PERFORMANCE CENTER

Our Performance Center offers an inside look at how CRO Referees train and prepare for the rigorous physical demands of officiating. The workouts and programs you’ll find here are examples of what works for us — but we encourage you to discover and tailor a fitness routine that fits your own lifestyle and goals.

What You’ll Find

Training That Works : Explore proven routines designed to challenge you physically, while remaining flexible enough to accommodate your current fitness level, schedule, and personal needs.

Community & Support : Join a network of fellow referees, staff, and enthusiasts. Stay updated through our news feed, share your progress, and uplift others with positive comments and encouragement.

Share & Learn : Contribute your own workouts, tips, and experiences. Help shape a strong, supportive fitness community through openness and mutual encouragement.

Our goal is to empower you with expert guidance, tools, and inspiration — so you can build strength, endurance, and confidence both on and off the field.

Important Reminders About Training & Fitness Goals

Everyone begins their fitness journey at a different level. The workouts and exercises outlined here are designed with professional-level referees in mind — but they can and should be adjusted to match your current fitness level. It’s perfectly fine — and encouraged — to modify the intensity, rest intervals, or number of repetitions to ensure you complete each workout safely and effectively.

Remember: rest and recovery are essential to making progress. Taking an extra rest day when needed is smart — just be sure to use it for recovery, not as an excuse to skip training. Consistent, incremental progress is always the goal.

Prior to participating in strenuous exercise you should consult with your healthcare provider. We also recommend a full physical exam during your consultation. Weight, intensity and specific exercises should be adjusted to each individuals training capacity.

Referee Fitness Objectives

As a Referee or Assistant Referee, your fitness must support both endurance and explosive recovery—much like a high-level player, but with greater emphasis on repeated high-intensity efforts.

  1. Sprints with Recovery

    Referees must perform six full‑effort 40 m sprints, with just 60 seconds—or roughly 15–20 seconds of active recovery through walking—between each sprint  . That tests your ability to hit 80–100% of max speed and reset, repeatedly during the test—and in games.

  2. Intermittent Endurance

    The 40‑lap interval test replicates match conditions: 75 m runs in 15 seconds, followed by 25 m walks in 15 seconds  . This confirms you can recover during play, maintain pace, and repeat that cycle throughout a 90‑minute match.

  3. Aerobic Foundation + Recovery Capacity

    Passing one part alone (like the sprints or long-distance runs) isn’t enough. FIFA requires both high-speed repeatability (RSA) and the ability to sustain repeated efforts with recovery (the interval test) . Together, they simulate real match demands—intermittent bursts, brief recovery, and continuous performance.

What does this mean:

  • Explosive power: repeated maximal sprints, short recovery.

  • Intermittent endurance: ability to run–walk cycles continuously.

  • Consistency under fatigue: ability to maintain performance throughout games.

Our workouts are designed to build exactly these—helping you sprint fast, recover quickly, and repeat effectively, every match.

FIFA FITNESS TEST INFORMATION

Equipment & Services We Like

Some workouts may require a subscription to various workout services and may require certain equipment. You can do many of the workouts without any equipment or subscriptions if that is not available or able to be purchased. Do what you can with the resources you have and find creative ways to achieve your fitness goals.

It is also important to remember that everyone starts from different places in their fitness journey. Consult a Doctor, Athletic Trainer or Physical Therapist before taking on a new fitness challenge.

In Charlotte we work with Dr. Phil Welsh with Premier Physical Therapy. Phil is a former soccer player and referee who understands what referees need in preparation and recovery.

📋 Key Notes

  • Always rest the day before your competitive Sat matches

  • 5-day weeks help you push fitness ceiling

  • 3-day weeks are maintenance & injury prevention focused

  • Never do sprint work on consecutive days

  • When starting out with training begin with submax speed, build to fitness test pace by week 6-7

📋 Summary

  • 3-day weeks: maintenance + injury management

  • 5-day weeks: progress fitness toward test

  • Carefully manage sprint volume — sprint days separated

  • Avoid overload near match days

  • Injury prehab key for durability if carrying any knocks going in to a training block

🏃‍♂️ Sprint + Strength Days

Warm-up

  • 10 min jog

  • Dynamic mobility: leg swings, hip circles, lunges

  • Activation: monster walks, band hip bridge

  • 5 x 20m Progression Runs (Build speed from jog to sprint)

Sprint Drills

  • 6x20m Week 1 → Progress to 6x40m Week 6-8

  • Flying 30s (build to top speed, hold) 4 reps

Strength (3-4 exercises, 3x6-8 reps, RPE 7-8)

