As part of this new blog collection chronicling the best workouts to get ready for some of the most popular sports in Ireland, I will be starting off with some of the best exercises and workouts to get you ready for soccer season. It doesn’t matter whether you are a competitive player looking to get an edge on your competition or just play in the local recreational league for fun, the workouts and exercises that I will lay out in this post are applicable to anyone of any skill level! To get in shape for soccer, you need to work on gaining strength, explosive power as well as cardiovascular fitness. The faster you want to see results, the more frequent your workouts are going to have to be. Proper recovery and staying motivated to train often will be a key component to getting into shape quickly for soccer season without any injury.
Accelerated Fitness Training
In order to get into shape at an accelerated rate, it is recommended that you strength train all of your major muscle groups two to three times a week. It is best to allow 24 to 48 hours for full recovery between strength-training sessions. In order to increase your rate of recovery, nutrition is essential. Eat or drink a combination of carbs and protein shortly after each workout along with drinking lots of water and make sure to get enough sleep each night.
Weight Training For Explosiveness
Your lower body muscles, including the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves are all required for most all of the explosive moves during a soccer game. In order to improve this area of fitness, it is best to perform deadlifts, lateral bounds, calf raises, squats and single leg squats. In addition to a strong lower body, it may be less obvious for a sport like soccer that the upper body and core are also essential to develop for explosive power. To achieve this, add crunches and upper body exercises with both free weights and machine weights. It is best to train these major muscle groups at least twice each week to get into prime shape for soccer season.
Plyometrics
The movements that are required of a soccer player often require quick changes of direction that rely directly on explosive power. Plyometrics, sometimes referred to as jump training, is included in soccer workout plans because it develops extreme explosive power increases overall leg strength and is able to give you a great cardiovascular workout. When getting into the actual workouts, do explosive push-ups for the upper body by lowering your chest to the ground like a conventional push-up and then pushing up as hard as you can. For your lower body, it is best to do different types of explosive jumps, such as squat jumps, box jumps and tuck jumps.
Running Training
One of the most obvious areas to work on as a soccer player is your running proficiency and cardiovascular health. Playing soccer involves an incredible amount of running and sprinting after the ball which requires a very healthy cardiovascular system. It is recommended to play small-sided games to boost cardiovascular fitness by having four to five players on each team. If you do not have anybody to practice with, it is best to do drills like suicide sprints. These types of cardio workouts burn a ton of calories, which will be great for shedding that little bit of extra weight before the start of the season.
