Soccer Workout Programs

Playing soccer demands a high degree of skill and fitness. The game is played over a very large space, and there are few chances for players to rest during the 45-minute halves that make up a match. To play the game well, you need endurance, strength, speed and skill. It is important to develop a training regimen that will incorporate and strengthen all of these qualities.

  1. Strength Training

    • Strength is important in soccer in that allows you to hold off the opposition when you are on the ball and to engage with on-the-ball players when you are trying to win possession. Strength training also enables you to throw the ball greater distances on throw-ins. Strength can even help to increase your speed. Some good upper-body strength workouts for soccer are bench press, butterfly press, incline press, lat pull and bicep curls. For the lower body try squats, leg presses, leg curls, calf raises and ab exercises. Avoid strength training your upper and lower body on the same day and make strength training constitute approximately 15 minutes out of every hour you train. If you train for two hours do weights for 30 minutes.

    Speed Training

    • Speed is essential in soccer. Speed allows you to outmaneuver opponents and win all-important foot races to win the ball. There are different kinds of soccer speed drills that are meant to imitate the sort of pace changes you experience during an actual match. Plyometric exercises offer the most realistic simulation of actual match conditions. Short sprints, interspersed with doing crunches, squats or running backward are also good for speed training. Speed training should constitute approximately 15 minutes of every hour you train.

    Endurance Training

    • Endurance is key to being able to sustain yourself over a 90-minute soccer match that can sometimes run into overtime. That's why distance running or jogging is essential to maintaining match fitness. Running for 45 to 60 minutes at a time puts you through the same sort of cardiovascular workout you would experience over a 45 to 50 minute match half. To develop good match fitness you should endurance train approximately three times a week. However, be sure to avoid doing distance running on the same days you do speed training or lower body strength conditioning.

    Ball Work

    • In soccer it's obviously important to be in good shape. However, physical conditioning should be considered merely a platter for serving up your skills. Ball work that consists of passing, dribbling, shooting and defensive drills should constitute approximately 30 minutes out of every hour you train. Thus if you train for three hours you would do 1 1/2 hours of ball work. Every player should work to develop sound fundamentals such as accurate passing and controlled dribbling. Ball work should also include position-specific work such as jockeying for defenders or shooting on goal for attackers.