  • Bulgarian Split Squat

  • Hip Thrust or Glute Bridge

  • Trap Bar Deadlift or Goblet Squat

  • Core: Plank holds, side planks

  • Hamstring Curls or Nordic Curls

  • Leg Extension or Heels Elevated Squat

🏃‍♂️ Intervals + Agility Days

Warm-up

  • 10 min jog

  • Dynamic mobility

  • A skip, B skip, Carioca drills

Interval Test Work

  • Week 1: 20 laps (75m run in 15 sec + 25m walk in 15 sec)

  • Progress +2-4 laps each week → Week 8: full 40 laps

Agility

  • Ladder drills

  • 5-10-5 shuttle runs

  • Cone change of direction drills

🏃‍♂️ Sprint + Plyo Days

Warm-up

  • 2 rounds: 10 air squats, 10 lunges, 10 hip swings, 5 inchworms

  • 1 Round : 3 per side Worlds Greatest Stretch, 3x30 sec Goblet Squat Hold, 10x 90-90 Hip Switches

  • 5 Min Jog - 2 Min Rest - 3 Min Tempo Run

Sprint Drills

  • Flying 30s x 4

  • 6 x 40m Sprints

Plyometrics

  • Skater bounds 3x10

  • Box jumps (low-medium height) 3x5

  • Lateral hops 3x10 each side

🏃‍♂️ Intervals + Endurance

- (Sunday on 5-day weeks)

Warm-up

  • Jog 10 min

  • Dynamic mobility

Work

  • Intervals 30-40 laps at test pace

  • Aerobic tempo runs: 3 x 5 min run, 1 min walk

🏥 Prehab & Mobility Routine

(2x/week — can be after strength days)

1️⃣ Hip Flexor Isometric Holds — 3x30 sec each leg

2️⃣ Standing Hip CARs (controlled articular rotations) — 5 reps each direction

3️⃣ Lying straight leg raises with band — 3x15

4️⃣ Side-lying leg lifts — 3x15

5️⃣ Foam roll quads, adductors — 2 min each side

6️⃣ Psoas stretch / lunge hold — 3x30 sec each side

CRO Training Plans


CRO Performance - FIFA Referee Fitness Prep - PLAN STRUCTURE

Every Week of this training plan provides referees with 1 day a week of Refereeing on “A” Days and 2 days per week on “B” Days. It has been structured this way to focus on training regularly throughout the season while integrating games in to a training plan.

A. 3-DAY WEEKS (Built around refereeing 2 games / week — high demand weeks)

B. 5-DAY WEEKS (lower match volume, more focus on training development)

Training Focus Progression

Month 1 (Weeks 1-4)

  • Sprint drills = 6x20m → progress to 6x30m

  • Intervals = 20-28 laps

  • Strength = submaximal loads (RPE 7)

  • Plyos = light hops, skips, low volume

Month 2 (Weeks 5-8)

  • Sprint drills = 6x40m

  • Intervals = 32-40 laps

  • Strength = RPE 8 on key lifts

  • Plyos = more advanced (box jumps, bounds)

A. 3-DAY WEEKS

— high match demand

Suggested match days: Wed + Sat (Wed = midweek volume, Sat = competitive game)

Training days:

  • Mon = Sprint + Strength

  • Thu = Interval + Plyos

  • Sun = Recovery (light jog or rest)

B. 5-DAY WEEKS

  • development-focused weeks

Suggested match day: Friday night (gives Sat to recover & resume training)

Training days:

  • Mon = Sprint + Strength

  • Tue = Interval run + agility

  • Thu = Sprint + Plyos

  • Fri = Light pre-match prep (short sprints + mobility) → Ref game

  • Sun = Interval + aerobic capacity

Health / Recovery / Injury Prevention

North Carolina Based Training / Physical Therapy

  • Dr. Phil Welsh with Premier Physical Therapy

    • Dr. Phil Welsh is a former collegiate and youth soccer standout turned licensed physical therapist and athletic trainer, with a FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine and prior role with the Charlotte FC Academy, who now owns Premier Physical Therapy in Huntersville, NC—where he combines advanced biomechanical analysis, manual therapy, and sport-specific recovery techniques tailored to athletes’ needs . Referees can benefit from his services to enhance on-field performance, prevent and recover from the repetitive stresses of officiating, and maintain peak physical readiness throughout long matches and packed game schedules.

    • All CRO members are eligible to receive a 25% off discount for their initial evaluation with Dr. Phil Welsh.

  • Dr. Kyle Dunning with Chirowerx

    • Dr. Kyle Dunning is a chiropractor at ChiroWerx in Charlotte, NC, who specializes in restoring proper movement and correcting repetitive strain through hands‑on adjustments, soft tissue work, and targeted exercises—a philosophy shaped by his former work with the Team NJ Olympic Weightlifting Team and advanced training in musculoskeletal and nutritional care  . Referees can tap into his expertise to optimize joint function, enhance mobility endurance, and swiftly recover from the physical stress of officiating repetitive athletic movements—helping them stay on top of their game throughout long matches and seasons.