ch10 - The JFA Physical Fitness Project
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Programming principles and coach education
Intensity is steered by heart rate, by percentage of top speed and by the coach's signal. And every menu carries the same rider — watch the player's condition and adjust.
Three intensity zones
This is the aerobic prescription published for returning to play after a break in activity. Three zones are defined by explicit parameters.
| Zone | Purpose | Intensity heart rate (range) |
Work | Rest | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low to moderate | 1. Endurance performance 2. Intermittent performance |
80% (65–90%) | 3–5 min | 1–2 min | 3–5 |
| Moderate to high | 90% (80–100%) | 2–3 min | 3 min | 3–5 | |
| High (speed endurance) |
1. Speed-endurance performance 2. Intermittent performance |
90% (80–100%) | 30 s | 2 min | 3–5 |
Moderate-to-high (2–3 minutes' work, 3 minutes' rest) and speed endurance (30 seconds' work, 2 minutes' rest) carry an identical heart-rate prescription. What separates them is the work-to-rest ratio: roughly 1:1 for the first, roughly 1:4 for the second. The same cardiac target is used to build two entirely different qualities.
Every menu comes with a ball
The drills that fill the three zones all use a ball. In order of intensity, they run as follows.
| Zone | Menu | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Low–mod | Running while scanning | Random running from marker to marker, scanning constantly to avoid contact with others. 1. Jogging pace → 2. On a signal, speed up to 50–60% for 10–20 s → back down on the next signal (30–60 s) → 3. On a signal, speed up to 70–80% for 5–10 s → back down (30–60 s) |
| Low–mod | Dribbling and running with the ball while scanning | The same structure with a ball added, and variations: right foot only, left foot only, inside only, outside only. Speed up to 70–80% on the signal |
| Low–mod | Pass and move while scanning | In twos and threes, passing while moving in varied directions. Variations on free touch, three touches or fewer, two touches or fewer, two touches then one |
| Mod–high | Pass and control on the move | 1. The inside player dribbles at 50–60%, passes to an outside player and takes the return; on receiving, they must turn and beat a cone off the dribble → 2. At 90% or above, competing over a set number of passes (5–7) |
| Mod–high | Pass and move (central sprint version) | The inside player runs at 50–60% while receiving and returning the ball continuously. On the coach's signal they sprint towards the centre at 80%, then move into step work (signal every 20–30 s). Outside players vary between passes, one-touch volleys, two touches and headers |
| High | Fisico-tecnico | Split into a playing group and a serving group. Two players time an inside-foot volley together → side step → another inside-foot volley → move up one line, at which point the next pair starts. After five repetitions, sprint back to position; swap roles at the end |
What is worth noticing is the language of intensity control. Heart rate is in the prescription table, but the instruction on the pitch is given as subjective percentages of top speed — 50–60%, 70–80%, 80%, 90% and above — and as signals from the coach. The design is deliberately doubled so that it can be run without a heart-rate monitor.
One more thing: even the low-intensity menus carry the condition, without exception, that players must keep scanning so as not to run into anyone. It is a device for holding the cognitive demand in place while the aerobic load is being applied.
The same sentence recurs at the foot of every menu — control the timings and the number of sets according to the player's condition. The numbers in the prescription table are neither a ceiling nor a floor but a starting point. The instruction to use the table as a baseline and then adjust to the player in front of you is embedded throughout the content.
Position-specific agility — extracting the movement
The agility work run at the Under-14 striker camp is a method in its own right. The JFA extracted the movements typical of a forward from finishing practice in front of goal and built three exercises from them.
- Zigzag running into acceleration — so that a player whose balance is disturbed by the zigzag or by a jump can recover their body position quickly and accelerate
- Pull-away movement — varying the angle from in front of goal, the direction of the drop, the speed, and how wide the arc is
- Attacking the cross — from the check movement to the shooting position, using a reaction to the coach's signal
This is not generic agility work with ladders and cones; it is picking out the actions a given position actually repeats in matches and pulling them out to train. Any position can have its own menu built by the same procedure.
