Probability you might not believe this, but just hear me out on this. Weight training soccer is very essential while coaching the player on sports that needs a lot of strength, and, or explosive power. Strong abdominal and lower back muscles are also essential for players for whom strength and power is not the main issue.
Here are the basic principles of weight training for soccer displaying simple activities to describe those principles.
One of the key principles of soccer strength training is, Specificity. The idea is that to train your players to practice in a manner which is similar to that when they play on the fields. Take for example running and swimming, a great exercise for runners and swimmers respectively.
In order to enhance strength an essential thing to be stressed upon while exercising is speed. Weight training programs should be prepared explicitly for individuals taking into consideration their role in team sports, their age, physical and mental capacity to take stress, and the level at which they are to play.
While developing a fitness training program, all this information is helpful for a coach to ensure a good start.
Physical conditioning usually requires activities that improve specific training. Like for developing aerobic and strength and power fitness exercises, running and weight lifting are also performed by swimmers.
Injury prevention is another aspect of weight training soccer that is often overlooked. Injury prevention even though not directly contributing to the play, is important as it ensures that the players are fit to play at the most critical times of the year.
A sport like soccer includes activities such as running, sprinting, turning and twisting, side-stepping, going for a hit. The “anterior and posterior chain,” are the chain of muscles which are required to perform these actions must be given importance to develop strength, stability and power.
The most useful workouts are the core lifts, like squats and deadlifts for forming these muscles. A comprehensive soccer fitness program giving due stress upon these two core lifts should work miracles for leg, hip, back and abdominal strength.
To concentrate on the shoulders, arms and back muscle areas the program should also include swimming.
Typically strength programs involve heavy masses with only some repetitions. You know by now that soccer is a sport which requires sufficient strength with mobility, speed and stamina not just building bulk and mass like other sports.
Working on very special muscle groups can also enhance the performance even if primary strength, power or endurance gains are lacking. They are the lower back and hamstrings, and the quadriceps muscles that help knee joint function.
So this is it. Always remember these points while weight training soccer since in sport like soccer weights may not give much advantage. You are welcomed to our youth soccer coaching community that has a plethora of informative articles, weekly newsletters, and videos to help you better understand the concepts of youth coaching.
Andre Botelho is a recognized authority in youth soccer coaching and has already helped thousands of youth coaches to dramatically improve their coaching skills. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make training fun by downloading your free ebook at: Soccer Practice Tips.
Tags: fitness training, soccer fitness, soccer strength training, Weight training soccer