Soccer Strength Training

To be successful in soccer, you have to be strong, fast, and safe. A well-designed weight training program can help you achieve all those goals.

Robin Amylon, MS, Kaitlyn Buckwell, MS, and Logan Delisle are strength and conditioning specialists who work in the Mass General Brigham Center for Sport Performance and Research. They recommend strength training 2 to 3 times per week. Here, they suggest specific exercises, weight levels, and safety tips to help you become a stronger, more resilient soccer player.

Preventing soccer injuries

Soccer involves a lot of unexpected, unanticipated movements. Many players need to jump and land frequently, especially goalies and midfielders. Players’ bodies must absorb many forces. As a game progresses, fatigue sets in.

To handle all of this, your muscles must work effectively in all directions at a moment’s notice. Players who don’t have enough strength tend to throw their whole bodies at the ball to compensate for the lack of muscular force.

All these factors make soccer one of the most high-risk sports for injury. And that risk — particularly for overuse injuries — is even greater in female athletes due to generally lower muscle mass, hormonal factors, and other reasons. Building strength helps reduce the risk of injury and also improves form to make you a better player.

Strength exercises for soccer players

Amylon, Buckwell, and Delisle recommend players focus on having a solid foundation built through core stabilization, efficiency in fundamental movements, and sound plyometric technique.

Core stabilization

“Core” doesn’t just mean “abs.” These exercises target muscles from shoulders to just above your knees, giving you the ability to maintain stability when absorbing and generating forces. Examples include planks, bear crawls, glute bridges, and hollow holds.

Fundamental movement patterns

• Squat: Building lower body strength is important for soccer players. The squat emphasizes quad and glute strength.
• Hinge: These exercises emphasize hamstring and glute activation. These movements generally consist of a deadlift variation. Hip and hamstring strength are important for kicking, running, and reducing the risk for knee injury.
• Upper body pull: These exercises strengthen the upper back, shoulders and postural control. Variations include pullups, dumbbell rows, lateral pull downs, and cable rows.
• Single-leg stabilizers: In soccer, you often rely on one leg for passing, shooting, and sometimes landing. Single-leg variations on exercises help you prepare for that. Examples include single-leg Romanian deadlifts, lunges, and split squats.
• Plyometrics: Plyometrics are exercises that use speed and force to build power through short bursts of explosive movement (for example, jumping, bounds, throws). Understanding how to jump and land with proper technique is essential for improving performance and limiting factors that could lead to season-ending injuries. Progression can include jumping from double leg to single leg variations; for example, double leg box jumps to single leg box jumps.

They recommend that players start with lighter weights, completing 8 to 10 reps for 3 to 4 sets with rest between each set.

Staying safe when weight training for soccer

Just as you want to stay safe during a game, you should protect yourself when weight training for soccer. The team recommends:

• Learn how to lift with proper form. Consider a couple of sessions with a trainer or other expert to learn how to safely execute each exercise you plan to do.
• Warm up. Use a dynamic warm-up with activation exercises such as glute bridges, clam shells, and miniband walks.
• Start small and work your way up. Start with weight levels you know you can handle, then slowly work your way up.
• Layer weight training with other types of training. On days when practice is particularly challenging, do a lighter lift (or don’t lift at all). Perform agility and speed training before heavy weight training, rather than the other way around. Aerobic (cardio) conditioning training such as running or jumping rope is best after a lift.
• Never lift alone. No matter how strong you are, you should always lift with a partner, known as a spotter. This person helps protect you in case you feel fatigued, slip, or have equipment failure.
• Stretch and recover. The performance coaches recommend having at least one day in between strength training sessions to minimize overuse injury and maintain performance. Athletes should also be stretching on a daily basis to optimize recovery.