Fitness improvement

Hi all,

Currently at the worst fitness level i've ever been. I do Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning games but do very little in the week due to work and family.
I can easily cover 7-9kms a game, keep up with play pretty well but do catch myself breathing heavy a few times per game and occasionally begging for a break in play/half time.
I've changed my eating habits so hopefully that'll help shift some of the weight and make it a bit easier to get around but obviously some additional cardio will definitely be needed.
Currently L7 on pathway to L6 but hoping to possibly do most if not all requirements to so 7-6/6-5 this season, and will be straight onto 5-4 next season.
Could someone explain the 5-4 fitness tests/requirements so I can recreate to see where I currently am and also provide so tips/tricks/cardio plans to help improve over the next 12 months or so.
TIA

You need to be able to sprint 40 metres without taking more than 6.2 seconds.
You need to be able to run 75 metres within 17 seconds followed by a 25 metre recovery walk within 22 seconds, with 40 repeats of this (4 kilometres total distance covered). You can download an audio file to time the 17-22 interval test from here https://www.dutchreferee.com/fifa-fitness-test-for-referees/

CaptainsPlease said:

You need to be able to sprint 40 metres without taking more than 6.2 seconds.
You need to be able to run 75 metres within 17 seconds followed by a 25 metre recovery walk within 22 seconds, with 40 repeats of this (4 kilometres total distance covered). You can download an audio file to time the 17-22 interval test from here https://www.dutchreferee.com/fifa-fitness-test-for-referees/

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Thank you! Much appreciated

reisspeel said:

but do catch myself breathing heavy a few times per game and occasionally begging for a break in play/half time

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Aye been there about 100 times a season!

Unless you have a running track nearby, I just practice down the side of any football pitch
County Pitches will be 100 yards log. Just take 20 paces (yards) (which equates to ~ 75m) off the length and do 17s runs with 23s rests
The 40s intervals are therefore easy to track on the watch as you just have to keep a check that you're pacing the shuttles OK and be ready to go again every time 40s elapses. The pitches will be soft now, so it's gonna be more difficult at this time of year. You might want to do 20 repeats to start with and work your way up to 40 repeats. Unless you're really quite slow, the sprints shouldn't be too much to worry about as the failure rate is a touch less than 10% according to the FA

I'm 50 and no lightweight, so if I can pass fairly comfortably, the fitness test should be achievable. But you really ought to aim a bit higher than just passing the test. You should also work up to the 2600m in 12 minute Cooper Test. I find this test much more difficult but not everyone agrees. Don't be shocked if you fall short of this distance as it can take many many weeks (or months!) to get your head round it
2700m is the gold standard for reffing imho

Thanks for your advice, appreciate it

I've heavily worked on HIIT training twice a week over the past 12 months alongside my usual 5k (which I'll do once or twice a week, depending on schedule)

Doing a short 15-20 minute -1 session working on Speed / Agility has also helped as I feel ready then on a Saturday and I'm not blowing come the 70th minute.

Having a solid warm up is also so critical both for midweek sessions and pre-game.

Big Cat said:

Aye been there about 100 times a season!

Unless you have a running track nearby, I just practice down the side of any football pitch
County Pitches will be 100 yards log. Just take 20 paces (yards) (which equates to ~ 75m) off the length and do 17s runs with 23s rests
The 40s intervals are therefore easy to track on the watch as you just have to keep a check that you're pacing the shuttles OK and be ready to go again every time 40s elapses. The pitches will be soft now, so it's gonna be more difficult at this time of year. You might want to do 20 repeats to start with and work your way up to 40 repeats. Unless you're really quite slow, the sprints shouldn't be too much to worry about as the failure rate is a touch less than 10% according to the FA

I'm 50 and no lightweight, so if I can pass fairly comfortably, the fitness test should be achievable. But you really ought to aim a bit higher than just passing the test. You should also work up to the 2600m in 12 minute Cooper Test. I find this test much more difficult but not everyone agrees. Don't be shocked if you fall short of this distance as it can take many many weeks (or months!) to get your head round it
2700m is the gold standard for reffing imho

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My last half marathon was at 3100 cooper run pace but for 81 minutes. I'm well aware nobody gives a sh*t and nobody likes a show off, but if I don't get to say these things out loud sometimes then I'll lose my motivation

Thanks. - as you were...

Edit to add: I DO still worry about the sprint times and find it hard to motivate myself to work on them, so it's not all about stamina!

Excellent stuff @Big Cat

RefereeX said:

My last half marathon was at 3100 cooper run pace but for 81 minutes. I'm well aware nobody gives a sh*t and nobody likes a show off, but if I don't get to say these things out loud sometimes then I'll lose my motivation

Thanks. - as you were...

Edit to add: I DO still worry about the sprint times and find it hard to motivate myself to work on them, so it's not all about stamina!

