Warm-up in Football: Optimize Performance and Avoid Injuries

Every football training session and match should begin with a warm-up in order to improve performance and reduce the risk of injuries.

Warm-up in Football provides scientific evidence for the effect of warming up and describes how performance is closely related to muscle temperature. Furthermore, the book explains how the right warm-up prior to a match and at halftime improves the outcome in football.

This book provides a basic understanding of the value of warming up and presents a significant number of warm-up programs that can be used whether you are training professional, amateur or youth players. The warm-up programs and exercises are tailored to different training and match situations both on and off the pitch.

Highlights from the book include:

• New, inspiring and effective ways of warm-up for training.

• Warm-up programs before matches.

• Warm-up programs to improve performance at the start of the second half.

Warm-up in Football is critical reading for all who have an interest in the coaching and physiology of football.

Jens Bangsbo, PhD Scient, has published more than 300 scientific articles and numerous book reviews and chapters and has written more than 25 books in the field of exercise physiology and football, most of which have been translated to more than ten languages. He is a former professional football player with more than 300 matches in the top league in Denmark and has played on the national team both as a youth and senior player. He has coached at the highest international level in football for Juventus FC, AEK Athens and the Danish national football team, and is currently part-time coach of the Italian club Atalanta. He is a UEFA pro-license coach, FIFA, UEFA and AFC instructor.

Casper Skovgaard, PhD, has written a number of scientific articles and has worked as a football coach and fitness coach for a number of years. Casper is currently running the company SoccerFitness, which he started with Jens Bangsbo in 2018.