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Due to the fact that top professional footballers are worth so much money to their club and the high wages that they are paid; most of them are banned from undertaking extreme sports. Clubs are unable to insure their players for such activities due to the fact that the risk of injury is so high. Yet there has been a move towards using the mountain bike in professional football in recent years. Here we look at the reasoning behind this move.
Aiding recovery
The mountain bike was first introduced into professional football as a way of aiding injured players in their rehabilitation process. Whilst clubs didn’t permit their players to take the sport to the extreme and take any risks; they did realise that the activity had some benefits in the recovery process. The thinking behind this move was that cycling provides the opportunity to build muscle tissue and thus strength in the legs without having to subject the body to impact that jogging involves. In the past swimming had been the preferred sport for this stage of rehabilitation, but clubs now began using both in unison to build muscle and improve joint movement.
Preventing injuries
The next step of the role of the mountain bike in football was to help prevent players from sustaining injuries in the first place. Football clubs always worry in the build-up to big games that one of their best players will pick up an injury. By getting their players to carry out fitness conditioning on bikes rather than through running and jogging clubs remove the risk of impact injuries and twisted joints.
Enhancing performance
Football clubs then realised that the mountain bike also provided a risk free way of players undertaking short burst exercise that is required for sprinting during matches. Instead of asking players to undertake sprints and shuttle runs to develop the short burst stamina that is so important to footballers; they began asking for intensive bursts on the mountain bike. This approach served to further reduce risk of injury whilst allowing the development of all areas of fitness.
My goal here is to talk about not only the game of soccer itself but also getting in shape for the soccer season.