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I did the sprints in 5.8 so you'll p1ss them

Your VO2max just gives you one less thing to worry about during games. The rest of us will make mistakes due to brain oxygen/glucose issues
That's one of the things spectators fail to appreciate, although many of them may have alcohol related brain deficit instead

Big Cat said:

I did the sprints in 5.8 so you'll p1ss them

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Last seasons core retention we did the fitness test on 4g. Requirement was 4 sprints from 5 attempts in 6.1s or less. I had to re-run 1 after a failure and I still only scraped my fifth one in a time of 6.09
3 days later, with legs still sore from the 4g which my body doesn't get on with, I had a higher level fitness test requiring 6 sprints in 5.8 secs or less from 7 attempts (IIRC). I passed all 6 first time, but that was on a running track.
So in summary, sprints on 4G petrify me... on a running tack I'm relatively comfortable.

RefereeX said:

Last seasons core retention we did the fitness test on 4g. Requirement was 4 sprints from 5 attempts in 6.1s or less. I had to re-run 1 after a failure and I still only scraped my fifth one in a time of 6.09
3 days later, with legs still sore from the 4g which my body doesn't get on with, I had a higher level fitness test requiring 6 sprints in 5.8 secs or less from 7 attempts (IIRC). I passed all 6 first time, but that was on a running track.
So in summary, sprints on 4G petrify me... on a running tack I'm relatively comfortable.

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I've picked up two niggles this season. Both on 4G
Knee tweak a few months back which affected my confidence in games for a good few weeks
Then Saturday, I needed physio treatment for a calf twinge at Biggleswade. I finished the game but have come off games for a few weeks
Hate the surface

Big Cat said:

I've picked up two niggles this season. Both on 4G
Knee tweak a few months back which affected my confidence in games for a good few weeks
Then Saturday, I needed physio treatment for a calf twinge at Biggleswade. I finished the game but have come off games for a few weeks
Hate the surface

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It’s a dilemma - good for the financial security of clubs, but not so good for players and officials, not even for fitness tests. The best surface has to be a tartan athletics track for training and taking the actual test, though not everyone including the leagues themselves have access to one, albeit on the dates required etc.

In addition to the great advice provided by @Big Cat , I also think you need to add some "next level" types of work to make the test seem a little easier.

Here's one example to help illustrate the point. For our college officiating association (NISOA) in the United States, they still have the old interval test where you run 150M and walk 50M 20 times (I won't discuss the times, as they are more designed for people who are older and slower to achieve a basic minimum level of fitness). When I run the test, I generally serve as the "rabbit" or "pacer" for some of the older referees so they know to pace themselves. Essentially, if they are in a few seconds of my pace, they'll pass the test.

But anyway, for the 150M I changed it to still pass the test in the set time, but I did it in a 75M "down and back". Still 150M, still had to get the time mandated by the test (actually 5 seconds below the stated time), but I added the deceleration and acceleration at 75M to challenge myself. Here are a few other possible ways to go above and beyond to make the actual test easier.

1) For the sprints, do 50M or even 60M instead of 40M. Obviously, you won't make it in the normal time, but sprinting a longer distance with the same recovery will make the 40M sprints easier. Also, that's a game-specific situation as we often have a couple of long counterattack sprints a game.

2) For the intervals, extend the 75M to a longer distance. Try to keep the same pace as the 75M that you need to pass (i.e. 5 m/s for the FIFA test).

3) Add some longer hard intervals. Instead of doing a 15s run/18s walk, do something like a 30s run/40s walk or a 30s/30s . That gets your body used to running at a hard pace for a longer time. You could also do a longer run with the same recovery time.

4) I'm also a big fan of shuttle runs (OK, I really hate them, but they are really good for the type of fitness refereeing requires), because getting your heart rate spiking with the accelerations and decelerations conditions you. Set cones at 20M or 25M apart. Run anywhere from 4 (down and back twice) to 6 (down and back three times) times. Rest 30 seconds between reps. Do 4-6 reps per set, and do anywhere from 2-5 sets with 2-3 minutes between sets.

At the end of the day, we shouldn't be training directly to the test. We should be training to effectively work for the duration of a football match. The fitness test just shows we put the "study work" in for our training.

So to add onto the HIIT discussion, what are some low-impact HIIT exercises people are doing? I had foot surgery to remove a cyst back in May. That cyst ended up being in a nerve, so the surgery cut into the nerve. I made it through this season, but had to deal with numbness on the outside of my foot. After my last weekend of games for the season five weeks ago, I'm not running until probably Christmas so I can give the nerve a real chance to heal up.

So I'm doing an elliptical 2-3 times a week and then some HIIT work on the days I also strength train. Here is the usual list of exercises from which I'm choosing, but these are getting a little stale. If you have others, add them below.

Kettlebell swings
Skater lunges
Battle ropes
Indoor rower
Ground to overhead press with a weight plate

Great thread. I think it’s missing something about basic running and sprinting technique. Take a look at some sprint exercise videos. Don’t get seduced by pulling sleds. More the form for skipping to open up the hips. And the emphasis on ankle strength. As well as subtle things, like how sprinters do “correct” butt kicks in warm ups.

I got this stuff from a PT and it revolutionized all running for me - and it’s all on YouTube.

I think this stuff is really missing from the world of referee fitness.

(For illustration, I’m over 50 and still doing the 40m in 5s flat on a good day and under 9s Coda on one very good day - yes, laser gates. And it’s down to learning pretty basic sprinting stuff five years ago.)