You may not agree, but check this out. You can greatly benefit from weight training soccer when coaching your players in a sport that requires 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.
This article will teach you the basic theories of weight training for soccer using simple methods for presenting those theories.
During soccer strength training, Specificity is a very important concept. The theory is to design your training sessions to match the player’s activity on the field. Take for example running and swimming, a great exercise for runners and swimmers respectively.
Speed is the main factor to put effort to when training, so as to develop power. The role of players in team sports, their age, physical and mental capacity to take stress and their player’s level must be considered when coaching them in weight training programs.
When this kind of information is available to a coach while planning a fitness training program, it ensures a good start.
Physical conditioning usually requires activities that improve specific training. For example: swimmers also run and lift weights to improve their aerobic and strength and power fitness.
Injury prevention is also something which is commonly overlooked although it is an important part of weight training soccer. 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. To develop strength, stability and power the chain of muscles titled as the “anterior and posterior chain,” involved in these activities should be given attention.
The best exercises for developing these muscles are the core lifts, like squats and deadlifts. A comprehensive soccer fitness program giving due stress upon these two core lifts should work miracles for leg, hip, back and abdominal strength.
The program can also consist of swimming to highlight the areas of shoulders, arms and back muscles.
Typically strength programs involve heavy masses with only some repetitions. 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.
Even if primary strength, power or endurance gains are absent, developing particular muscle groups would also help to increase performance. These muscle groups are the lower back and hamstrings, and the quadriceps muscles that direct 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