Soccer Conditioning

Soccer is a sport that takes endurance, agility, speed, patience, and skill. Any team that is even moderately serious about achieving success will have some type of team conditioning drills in place to ready their players for the strenuous game that is soccer.

Soccer conditioning is all about improving your physical condition with an established long or short-term exercise program. There are several aspects to a successful conditioning program, and most experts will tell you it starts with a warm-up routine. Teaching players how to stretch their muscles first will help avoid cramps, strains, and a host of other injuries that can happen as a result of trying to do too much, too soon. Start slowly, emphasize flexibility, and target your legs, back, and neck.

After warming-up, many soccer coaches today believe in strength drills. The game is more physical than ever, and for you or your players to have a chance, a certain level of strength must be achieved. Lifting weights is very important to achieve leg strength and durability. But the goal of a soccer player in weight training is not to build large muscles, but to achieve lean and toned muscles. If you are new to weight training, consult a professional. It can help you avoid injury and perform the exercises you need without wasting time on exercises that will not be useful in playing soccer. 

Soccer power training is not to be confused with soccer strength. This aspect involves your kicks, your headers, and your throw-ins. All of these will be a part of any soccer game, and thus, must be worked on. Once again, weight training can be used to strengthen muscles in your neck, your arms, and your legs. Practice your throw-ins by having two players stand about 10 feet apart, and throwing the ball as hard as possible between them. When this is mastered, move the players a few feet farther apart, and repeat the drill.

Soccer endurance training is another vital part of soccer conditioning. Sprints can help in achieving short-term endurance, but good old-fashioned laps around the track will help with long-term endurance.

Sprints also help in achieving speed, which is more important than ever in fast-paced soccer games today. Last and certainly not least, agility drills need to be a part of every successful soccer conditioning program.

By working on each of these critical needs, you can have a successful team when you start with an organized regimen of soccer conditioning drills.

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