Soccer Weight Training
Soccer weight training is so important when it comes to preparing for that 90-minute match, too many athletes and coaches neglect the importance raw strength when training for soccer. In such a physical demanding sport, it is essential to have a combination of muscular strength and muscular endurance in addition to cardiovascular fitness.
Why is soccer weight training it so important? Well, lets take a look at the leading benefits of weight training and how they work to our advantage in soccer:
Improved Strength in Joints and Bones:
All weight-bearing exercises, be them body-weight or resistance training, help to increase bone density and therefore the strength of the bone, by increasing the amount of osteoblasts which are the cells responsible for building new bone minerals. But what are the benefits of an increased bone density? In short; the stronger the bone, the less likely it is to be broken or fractured during a nasty tackle.
Increased Power:
High power has positive effects for sprinting for the ball, or breaking away from the rest of the field, with the ball. The more explosive power you have the further you will be able to travel in a shorter space of time. In addition to this – when working on the correct muscular chain sequences – you’ll be able to kick (or throw) the ball further.
Improved Balance:
When twisting, turning and even jumping away from an opponents challenge, having good core strength helps you to maintain your balance and therefore increases your chances of staying on your feet and continuing your attack.
Improved Flexibility:
Flexibility helps you to move more efficiently and a greater range of motion around joints helps you to stretch further for the ball. Being flexible also reduces any resistance in the tissue structures in the muscle. This makes you less likely to become injured due to the extensibility of the muscle tissue.
Improved posture:
Florence P. Kendall (Physical Therapist and Author) once said: “Posture is the position from which movement begins and ends”. When saying this, Kendall was highlighting just how important correct posture really is. ‘Correct’ posture insists that all of the muscles in the body are aligned and have the appropriate tension on all of it’s muscular pairs. This goes on to reduce any excess stress on the joints through effective mechanics, ensuring correct absorption and distribution during all movements. Putting this to soccer, we want to move with ease and efficiency around our opponents and being flexible helps us to do so.
When starting a resistance programme for the first time, I want you to remember: TLC. Technique. Light Weights. Control.
Technique- Correct technique should be something you always maintain and will reduce the risk of injury and increase efficiency in later stages of training.
Light Weights– This helps you to master that technique and get a feeling of resistance on the muscles. For the first week, I’d like you to find a weight that you can easily manage 12 reps with and then do 10.
Control- This means no bouncing, jerking. Maintain slow, purposeful and controlled movements throughout your routine.
There are several ways that you can gain muscular strength and endurance, and everybody has their own ideas on what weight training exercises are best for you, but who’s right? Stick around and I will go through a few of them in detail for you.
YOU WANT MORE!
I do my best to give you all the infomation you need to get started today, but if you are still hungry for more information to help improve you skills fast, i recommend checking out EST (Epic Soccer Training). This Program is written and presented by a former pro player. I Have just completed a full review of the Program. CLICK HERE TO READ MY REVIEW OF EPIC SOCCER TRAINING