4 Tips to Improve Your Soccer Fitness

By the time a soccer player has run up and down the soccer field multiple times, it becomes clear that to play at his peak, high fitness levels are vital.  But what level of fitness is essential to play at a high level of soccer?  The best way to find the answer to this question is to analyse the star players in soccer, and analyse their physical fitness and attributes.

Before starting a soccer fitness training programme, however, you need to work out where you are now – set yourself a beginning benchmark.  This is probably most beneficial if done before the season begins, but it’s not essential.  You then need to revisit the testing regularly, perhaps both mid-season and at the finish of the season, to detail your progress.  This can either be a way to give yourself positive feedback by showing your progress, or a reason to improve your fitness programme if progress is less than you’d like.

The other advantage of doing some preliminary fitness testing is that it gives you an idea of what areas are your strengths, and which need more work.   Taking a good look at the game’s best players, it becomes clear that there are 4 main areas that combine to provide peak physical fitness for soccer :

- Speed & Agility
– Endurance
– Strength
– Flexibility

By watching star soccer players, it becomes clear that agility and speed are very helpful elements in the game of soccer.  Soccer seems to be quicker than ever today, so you need to be fit enough to compete.  While top level players don’t really need to be able to win an Olympic medal, it’s still the case that being fast off the mark helps to give them a competitive edge.

Soccer games are definitely not short – and if you’re on the field for a considerable part of a match, then endurance, or stamina, is vital.  Top players may be taken off the field to rest when things are going well, but in a tough game the coach is going to want them out on the pitch for as much of the game as possible – and he doesn’t want them winded and struggling to play.   So it’s important to develop a good aerobic base to your soccer fitness training. 

Strength is another key element in total soccer fitness.  Bulking up with big muscles is not going to help you, because it may interfere with your agility and sprinting capacity.  In this area it’s more important to work on the strength elements that are specifically required for soccer.  So working on your leg muscles is likely to be beneficial.  The quadriceps is certainly a muscle that is well developed in top players, so it’s a good idea to focus on strengthening these and the opposing hamstring muscle group.

In closing, one of the exciting elements of soccer is the fast changes of direction.  You need great flexibility to change directions rapidly, and increasing your range of motion will certainly be of benefit in your soccer fitness training.  It doesn’t just improve your soccer game, either – it can help prevent injuries.

If all of this sounds a little overwhelming, don’t panic!  Total Soccer Fitness is a great resource to help you plan your soccer fitness training to ensure you cover all the major areas required. 

Suggested preliminary fitness testing :

- Timing yourself over a standard spring distance from a standing start will give you a base measurement for your speed and agility.  Generally it’s best to run 3 or 4 times, and take the average time.  Make sure you rest between sprints.
– Running a set distance or for a specified period of time is a good way to determine a base measurement for endurance.
– You can obtain a base measurement of your strength by performing leg presses in the gym.
– Measuring flexibility is usually done by either a groin flexibility test, modified sit and reach or a rotation test. 

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