Coach education — an add-on licence structure
The formal route by which all of this reaches coaches is the physical fitness licence.
| Grade | Who the holder may coach | Entry requirements and notes |
|---|---|---|
| C Licence | Physical fitness coaching at amateur level, from children to adults | Requires a current JFA C Licence or above. The stated purpose is to acquire the foundational knowledge that underpins planning and delivering physical fitness training. In 2025 the intake was 240 a year (120 in each half, 30 × 4 courses) |
| B Licence | Physical fitness coaching at elite level, from children to adults | Dedicated B-grade tutors are separately accredited and assigned |
| A Licence | — | Planned |
Intake numbers and dates change from year to year. Check jfa.jp coaching news for current details.
The structural point is that these are add-on qualifications. The physical licence cannot be taken on its own; it sits on top of a football coaching licence. The JFA designates the C Licence as 'foundation I' and the B Licence as 'foundation II', with specialist licences — A General, Elite Youth A, Youth B, goalkeeping, physical fitness and futsal — placed above them.
That design is a declaration that the association will not produce fitness specialists who do not know football. To become a fitness coach you must first be able to coach the game. It explains, from the qualification structure alone, why the content in chapter 9 is tied throughout to the ball and to match actions, and why every aerobic menu in chapter 10 is built out of passing and dribbling.
Implementation checklist
- Add sitting height to routine measurements, then calculate maturity offset (ch. 3)
- Reorganise supplementary training groups by maturity stage rather than year level (ch. 4)
- Cap jump and power volume for phase 3 players at 5 reps × 1–2 sets (ch. 4)
- Use BMI only as an individual trend over time; never for squad ranking or target weights (ch. 5)
- Fix the testing protocol in writing and record equipment, surface, time of day and footwear alongside results (ch. 6)
- Always measure the standing long jump and CMJ left and right separately (ch. 6)
- Return test results as individual feedback, not selection (ch. 6 and 7)
- Write the opponent's formation, how the scoreline developed, the gap since the last match and the temperature next to the match record (ch. 8)
- Include complete rest among the recovery options between back-to-back fixtures (ch. 8)
- Start hamstring work with hip lifts; leave the Nordic curl until last (ch. 9)
- Treat post-session regeneration stretching as the start of the next session (ch. 9)
- Keep a scanning requirement in the aerobic menus as well (ch. 10)
Sources
- Japan Football Association, 'Physical Fitness Project training examples' — the three-zone parameter table, the six ball-integrated menus with their percentage-of-speed instructions, the recurring rider on adjusting to condition, the three agility elements from the striker camp, and the record of the session being cut back because of heat.
https://www.jfa.jp/coach/physical_project/fitness_example.html - Japan Football Association, 'Physical guidelines for resuming football activity (development years)' — the background to the return-to-play prescription.
https://www.jfa.jp/coach/physical_project/guidelines_resuming_activities.html - Japan Football Association, 'Course outline: 2025 JFA Physical Fitness C Licence coaching course, second half' — purpose, entry requirements and intake.
https://www.jfa.jp/coach/news/00035257/ - Japan Football Association, 'Course outline: 2026 JFA Physical Fitness C Licence coaching course, second half'.
https://www.jfa.jp/coach/news/00036496/ - Japan Football Association, 'About the coach education courses' — C as foundation I, B as foundation II, and the placement of the specialist licences.
https://www.jfa.jp/coach/official/training.html - Japan Football Association, 'The tutor system' — physical fitness B-grade and C-grade tutors.
https://www.jfa.jp/coach/official/instructor.html - COACH UNITED, 'Do football coaches need a licence? The types, and why you should hold one' — the planned physical fitness A grade and the distinction between what B and C grades may coach.
https://coachunited.jp/column/001513.html