| Soccer is an athletic sport and it has become more | | | | For example, when kicking a ball towards the goal, |
| than a game that awards the player with the best ball | | | | strength will work towards a more powerful shot if |
| skills. Improving your body and your physical traits, as | | | | you have trained out your abs, lower back and leg |
| well as chiseling your physical weaknesses is | | | | muscles, but at the same time you'll need to kick the |
| extremely important in modern day soccer and the | | | | ball perfectly if you want to achieve a truly powerful |
| field that tends to all these aspects is called soccer | | | | and accurate shot. As a tire commercial once put |
| conditioning. | | | | it...power is nothing without control. |
| Soccer conditioning is actually made up of 6 concepts, | | | | -Soccer Endurance |
| or sub-sections if you will. The warm up, strength, | | | | There are two types of endurance, short and long |
| power, endurance, agility and speed training are key | | | | range. Short endurance refers to your ability to sprint |
| components to a full soccer conditioning program. I | | | | longer and long endurance is more general and it helps |
| won't go into too much detail about them with the | | | | you pull off an entire match. It's important to know that |
| article at hand, but what I do want to do is give you a | | | | endurance isn't just about being able to run for the ball |
| glimpse on what each component is, how it benefits | | | | longer in a match. If you get tired, you will also have a |
| you as a soccer player (or your players if you're a | | | | harder time focusing on the game, jumping, tackling, |
| coach) and how it can be improved. | | | | dribbling, finishing and so forth. So having good |
| -Soccer Warm Ups | | | | endurance can help you get the best out of yourself |
| At the very beginning of soccer, players would warm | | | | for longer periods of time. |
| up before a match individually and rather disorganized. | | | | Note that it's very hard to get to a level where you |
| Besides of a few common warm-up and stretching | | | | can run tirelessly even in the latter stages of the |
| exercises, they depended on the first minutes of play | | | | match. Even professional soccer players that are part |
| to get them into the right condition to play at full | | | | of the most powerful clubs in the World tend to get |
| potential. | | | | tired around the 80th minute, or earlier if they played a |
| Nowadays, warming up is given increasingly higher | | | | high tempo game. |
| importance, because it helps a soccer player in two | | | | -Soccer Agility |
| ways: it protects you from muscle injuries such as | | | | Agility can help you on several levels in soccer. |
| strains and ruptures and it brings you to your maximum | | | | Goalkeepers will have better reflexes and they'll be |
| playing ability as the match or training session begins. A | | | | able to get to high balls quicker if they're more agile. |
| third benefit comes from specific stretching exercises, | | | | Defenders will be harder to dribble and their tackles will |
| that make you more agile and flexible, which is a great | | | | be more accurate and clean with the right level of |
| advantage for a soccer player in today's lightning fast | | | | agility. Midfielders can dribble with ease if they're agile |
| game. | | | | and strikers work well around their quickness in order |
| -Soccer Strength | | | | to get in front of the defender and finish on crosses, or |
| Strength is a crucial factor in soccer, since it affects | | | | dribble their way to goal when possible. |
| several abilities used during a match, such as jumping, | | | | -Soccer Speed |
| shooting, dribbling, shielding, balance, tackling or marking. | | | | Just like with the power-strength confusion, some |
| Actually, strength is probably the only conditioning key | | | | people tend to put an equality sign in between speed |
| component that is useful in the same measure for all | | | | and agility. Whereas agility refers to quick reactions, |
| players, regardless of their position on the pitch. | | | | speed refers to running at full throttle, on a longer |
| Shielding is often confused with power, but as you will | | | | distance. Actually, speed has two components: |
| see below there's a difference between the two. | | | | acceleration and top speed. |
| -Soccer Power | | | | Acceleration lasts from the moment you start the |
| Power can refer to one of three things in soccer: the | | | | sprint, to a second or two before you can reach top |
| power of your shots, the power of your headers and | | | | speed. Indeed, agility plays a crucial role in acceleration, |
| the power of your throws. Although strength does | | | | but has little to do with top speed. So focusing on |
| have an important role in determining these three | | | | agility exercises may improve your acceleration, but |
| attributes, you also need to have the right technique to | | | | your top speed is difficult to improve, since it's |
| make them work. So power is a combination between | | | | determined by a formula involving your lower body |
| strength and technique. | | | | strength, natural constitution and running technique. |