Plyometric Workouts for Goalkeepers

Plyometric exercises encourage your muscles to reach their maximum power in minimal time. Rather than build raw strength, which is the ability to produce force, plyometric exercises focus on strength and speed, a combination that produces power. They are distinctive because they combine lengthening and shortening of the muscles as quickly as possible, and the result is an improved ability to tend goal in a soccer game.

  1. Depth Jumps

    • Depth jumps are performed by stepping off an elevated surface onto the ground, then jumping back into the air. Put a box somewhere soft to absorb the impact, stand on it, then jump onto the ground and back up into the air. This emphasizes the rubber band effect of lengthening and then shortening your muscles, and quickly improves your ability to generate explosive power.

    Squat Jumps

    • Squat jumps are when you squat down, then explode back up as fast as you can, then repeat. This makes your leg muscles work in a slightly different way than depth jumps. Combining the two gives you an excellent lower-body plyometric workout.

    Box Richochets

    • Draw a box on the ground with chalk, then stand at one corner. Keeping your feet together, jump to any other corner, then any other corner, and so on. It doesn't matter which corner you jump to each time, as long as it's different. This works your ability to jump laterally and in random directions without moving your feet too much.

    Bounding

    • Bounding is when you set up a series of jumps in a row, then jump over all of them. You can mark each jump with a cone or anything else that clearly shows where you need to land, as long as the cones are close enough that you can consistently clear them and far enough that they are a good workout. This works your ability to maintain power several jumps in a row.