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