Soccer Endurance - Soccer Conditioning

Soccer Endurance – Introduction

In today's soccer, a player is required to play at his or her fullest ability for the entirety of the match, which can easily spread to around 94-95 minutes, with only a 15 minutes break in between the two halves.

Modern technology allows us to record the running distance of a soccer player in a match and the average comes out to somewhere around 10 kilometers (6 miles)...that's 6 miles in 90 minutes, but take into account that not all of this distance is covered in modest speed and it also involves sprints and semi-sprints which take up more energy.

As you can see, soccer endurance is quite important, but before you'll be able to cover as much ground as the pros, you'll need to understand what areas of your game endurance affects.

Soccer Endurance – Importance

Besides the obvious benefit of endurance, of giving you the ability to run for a ball or after a player efficiently longer into the game, it also affects other elements of the game. For example:

Focus – The more tired you get, the lower your ability to focus will be. Lack of focus translates into inaccurate passes and shots, lower jumping ability, less precise tackles, lower off-the-ball awareness as well as being unable to calculate the ball's trajectory as fast as when you're fresh.

By working out your endurance through soccer conditioning, you can obtain a high focus level further in a game (note that even top professional soccer players lose some of their focus in the last 10-15 minutes of a game, so there's no "enough" when it comes to soccer endurance).

Jumping – If your legs are tired, it clear that you can't jump as efficiently as if you were fresh. Endurance training helps you gain enough energy to be able to successfully jump for the ball even in the later stages of the match.

Dribbling – Dribbling requires short bursts of speed to be unleashed, accelerating and decelerating constantly. These take up a lot of energy and if you don’t have the energy to sprint quickly later on in the game, you won't be able to dribble effectively. Sprint endurance is required in this particular case.

Soccer Endurance – Player Position Requirements

Most soccer conditioning training session will have everyone (or everyone but the goalkeepers) work the same exercises, but if you're a dedicated soccer player you could work out some extra endurance exercises depending on the position you play on.

Goalkeepers – Endurance is not required for goalkeepers per say, but you will need to soccer conditioning in order to make sure your physical fitness doesn't hinder your agility (read: lose extra fat).

Defenders – Defenders need to find a balance between short and long-term endurance. Short term endurance can be improved through sprint exercises whereas long term endurance can be strengthened by laps.

Midfielders – Midfielders are under the most pressure when it comes to endurance, since they're constantly in the midst of events, running back and forth when their team switches through offense and defense. Long term endurance is a must, but sprint endurance is important for wingers who must sprint for a cross, then immediately sprint back to occupy their defensive positions.

Attackers – Deep lying strikers won't be running as much as a midfielder or defender, but they need to be fresh when their team requires a sprint from them. Attackers are also often required to perform pressing when the ball is in their offensive third, which requires a combination of short and long term endurance.