Soccer Weight Training

Soccer weight training means increasing your overall strength rather than building maximum muscle mass. The purpose with your soccer training is to have muscles that are strong, fast and also that have great endurance.

Soccer weight training will besides helping you to maintain a high level of fitness also help you recover faster from an injury. Let’s take at the different parts of your body and how important they are for your soccer performance:

Stabilization of your core
The core is the area of your body from under your breast bone, the diaphragm, to the groin of your pelvic region. The previous sentence may sound little dopey but the core is simply your centre of gravity, responsible for maintaining your body balance.

Soccer players with a stable core are pretty hard to stop because their balance allows them to move fast in different directions. One example on this is Diego Armando Maradona. He had a well developed core which helped him execute his soccer skills fast and with great results.

Legs
Strong legs mean faster legs. Your leg development is vital, not only for running but also for jumping, tackling, trapping, kicking and passing the ball. Your leg muscles are the most important ones when talking about soccer. Simply, with weak leg muscles your performance will not be any good.

Developing muscles of your abdominal and lower back region is important because y your will use these for throw-ins, heading and for sprinting. These areas are will also be important if you are a goalkeeper. As a goalkeeper you will use your leg muscles for diving, jumping for high balls, sprinting out of the 18 yard box to clear the ball etc.

Arms
Your arms will also play a vital part when executing headers, throwing and shielding the ball. If your position is goalkeeper, strong arms will help your with catching, punching and also with deflecting. Furthermore, if your upper body is pretty well developed your will not likely to be injured when contact is made with one or several opponents.

Developing your arm muscles is an important part of your weight training, especially if you are a goalkeeper. As you know, a goalkeeper needs to use his or her arms very often. This means that having poor arm muscles will decrease your performance.

Chest and Neck
These areas of your body are the link between your core and the extremities that is your legs, arms, head etc. Developing your chest muscles is not so vital comparing to your leg muscles. However, to maintain a good overall strength you should involve some reps for chest training.

Relevant Tips
You should see soccer weight training as a puzzle piece of your overall soccer performance. You will not become a good soccer player only by weight lifting. However, it is a good practice to involve it in your regular soccer training. You may for example run some weight exercise 15-20 min before and after your regular soccer session.

My experience is that lifting weights is a pretty common in pre-season training habit (Pre-season training is used to prepare your body physically for the coming season). Keep in mind that training with a ball should always be your now 1 option no matter what your coach says.