The Ref Stop

Fitness

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Danwilliams26

New Member
I have booked myself into a ref training course that start in Aug and I am studying a lot on the LOTG also my fitness so my question is how fit have you got to be to become a starter ref and pass my course
 
The Ref Stop
As far as I am aware, there are not currently any fitness requirements for you to pass the course. However, if you wish to seek promotion to level 4 (in the future), your fitness will be assessed as part of this process.

Don't let this deter you though! The fitter you are, the easier refereeing becomes.
 
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@Danwilliams26 Get as fit as humanly possible, you can be the best decision maker, peace maker, administrator around but without a good level of fitness you are nothing. As CA said there are no fitness requirements to pass but don't let that stop you.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with everything :):)
 
As @CA has said, the fitter the better, and at least fitter than the players (so can beat them up the pitch).

As a guidance, I'm 6'1", 17 stone (114Kg), cover between 6 and 8 miles a game and a top sprint of 18mph. CA is much fitter - I can vouch for that!

No official fitness tests until L4 promotion and there after - It may not be note that you "are" fit but it may be note if you are "not" fit.

If you're 20+ stone and struggle up the stairs, well you have 4 months to work on it.
 
@HRW I am the same build but i'm 5ft 9 it's good to no that you don't have to be the same fitness level as Gareth bale lol thanks for the advice guys I think I will be posting a few more questions on here from now till my course :-) you all are helpful
 
Recently I have been made aware of some guidelines. A group of us who are going to be doing academy stuff have been told that we need to be able to do 1 mile in 12 mins. You are unlikely to be asked to do a fitness test but that is a good guideline. On a football website (I couldn't find it though) I once saw that you should be able to do 3 miles fairly comfortably but I don't know how true that is but like others have said, the fitter the better. Me and my dad have started doing couch to 5K by the NHS becuase I need to up my fitness. In 9 weeks you can do 5K in 30 mins. It's a good place to start
 
It used to be recommended in the FA fitness for referees book thing that you could do 2.2 km in 12 minutes. Recommended, not requirement I must stress.
 
12 minutes for a mile - sheesh, I know Im not Mo Farah, but still.

Military BASIC fitness level is 1.5miles in 10 min (and some of those - chefs / mechanics / admin staff) are far from "fit".
 
HRW said:
12 minutes for a mile - sheesh, I know Im not Mo Farah, but still.

Military BASIC fitness level is 1.5miles in 10 min (and some of those - chefs / mechanics / admin staff) are far from "fit".
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It's actually 10:30 for men under 30, 09:30 if you're a Para, but you're right a 12 minute mile shouldn't be difficult for anyone with a basic level of fitness, although what people class as "basic" will be subjective.
 
Does anyone else find it much easier to run around a pitch while focussing on a ball vs running around the streets with no distractions? I can't remember the last time I got to the end of the match (without injury) and felt like I was struggling for enough energy to keep moving, but whenever I get an opportunity to go for a jog, I struggle comparatively quickly.
 
GraemeS said:
Does anyone else find it much easier to run around a pitch while focussing on a ball vs running around the streets with no distractions? I can't remember the last time I got to the end of the match (without injury) and felt like I was struggling for enough energy to keep moving, but whenever I get an opportunity to go for a jog, I struggle comparatively quickly.
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I do find that. When I'm running on a treadmill I get bored. The ones in my gym can get BBC news on and stuff so I just tend to stick the news on and watch that as I'm running.
 
YorkshireReferee said:
I do find that. When I'm running on a treadmill I get bored. The ones in my gym can get BBC news on and stuff so I just tend to stick the news on and watch that as I'm running.
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I think my problem is that without a ball/players to watch, I start to focus on and worry about my breathing rhythym - which inevitably leads to me just not breathing naturally! Although I did damage my knee a few years ago and it's fair to say that something about treadmills causes it to flare up much more than running on grass, however firm it is.
 
GraemeS said:
I think my problem is that without a ball/players to watch, I start to focus on and worry about my breathing rhythym - which inevitably leads to me just not breathing naturally! Although I did damage my knee a few years ago and it's fair to say that something about treadmills causes it to flare up much more than running on grass, however firm it is.
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I concentrate on how tired I am and the difficulty of the pace I'm running at which leads it to seem harder.
 
High intensity interval training. I hate long steady pace runs and get massively bored very quickly. HIIT is your friend.

Replicates football running conditions better also

Most recent been using a modified version of something @Brian Hamilton suggested. (On treadmill)

4 mins at 10
3 mins at 12
2 mins at 14
1 min at 16
1 min at 17
1 min at 18

1 min rest between each.

Incline up to 12 -

30 seconds on/30 seconds off at 10 (repeat)

Rest then Repeat.
 
SM said:
4 mins at 10
3 mins at 12
2 mins at 14
1 min at 16
1 min at 17
1 min at 18
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I will have to give this a go, looks good to me.

I also use the cross tranier

Start on level 2, 1 min forward and 1 min back
then level 4, 1 min forward and 1 min back
continue this unil you hit level 20.

(Go up 2 levels each time)

As a cool down go down to level 10, 1 min forward 1 min back
level 8, 1 min forward and 1 min back until you hit level 2 again

This will last 30 minuets if done correctly. (Hope this make sence lol)
 
IIRC, a quote from a number of years ago was "Get fit to referee, not referee to get fit". Although I have to say, I definitely fall in to the latter category.
 
Chris Smith said:
I will have to give this a go, looks good to me.

I also use the cross tranier

Start on level 2, 1 min forward and 1 min back
then level 4, 1 min forward and 1 min back
continue this unil you hit level 20.

(Go up 2 levels each time)

As a cool down go down to level 10, 1 min forward 1 min back
level 8, 1 min forward and 1 min back until you hit level 2 again

This will last 30 minuets if done correctly. (Hope this make sence lol)
Click to expand...
Good workout and better than my 15 minutes on level 12
 
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