Does the Gym Make You Stronger in Soccer?

You don't typically see soccer players hit the gym for weight training as often as players from other sports, such as football. Soccer players often believe that speed, not strength, is the key to success on the field. However, building strong muscles -- not bulky muscles -- helps soccer players get stronger, faster, more agile and less likely to incur injury on the field.

  1. Lower Body

    • A powerful lower body is essential to soccer success. This lets you kick the ball fast and accurately. It also helps you dodge opponents and barrel through large groups when necessary. Adding weights to your leg workout builds the muscles necessary to keep you running fast on the field while maintaining ball control. Try exercises such as the weight leg press, squats and lunges with a barbell resting across your shoulders, leg curls, leg extensions and calf raises.

    Upper Body

    • Working your upper body might not seem important, but it helps give you overall body power, allows you to control your throws and deflect other players when necessary. For goalies, it helps them catch the ball and dive for it without getting hurt. Work your core, shoulders, back and arms in the gym with exercises such as weighted crunches and back-ups, overhead presses, dips, side twists holding a barbell on your shoulders, biceps curls and triceps extensors.

    Considerations

    • The goal of building muscle for soccer is strength, not bulk. Keep the repetitions and the weight amounts lower than you would for a bodybuilding workout. Soccer players should lift no more than 50 to 75 percent of their maximum at any time, and stick to one set of 10 repetitions per exercise. Create a balanced workout schedule, making sure to work coordinating muscle groups on the same day. For example, if you're doing leg curls to work your hamstrings, do some leg extensions to work your quads as well, and combine exercises such as biceps curls and triceps extensors. This helps build balanced muscle groups to give you the speed and agility you need on the field. It also helps prevent injury by giving your joints proper support in all directions.

    Cardio

    • The gym gives you an opportunity to continue cardiovascular training in the off-season or on days when bad weather keeps you off the field. On the treadmill, work on interval training to help you build endurance and short bursts of speed. For example, run as fast as you can for one minute, then slow it down to a moderate pace for three minutes. Continue alternating fast and moderate running for your desired length of time, such as 30 minutes. Adding an incline creates more resistance. An elliptical gives you the option to build your cardio endurance with low impact. Changing the resistance helps build leg muscles as well, and many elliptical machines have arm levers to get your arms working at the same time as your legs.