| In today's game of soccer the pace is often very | | | | for 30 seconds followed by 60 to 90 seconds of |
| quick and fast. Players need to have both good | | | | walking for recovery for twenty minutes. This work |
| technical skills and speed to effective on the soccer | | | | to rest ratio is 1 to 2 or 1 to 3. This eventually will |
| field. | | | | progress to 30 seconds sprint and 30 seconds rest |
| The simplest way to train fro soccer speed and and | | | | for twenty minutes. |
| soccer fitness is to have drills that imitate or mimic | | | | Next you could focus on sprinting on another day |
| the actions on the field. | | | | with 10, 20 or 30 metre sprints. The recovery "rule ' |
| If you take a close look at any soccer game it has | | | | is one minute for every 10 metre sprint. So if you |
| three active fitness parts to it. They are sprint, jog | | | | sprint for 20 metres your rest period would be 2 |
| and walk. So the best way to train for this is to | | | | minutes. This is excellent for off season training; |
| include it in training in either an off season strength | | | | however there are some simple drills you can do |
| and conditioning program or during practice. | | | | during the soccer season to work on soccer fitness |
| Developing soccer speed and fitness takes time as | | | | and soccer speed. |
| you need to build a solid strength base. You must | | | | Putting teams together in 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5 for small |
| also be aware of wild claims of achieving "amazing" | | | | sided games is a great way to maintain current levels |
| speed results at the end of a seven day training | | | | of fitness. If you struggle for fitness this is an |
| program. | | | | excellent way to help motivate and challenge you to |
| Building total body strength starts with a solid | | | | improve upon your soccer fitness. The small sided |
| strength and conditioning program in the off season. | | | | games allow for soccer fitness conditioning with a ball. |
| This will significantly improve your soccer fitness and | | | | Players love this because they feel that they are not |
| soccer speed. | | | | working, just having fun. |
| Your off season soccer conditioning should include | | | | Overlapping runs with a soccer ball is a great way to |
| days of interval training and days of speed training. | | | | improve speed. This occurs because the drill very |
| This is the best way to develop both soccer cardio | | | | closely mimics the game. |
| for aerobic fitness and acceleration for speed | | | | In conclusion it is important to focus on both intervals |
| development. | | | | and sprints in the off season to be soccer fit and |
| An example of a soccer fitness interval at the | | | | fast for your next soccer season. |
| beginning of the off season would be an all out sprint | | | | |