You must improve your stamina if you want to play soccer at any level that is somewhat respectable.
Nowadays, a professional player travels more than 10 kilometers in a 90-minute game. The demands of the game have grown so exponentially in recent years that being bigger, more powerful, and explosive is more important than ever. Nowadays, it goes beyond simply improving lung capacity.
Here is the only soccer fitness training program you will ever need.
7 Training Drills That Can Enhance Your Soccer Fitness
Run!
Get on a treadmill or locate a room big enough for a running track. While sprinting at top speed, jogging, and then going all out again helps improve VO2 Max (the maximum rate at which a person’s body can consume oxygen during exercise), interval training is not a traditional stamina builder. This allows Premier League players to build stamina and thrive well into added time.
Maximize Sprint Speed
Sprint speed used to be a skill that only wingers possessed, but it is now essential for players in every position. Even contemporary greats like Rio Ferdinand will acknowledge how challenging it may be without it at the conclusion of their careers.
Try using weighted sled pulls and parachute sprints, which will help push your legs well beyond their capacity. By maximizing your own potential to run fast for shorter bursts, you will stand head and shoulders above the competition.
You can quickly become a speed merchant by strengthening your quadriceps and hamstrings with isometric and eccentric exercises performed under tension.
Become More Explosive
While it may appear natural to superstars like Eden Hazard to turn a corner and find themselves in the middle of the following week, most of it is the result of hard work. Powerful explosions are key.
Training for this is extremely difficult and requires excellent technique; however, the payoff is great, as it transforms you into a deadly number 10 with a terrifying turn of speed.
Perform plyometric exercises like squat thrusters, burpees with tuck jumps with any type of jump squat, including plyometric box jumps, to accomplish this, and your opponents will soon be eating your dust.
Improve Your Change Of Direction
Being quick is great, but if that only allows for straight-line speed, you will be constrained to the wings. Every football player should be able to quickly and safely shift directions at any time while maintaining good possession of the ball.
Traditional cone drills, such as slalom runs and shuttle runs, are a simple way to increase a player’s agility. Don’t forget the ball either; the ability to run and turn at full speed while maintaining control of the ball is the real game-changer.
Develop Rock Solid Core Stability
You would be hard pressed to find a player who truly makes the most of every physical feature to their advantage than Lionel Messi. The tiny playmaker is a cut above the rest of his opponents, evading defenders with exceptional balance and speed as they all bounce off his small frame.
But not everyone has a low center of gravity, so how do you simulate that with a few extra inches? Giving yourself a rock-solid core is the key.
True core stability, however, comes from including certain unstable movements into your training program rather than immediately starting to do sit-ups and crunches. This entails performing exercises that will strengthen your core and increase your stability while vying for the ball, such as squatting on a Bosu ball, performing single-leg Romanian deadlifts using a T-bar, or performing plank jacks while strapped into a TRX.
Make Yourself Stronger
At your own risk, ignore strength training. The football community has become more aware of the advantages of practices like Olympic lifting and general resistance training thanks to developments in sports science.
Squats, deadlifts, and lunges are examples of large compound movements that all have a significant positive impact on traits like explosive power, general speed, agility, and, to some extent, core stability. However, preventing injuries is the main advantage of strength training; a good resistance program encourages strength gains in ligaments, tendons, and the entire skeletal system.
Leave Time To Recover
Footballers don’t have much time to recover because of the demanding nature of the current game, which sandwiches practice after practice between games. However, they give ample time for rest behind the scenes. Making sure you’re doing it correctly could prevent you from reaching your optimum fitness. Recovery should also play a significant role in your training regimen.
It’s crucial to train your body to regenerate. Foam rolling is particularly beneficial for preventing fascia buildup and lowering DOMS. Additionally, you ought to pay attention to your diet and take some time to stretch after a game.