Do these 4 things and get hooked on every game!

Speak, bolerada! This week I received a question from one of my mentees about how to get more involved in the game and have a good performance from the beginning! 

I think that every player has suffered from this in some games, you get a little off and start missing some balls that you always hit, then despair comes and in the end everything ends in disaster. 

But what's up, LDP, how to prevent this from happening? Calm down, calm down... I'm going to give you some tips for you to get into the game and get the smoke right from the start.

I'm going to share some habits that have helped me over the past 2 years and especially the 2019 season for Union. Without further ado, let's go to our top 4.

Cold shower

This habit helped me a lot this year, because sometimes I arrived in the locker room a little sleepy and what did I do? Get in the cold shower to end any sleep! Yes, it took me a few seconds to enter but in the end I ended up going all or nothing. 

I would stay in the shower for a few minutes and try to reach a state of total focus until the cold water didn't bother me anymore and when I got out I was on game pump!

Music

There are several studies that show that music can influence your mood and body activity. Anyway, I liked to combine the music with the cold shower and the results were phenomenal! When I got out of the shower, I jumped, sang and got ready for another game. 

When we played away from home, I also used music as part of game preparation. I recommend that you put on some music with a faster beat if you are a little sleepy and a calmer music if you are very nervous, but the most important thing is that you put on music that motivates you to play football.

For example, I love FIFA and electronic music!

Mentalization

Mentalization or visualization is basically imagining in your mind the moves you are going to make in the game. 

I'm not talking about that magical visualization they sell out there. There are people who think that if you keep imagining yourself scoring goals, you will miraculously start scoring goals.

Results on the field are the result of training. This visualization I'm giving you is one that will help you focus and get into the flow of the game before it starts. 

Our brain cannot differentiate between what is reality and what is imagination. That's why it's cool for you to do this mindset before a match.

I suggest that you envision plays that you are going to do frequently and that you have practiced with the team during the week. For example, if I play on the wing, I will mentalize passes to the defender, to the defensive midfielder, to the winger, with me marking the winger and so on.

Heating

This for me is the most important. Do you know at the beginning of the game when both teams are warming up? 

So... I always look at the opposing team to see how they are behaving. This season I noticed several teams warming up slowly, with slow movements and that was always a good sign that the team was not ready for the game.

Most or all of the teams I've noticed warming up poorly started out playing poorly against us. A good example was in our semi final game. 

TWU, favorites to win the game, were warming up in a mocking manner. They were laughing, juggling and my team was focused, nobody said anything, we just did the exercises indicated by our coach. 

Result... first half 2x0 for us in the first half at the guys' house. 

The Hungary team led by Ferenc Puskas in the 1950s also had this warm-up tactic. 

Then, if you have time, look at Hungary's results in the 1954 World Cup. They often scored the first goal in the first half.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post and that you can use some of these practices in your next game and get in the game!

And don't forget! If you want to be in the best shape of your career, download our training programs and start training today!

Tmj e #RumoAoPro