVERY

How long does it take to recover from a high-intensity session or match?
→ 36 to 48 hours. Muscles. Hormones. Neurology. Everything needs time. Plan accordingly.

Should you train hard Tuesday or Thursday after a Sunday match?
→ Both — but balanced. Amateurs benefit from spreading load, not alternating extremes.

How many sessions per week?

• Top amateur: 3

• Competitive: 2

• Recreational: 1
  But frequency means nothing if quality is garbage.

What about alcohol and late nights?
→ Coordination plummets. Risk increases. One bad tackle from a tired leg and the season’s over.

Jobs outside football?
→ Know your players. A laborer and a desk worker don’t need the same training. Ask. Adjust. Don’t assume.

VII. CONDITIONING THAT TRANSFERS

Your goal is not “fit” players.
Your goal is match-fit, decision-ready, chaos-conditioned warriors.

Conditioning must:

• Reflect game tempo (intervals, stop-start, acyclic rhythm)

• Integrate technical/tactical demands

• Build fatigue-resistance in context

• Be position-specific, role-specific, moment-specific

And above all:
Make the player better at football, not just better at drills.

THE COACH’S FINAL QUESTION

"Am I training players to run more, or to play better under fatigue?"

If it’s the former, you’re building runners. If it’s the latter, you’re building footballers.

Choose wisely. The result shows on Sunday.