Soccer physical training routine
Physical football training is a fundamental piece when it comes to improving our performance. Our position on the field does not matter, since having a good routine for our soccer training improves all our skills in general. That is why it is key to have a complete and personalized physical training.
Whether you are an occasional player, a club player or, even more so, if you are at a semi-professional level, soccer training is always a good idea when it comes to performing better on the field. There is no use buying the latest Nike football boots (at this link you will find several products to choose from) on the market if you cannot then run two runs in a row without suffocating.
Luckily, a proper and well-designed routine is enough to achieve adequate physical preparation for soccer, which will help you perform better on the field, as well as feel much better in your day to day life. And as a bonus, some of these exercises can be used to create a football-specific warm-up prior to matches, which improves your performance and helps you avoid injuries.
Best of all, these routines are easy to do if you know some of the most common soccer drills, used even by professionals. With this knowledge, it will be easy for you to carry out customized soccer training sessions, with which you can develop those aspects that best suit you within the physical section. With that said, we leave the warm-up and start to see what exercises you can execute within your training routine.
speed drills
When it comes to talking about soccer drills, those aimed at improving speed are essential. One of these exercises is called Fartlek. This exercise is not easy, but it has the advantage of being adjustable to what you need. In this exercise, you run on the outer lines of the 11-a-side football field, combining sprints and jogging between the different sides of the field, until you complete a full midfield sprint. A training that is executed in series of 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the necessary requirement.
Another exercise is the lunge exercise. This training is based on fences separated by a meter, the players having to run between them. The distance between hurdles can be varied, making it smaller to add an extra demand to the movement. It is one of the exercises to improve speed with the highest level of intensity and that has the advantage of being adjustable by simply moving the fences from place to place.
Finally, we have exercises with parachutes or elastic bands. These trainings have a somewhat higher economic cost, since they require these complements when executing the exercise. Both the rubber and the parachute increase the athlete’s resistance when executing that race, thus increasing the player’s final speed and the ability to maintain the effort for longer.
Exercises to improve endurance
Another important building block in your training is improving endurance. Let’s think that 90 minutes running up and down the field can be very long if your physical background is not adequate. Therefore, resistance is another of the key parameters that all players must train, regardless of their position on the field.
Among the exercises of this type. we have the classic continuous race. Just running for about 20 minutes at a steady pace can get you into better shape in no time. You also have the option of running for periods, alternating minutes of walking and running. This option is interesting if your physical form is low, since it is more bearable than the continuous race itself and, thanks to the apps that we have today, it is very easy to execute.
In all these exercises, variety is important, since sometimes the continuous race and similar training are a bit boring. So you have no problem changing the zone you run through or the circuit you run. You can even set up a kind of treasure hunt, so that the race runs between various points in a park or similar, guided by clues that the runners will find. A somewhat more fun alternative when it comes to how to improve the soccer player’s endurance.
strength exercises
Strength is another key aspect, which helps to develop better power when making any movement, shooting at goal or supporting the melee with rivals. Among the most common workouts are conventional strength exercises, either with dumbbells or with medicine balls. If you have the possibility, you can also resort to specific work in the gym, although this case is already somewhat more complex.
If you don’t want to complicate yourself so much, you can resort to continuous races with changes of rhythm, which help to strengthen the muscles and also serve as reaction speed exercises, if these changes of rhythm are executed by means of whistles or similar signals.
On the other hand, the use of rubber bands and similar elements is also useful in these training sessions, which in addition to improving resistance also increase physical strength. In any case, for all these training sessions it is essential to adapt the demands to the physical condition of each player and not exceed a reasonable level of training, in order to avoid possible injuries.
dribbling drills
The ability of a soccer player to put rivals aside is fundamental. For this reason, having a good capacity for movement is another key aspect for the footballer. To enhance this ability, the most convenient thing is to resort to individual pairings between players, with or without a goal. The idea is that one player acts as an attacker while the other acts as a defender. The attacker must execute feints or dribbles to outwit the opponent, while the defender has to prevent the player from overtaking him. If there is a goal, the game is finished with a shot on goal.
Another interesting and very versatile exercise are the so-called circuits. These circuits are made with hoops, fences, posts or simple common objects, through which the player must pass while controlling the ball. The best thing about this workout is that, thanks to the wide variety of options you have at your fingertips, you can do more fun variations that break the monotony of conventional workouts.
