It is very commonly heard nowadays that weight training soccer is a major factor of sports training in today’s times as it creates tougher and quicker muscles. The program of soccer fitness talked about in this article will aid you make your players ready for playing soccer at an advanced level.
The new theory of soccer weight training is to have strong and fast muscles with higher stamina rather that to keep on adding pounds of muscle bulk. For overall conditioning and strength we still continue with the upper body weight training however its significance is not as much as the leg strength.
I recommend you begin your fitness training with the legs. Begin with the squatting exercises. When you are done with this warm up activity players are supposed to do 20 reps, so bar to be loaded should be according to their capacity. Considering that they have good strength, hence give them 220 pounds to start with. The exercise involves getting under the bar then placing it on the upper back and finally standing up with it.
Now they must stand keeping their shoulders and feet width apart. They must hold it as they go down until their hips are slightly lower than the top of their knees. In weight training soccer, after coming to this point the players should quickly stand up fully and breathe out. They should be motivated to do this for 20 reps even when they are totally worked out.
Give them a break for about 5 to 10 minutes and then start with the leg curl machine to work on the hamstrings. They are required to do 15 repetitions of 4 sets each. They will be required to perform 4 sets of 15 reps on the Stiff-Legged Dead lift between each set of Leg Curl exercises. It is important for the hamstrings to be strong as the speed is significantly enhanced by them.
After completing 3 sets of 25 reps on the Standing calf-raise machine your leg exercises will be over.
Now for the upper body work out begin with the Incline bench press.
Once the players have performed the warm ups, tell them to carry on by putting more weights such that the next set of 10 reps get harder. They should continue with that weight for 5 sets of 10 repetitions total, while stretching their chest and shoulders, and resting for around 2 minutes between each set.
In this segment of soccer strength training the second exercise is the pull-ups. This exercise should be done with the palms facing their body so that their biceps and back can become strong. The last part of the upper body portion of this workout is to work out the abdominals and 5 sets of 20 or more reps of leg raises would do well. Then finish with 5 sets of 50 or more crunches or sit-ups.
In conclusion, weight training soccer is only a small part of the overall training necessary to develop great soccer players. You should consider joining our youth soccer coaching society to know more about various weight training exercises relevant to the game of soccer; the community also provides videos, articles, pod casts, and newsletters available for you.
Andre Botelho is known online as “The Expert Youth Soccer Coach” and his free ebooks and reports have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. Learn how to skyrocket your players’ skills and make practice sessions fun in record time. Download your free ebook at: Soccer Practice.