Get Fit For Soccer

Have you ever noticed that soccer players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Henry are all extremely fit and lean? Well it is no coincidence, strength training is a vital part of any successful soccer player’s regime. Whether it is fighting an opponent off the ball, or taking a fall or just sprinting, physical strength is the key to a player’s success.

Soccer is for the most part an anaerobic sport, on the contrary to popular belief of it being an aerobic sport. A majority of the movement in soccer is short bursts of speed towards the net on a scoring opportunity or chasing down that feisty forward, which is ultimately followed by an active rest. With that being said; the key element in developing sprinting is strength within the posterior chain and shoulders. A whopping sixty five percent of sprinting success is contributed by the strength of the glutes, lower back and hamstrings.   An additional fifteen percent comes from shoulder flexion and the rest comes from quadriceps and gastroc/soleus (calves).

Here at SST various exercises we have used with many of BYSC’s teams are; split squat variations, lunge variations, dead lifts, squat variations and our soccer favorite- THE SLED!

SST believes a stronger athlete equates to becoming a better more efficient athlete. The stronger an athlete becomes the more force they can put in to the ground resulting in less ground contact time thus reaching the ultimate goal of becoming a faster sprinter.

The next time you want to go take a five mile long boring jog, think again, and think strength training for soccer!

BTW… Check out our latest eBook created especially for you mobile folks out there – Nutrition on the Road.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *