Soccer Fitness

What should you work on in order to improve your soccer fitness? The articles below present the different fitness training methods and their main principles. Find out their significance on soccer performance and learn how to develop your own training routine. The different fitness training methods here are classified in categories depending on their function and significance on performance.

Preparing your body for soccer is a process that is often overlooked, especially at the lower levels of the game. There are three main aspects that must be touched upon in order to achieve maximum physiological readiness.

Circulation - Picking up the Metabolic Rate

Passive

Before jumping into a competitive event, the body's cardio-vascular activity needs to be increased gradually. Up to 30 minutes before kickoff, it is recommended to drink tea (preferably with a lemon and sweetened by honey rather than sugar.) The tea contains caffeine, which will increase a player's heart rate. Tea is rich in Sodium, a mineral that regulates and balances the amount of fluids outside the cells in the body, aiding in muscle contraction and nerve function. Sodium is usually lost during endurance events like soccer in the means of sweat.

Prior to going out to the field, light massage should be applied to the poorly circulated parts of the body like the ankles, knees, lower back and shoulders. This is especially important in cold weather.

Active

The active warm-up must begin about 20-30 minutes before the actual event. During this process, the body has to be warmed up through active exercises such as light jogging. The intensity should be gradually picked up. Incorporating different muscle groups at this stage will uniformly warm up the body.

Musculature - Stretching

Stretching is misunderstood and misused by many coaches at the lower levels of the game. First off, it must never be used on "cold muscles." Unless you're body has been warmed up, stretching can only cause harm. Remember that it should never feel painful. Flexibility is influenced by genetic factors. The same result cannot be expected for two different players when it comes to stretching.

Static

Static stretches are done by gradually assuming a position and holding it for a period of time. The only advantage of using Static stretches before a game is that they will ease sore muscles and calm down the player. It is true that they also improve flexibility but only when used in a long-term program.

Ballistic

Dynamic or Ballistic stretches involve moving a specific joint in full-range from one extreme to the other. It has been shown that Ballistic stretching decreases a risk factor for injury called muscle stiffness. Muscle stiffness is the ratio between change in muscle resistance and the change in muscle length. Static stretches have no effect on muscle stiffness. Therefore, stretches, done before soccer games or practices, need to be Ballistic. Nearly all established teams address only Ballistic stretches in their pre-game routine and go right into a technical workout.

Coordination - Technical-specific Workout

The final step before kickoff is the technical warm-up. At this point, the body should be well warmed up. Ideally, the technical warm-up should incorporate all four major areas of skill including kicking, dribbling, ball control and tackling. In fact, many teams conduct a "compressed" technical practice just before they actually play. They start off with simple technical drills and build up to a small-sided possession game.

Anaerobic activity is more intense (70-100% of your maximum heart rate) than aerobic but shorter in duration. Due to this, it is commonly referred to as quality training. Anaerobic activity is based on performing work while running the body with energy from stored sources such as glycogen. In this process, lactic acid is formed in the muscles thus causing you to feel fatigue or discomfort. Lactic acid buildup is why anaerobic exercises cannot be long in duration and are usually segmented into intervals.

Anaerobic endurance refers to your ability to sustain intense activity and recover quicker from it. This type of endurance is generally dependent upon your lactate tolerance and removal. Weightlifters try to keep the time between their sets of repetitions as short as possible. This way they are developing both their musculature and anaerobic endurance.

Significance for the soccer player:

-poor anaerobic fitness reduces your muscle strength

-it impairs your top speed throughout the course of a soccer game

-it makes it more difficult to execute techniques by impairing your coordination

-fatigue makes it hard to concentrate on tactics or the task at hand

In soccer or fitness training in general, aerobic exercises are designed to improve the cardiovascular system and the efficiency of the heart. Aerobic means "with air." During aerobic activity, the body supplies the muscles with all the oxygen lost during their work. The muscles require it for the oxidation of fat and carbohydrates. In order to maintain this balance and keep the muscles supplied, the rate of exercise must be between 50-85% of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate more or less equals 220 beats per minute minus your age in years.

When the exercise becomes too intense, the heart will not be able to provide the muscles with the needed oxygen so they will switch to alternative sources of energy. At this point, further activity will be considered anaerobic.

Your aerobic ability is determined by the maximum amount of oxygen, which your body can consume, or VO2 max. VO2 max is measured in milliliters per kilogram per minute or the total amount of oxygen that can be supplied to a portion of your body over a given amount of time. VO2 max is largely dependent upon the efficiency of your body's "Oxygen transport system."

Significance for the soccer player:

-poor aerobic fitness reduces your muscle strength

-it impairs your coordination and reflexes

-it makes it more difficult to concentrate

There is a common misconception about strength training and soccer. Traditionally, soccer players did not