You may not agree, but check this out. While coaching players on games that involves great strength, and, or explosive power weight training soccer is very useful. For player who do not require strength and power that much can also take advantage of strong abdominal and lower back muscles.
This article will teach you the basic theories of weight training for soccer using simple methods for presenting those theories.
Specificity is a common principle in soccer strength training. The concept of this is to coach the players to put more time in working out in a way resembling their play on the field. Take for example running and swimming, a great exercise for runners and swimmers respectively.
To improve power, speed is an important aspect in training. Weight training programs should be designed in a manner that takes in to account the individuals role in team sports, their age, physical and mental ability to take pressure, and the level at which they are to play.
All this information is useful for a trainer in designing a fitness training program, to make a good start.
Such exercises should be planned for physical conditioning which improves specific training. For instance, to improve the aerobic and strength and power fitness, swimmers also run and perform weight lifting.
Injury prevention is also something which is commonly overlooked although it is an important part of weight training soccer. Although it does not contribute directly to an increase in a player’s performance, injury prevention can positively support a player’s performance by ensuring that he or she is fit to play at crucial times in the event calendar.
Running, sprinting, turning and twisting, side-stepping, and getting ready for a shot are all the exercises performed in soccer. 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. An all-round soccer fitness program may also help, but these two core lifts work wonders for leg, hip, back and abdominal strength.
You may also include a swimming program to focus added attention on the shoulders, arms and back muscles.
Ordinary strength program comprises of doing pretty heavy weights but only a few times. You should be knowing by now that unlike other sports requiring bulk and weight soccer is a sport that requires strength with mobility, speed and stamina.
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 there you have it. Keep these points in mind when weight training soccer since football is a sport for which you may not initially consider weights to be an 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.
