Advantages of Soccer Strength Training
Soccer strength training is an important aspect of any soccer player’s overall training program. Soccer is a physically and mentally demanding game and those who are able to hone their physical capabilities stand a greater chance of success. Strength training in the context of soccer does not mean bulking up but the focus on enhancing endurance and accentuating speed.
There were some reservations among earlier soccer coaches about emphasizing strength training because there were concerns that this would be at the expense of speed and agility. Now there is more awareness that strength training can help an average soccer player become good, and a good soccer player become great.
Overall strength
Soccer is a sport that requires both upper and lower body strength. The running and the kicking and the ability to do all this without too many breaks are possible only with strong lower body strength. Similarly, the ability to hold your own against opponents, to handle hard-hit higher level balls and just the balance needed for overall fitness make the case of upper body strength.
Strength training in the context of soccer should emphasize maximal strength, explosive power and endurance. This means that the training should focus on helping build the natural strength areas of the player and help achieve the burst of power needed in clutch moments. The exercises that help build up the strength in the abdominal and lower back region and the thighs can be very helpful in terms of strength translating as power on the pitch.
The other tangential, but important, reason for emphasizing soccer strength training is that it will help the player avoid injuries. A fit player is likely to last longer on the field, able to recover better between games and generally have a better season. Good strength training will also speed up recovery in cases where a player does get injured.
Recommended exercises for strength training
As in all exercise program, warming up is essential to soccer strength training. Those who are working on their own to build up their strength should not forget this all important preliminary step. Most coaches have this built into strength training programs.
A good underlying principle for choosing soccer strength training exercises is that they should be low or medium resistance and high-repetition. Exercise programs should target specific tasks that a player will be performing – for example it is good to think in terms of improving leg strength to drive the ball powerfully and to jump well. Plyometric programs, which are intended to help the player achieve good height, are these kinds of targeted exercises. Leg presses, lunges and leg squats are good for building up the quadriceps.
Circuit training is considered the best way to ensure that different muscles groups get attention. In circuit training, the players are given a series of exercises to perform for a set period of time such as 30 seconds or a minute. By doing the low resistance exercises with frequency for these bursts of time, the body gets used to working in short pressure mode when the body demands that additional burst of energy.
A good training program should emphasize muscular strength and explosive power and yet not overdo either – factor in breaks between the different elements of a circuit training plan.
Soccer strength training has to be part of any complete player preparation plan. While ball skills and strategic positioning are imperative, all those become useless if the player does not have strong athletic capabilities. However, the emphasis cannot ever be on one over the other because strength alone will not replace good ball skills exercises.