New Year, New You: Soccer Edition

Off season’s over! Holiday food and relaxation are nice, but spring soccer season is coming fast, so it’s time to remind your body what it can do. You probably haven’t forgotten how to play, but chances are, you’ve lost some endurance and stamina. Start 2015 off right with power as well as skill! A good conditioning program will give you a strong start, so here are some tips!

Studies have shown that soccer players travel up to eight miles during a 90-minute game, which places huge demand on a player’s cardiovascular system. So a good aerobic base is essential to your conditioning regimen. This doesn’t mean you have to run five miles a day. A soccer specific workout should involve varying intensities, like what you’ll be doing on the field during a game. Remember, soccer players run, jog, walk, and sprint during a match, so train the same way. Mix up your low intensity and high intensity training for a more rounded workout by combining running, walking, and wind sprints.

Strength is sometimes an overlooked quality in soccer, but is actually very important. It’s true that you don’t need the same strength level as say, a football linebacker, but a strong player will be a faster and more powerful player. Being able to muscle someone around comes in handy during close-quarters play, too. Part of your conditioning should include functional exercises to develop muscle. Emphasize on the lower body with squats, step-ups, and lunges using both body weight and free weights. Strengthening the core with crunches and planks will help with your power and stability. Of course, don’t neglect the upper body; knock out pushups, chin-ups and dips, as well.

Today’s soccer is faster than ever, so training for agility and speed will give you a competitive edge. You can have all the endurance in the world, but if your opponent beats you to the ball, being able to run a marathon won’t matter. Test yourself! Get someone to time your 30-yard sprint. Under 5 seconds is a good, so work on your explosiveness and speed with high pulls, jump squats, power cleans, and other plyometric exercises. A good conditioning workout will incorporate all the afore mentioned exercises alternating between high and low intensity, and upper and lower body.

Flexibility, as any athlete will tell you, is key. Being able to exert your power through a full range of motion will heighten your effectiveness and stave off injury, so never forget to warm up before your workout, practice or game, and then stretch everything out afterward.

Now you’re on your way to turning your body into a well-tuned machine, so why not fuel that machine properly. It doesn’t make sense to put forth all that effort and then load up on high-fructose corn syrup and refined sugars. Instead, stick with lean meat, fish, eggs fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lots of water, repeat LOTS OF WATER. Four to six small meals a day is better then three large ones. Don’t eat just before you go to bed and get a good carbo-load the day before the big game.

2015 is the year of the beast, and it’s time to unleash it!

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