| 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 | | | | strength will work towards a more powerful shot if |
| ball skills. Improving your body and your physical | | | | you have trained out your abs, lower back and leg |
| traits, as 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 | | | | -Soccer Endurance |
| concepts, or sub-sections if you will. The warm up, | | | | There are two types of endurance, short and long |
| strength, power, endurance, agility and speed training | | | | range. Short endurance refers to your ability to sprint |
| are key components to a full soccer conditioning | | | | longer and long endurance is more general and it |
| program. I won't go into too much detail about them | | | | helps you pull off an entire match. It's important to |
| with the article at hand, but what I do want to do is | | | | know that endurance isn't just about being able to |
| give you a glimpse on what each component is, how | | | | run for the ball longer in a match. If you get tired, |
| it benefits you as a soccer player (or your players if | | | | you will also have a harder time focusing on the |
| you're a coach) and how it can be improved. | | | | game, jumping, tackling, dribbling, finishing and so |
| -Soccer Warm Ups | | | | forth. So having good endurance can help you get |
| At the very beginning of soccer, players would warm | | | | the best out of yourself 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 | | | | match. Even professional soccer players that are part |
| play to get them into the right condition to play at | | | | of the most powerful clubs in the World tend to get |
| full potential. | | | | tired around the 80th minute, or earlier if they played |
| Nowadays, warming up is given increasingly higher | | | | a 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 | | | | Goalkeepers will have better reflexes and they'll be |
| maximum playing ability as the match or training | | | | able to get to high balls quicker if they're more agile. |
| session begins. A third benefit comes from specific | | | | Defenders will be harder to dribble and their tackles |
| stretching exercises, that make you more agile and | | | | will be more accurate and clean with the right level of |
| flexible, which is a great advantage for a soccer | | | | agility. Midfielders can dribble with ease if they're agile |
| player in today's lightning fast game. | | | | and strikers work well around their quickness in order |
| -Soccer Strength | | | | to get in front of the defender and finish on crosses, |
| Strength is a crucial factor in soccer, since it affects | | | | or dribble their way to goal when possible. |
| several abilities used during a match, such as jumping, | | | | -Soccer Speed |
| shooting, dribbling, shielding, balance, tackling or | | | | Just like with the power-strength confusion, some |
| marking. Actually, strength is probably the only | | | | people tend to put an equality sign in between speed |
| conditioning key component that is useful in the same | | | | and agility. Whereas agility refers to quick reactions, |
| measure for all players, regardless of their position on | | | | speed refers to running at full throttle, on a longer |
| the pitch. Shielding is often confused with power, but | | | | distance. Actually, speed has two components: |
| as you will see below there's a difference between | | | | acceleration and top speed. |
| the two. | | | | Acceleration lasts from the moment you start the |
| -Soccer Power | | | | sprint, to a second or two before you can reach top |
| Power can refer to one of three things in soccer: the | | | | speed. Indeed, agility plays a crucial role in |
| power of your shots, the power of your headers | | | | acceleration, but has little to do with top speed. So |
| and the power of your throws. Although strength | | | | focusing on agility exercises may improve your |
| does have an important role in determining these | | | | acceleration, but your top speed is difficult to |
| three attributes, you also need to have the right | | | | improve, since it's determined by a formula involving |
| technique to make them work. So power is a | | | | your lower body strength, natural constitution and |
| combination between strength and technique. | | | | running technique. |