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Strength Training

Should You Lift Weights During Your Soccer Season?

By Parker & Walsh Leave a Comment

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On Soccer Training Solutions and in our soccer training book we advocate strength training including a healthy dose of work on the legs, shoulders and core muscle groups.

But when you’re undertaking weight training for soccer, should you work on it mid-season? Do the demands of regular practices and games mean that weight work will tire you out too much, cause you to lose flexibility, or risk an injury? Should you save lifting weights for the summer or other periods in between your season?

Overall, despite any concerns you might have, you absolutely should continue to lift weights during the season! In fact, if you don’t, you can actually put yourself at risk for injury and you will also miss out on several significant benefits. This article will go over those points in more detail

Benefits of In-Season Strength Training

Having a stronger body helps you to avoid a variety of injuries when coming into contact with other players. This is confirmed by a large body of research including this randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Weight lifting the right way can also help with your speed. Simple exercises like free weight back squats help you with lower body strength, and increase your sprinting velocity. (Here’s another study on soccer players confirming this).

How Should You Lift Best for Soccer During the Season?

It is true that you shouldn’t overdo your strength training regimen during the season, since you’re really going for maintenance of strength, not bulking up a significant amount extra.

Think of honing your power and strength, not chasing after bulk or the appearance of taut, rippling muscles.

Because of this, keeping the weight lifting to two sessions a week is ideal. Keep the weight you lift at about 50-75% of your one rep max, and don’t usually go for more than 10 reps per set.

Working on your lower body specifically also has major benefits. Working these muscles help you with your vertical leap, for one. And core work also helps you with everything from throw-ins to headers.

A few specific exercises you might consider include leg press, toe raises, leg curls, triceps extension, overhead press, lat pulldown, side-ups, sit-ups (lumbar flexion), trunk curl, dips, and more.

Finally, a great way to aid in your recovery is to thoroughly stretch after your weight session.

History of Thought on Soccer Weight Training

This question has been an issue for many years, with many who were wary of suggesting strength training for players during the season. Way back in 1988, Charles Hughes addressed the concern in his book Football Tactics and Teamwork:

“There is only one way in which to gain strength and that is by progressive resistance activities which almost invariably take the form of weight training…There is also little doubt that football managers in general do not accept the efficacy of strength training. Fears of the players becoming muscle-bound are completely without foundation.”

Hopefully you agree with us and with Hughes and continue to incorporate strength training into your in-season soccer training regimen.

If you have any questions or soccer weight lifting tips, just let us know in the comment section below.

Additional sources
http://www.nmysa.net/Assets/coach+education/Soccer+Weight+Training.pdf

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Filed Under: Fitness and Strength Tagged With: Bodyweight Exercises, Strength Training, Weight-training

Can Yoga Make You a Better Soccer Player?

By Parker & Walsh 2 Comments

15407-a-man-and-woman-practicing-yoga-in-a-fitness-center-pvSoccer players need to be fit to be successful, and that requires more than simply jogging around the neighborhood.

You probably wouldn’t be surprised to see top soccer players lifting weights, but what about balancing in a downward dog pose?

Yes, I’m talking about yoga, which has become more and more popular in recent years for both its physical and mental benefits.

But what about soccer specifically? Can yoga make you a better player?

Yes, and in quite a few ways! Read on to learn more about what yoga can do for you.

Yoga Benefits for Soccer Players

Yoga is all about gaining more flexibility, improving balance, becoming better biomechanically aligned, and controlling your breathing.

It also helps you increase your endurance and even puts you in a healthier mental state for peak performance.

These translate to some huge benefits on the field.

Being flexible, for one, helps you prevent injuries.

Yoga helps you loosen up your tight muscles, stabilize joints, and strengthen areas you don’t usually work. It also helps to improve your strength in key areas, and is a good exercise to add to any lifting regimen you may be doing.

Overall, yoga helps you make quick changes of pace on the pitch and lessens the risk of a muscle pull or other injury.

Yoga for Improving Balance in Soccer

Balance is key in all sports and doing yoga will greatly improve your balance. For soccer, improved balance gives you a better awareness of where your body is and how to control it.

Being balanced will help you keep the ball by not allowing another player to knock you off it, for example.

Better balance and a stronger core (which you develop through yoga) will also help you when you are challenging for balls in the air.

Yoga for Better Breathing (and Fitness)

Controlling your breathing in any exercise or sport is important. Breathing helps get oxygen to the muscles you are working the hardest.

If you cannot control your breathing properly, you are limiting your performance.

You will have more stamina when running and be more soccer fit if you can control your breathing.

It will also help you stay relaxed under pressure, allowing you to use your energy more efficiently and effectively.

Most standard yoga poses and exercises will give us these benefits, so feel free to seek out a routine from anywhere, from your local yoga studio to a quick Google search.

A few exercises you might want to focus on in particular are the pigeon pose, the triangle pose, the warrior poses, forward bends and lunges.

Many professional soccer players, including the U.S. Men’s National Team, do yoga.

A couple of examples of players in recent years who publicly credited yoga to making a major impact on their game include Brad Friedel and Ryan Giggs.

That’s a good enough incentive for me. What about you? Will you give yoga a try?

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Filed Under: Individual Soccer Training Tagged With: Balance, Flexibility, Strength Training, Yoga

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