Extremely sore after soccer game

I train at the gym 3-4 times a week, have my 3 day split. Eat decent (not too strict). I wouldn't call myself a bodybuilder, but definately an individual whos lifestyle is very fitness/health oritentated.

I have soccer training thursday nights and soccer saturday. And every (!) sunday I wake up and I'm fairly dead. Every muscle in my legs is sore aswell as my abs and back.

I know that getting sore is normal, but even for a sporting event? I expect to be sore after my chest/tricep day for example, but I'm curious as to why I'm pulling up sore on sunday.

Am I not as fit as I think? Or it is something that will always just happen? I've never experienced this before which is why I ask. I've been playing soccer for a while now and only this season have been getting sore.

Thanks

I play soccer also, 3 times a week for my club team ususually, and normally I'm not that sore after games, just tired sometimes depending on the intensity of the game. Im sorry to say this, but you probably aren't as fit as you think :( If you haven't been playing for too long keep it up and your body will get used to the requirements and the sorness will go away, but if you have, maybe you need to think about an extra cardio session a week to bring up your endurance.

A few things that you can try...

1) Stretch. I don't mean just a 30 second stretch, take 10+ minutes after the game to stretch out.

2) I assume you have a carb/protein shake post match?

3) I think 3 days of weight lifting and 2 days of soccer may be too much. I guess it depends on how well your body recovers from exercise, how hard you're lifting/playing soccer, how much you're eating, and how much you're sleeping but for myself I can not keep this routine and play soccer effectively. I play soccer at a very high tempo and I can not lift for atleast 1 day in advance and 1 day following. About half a year ago I was lifting 3/4 times per week while playing soccer twice and my effectiveness on the field was going down every week.

I guess what I'm trying to say is try adjusting your routine for two weeks and see how you feel. I usually lift 3 times per week but this week I only lifted twice because I was feeling run down. I played soccer today for 2 hours and I felt great.

Cheers and let me know how it goes

play football, then you'll know what sore really feels like!

(EDIT)well, since you live in australia, play australian football...better known as rugby here, ...

use to play 6 days a week (sometimes 2 practices a day) and lift 4 days a week and i got less sore than I do now when i only lift about an hour a day for 5 days a week.

if you are doing enough excersize your body should adapt to it eventually and build up a pretty good resistence. my guess is you probably arnt eating enough, you burn a TON of calories playing soccer. the average distance a midfielder runs in a 90 minute match is like 5 miles they say, and as you know a lot of that is sprinting.

[QUOTE=strawser9]play football, then you'll know what sore really feels like!

(EDIT)well, since you live in australia, play australian football...better known as rugby here, ...[/QUOTE]

aussie rules football is not rugby.

Thats very normal bro
i play soccer everyday (alone,with friends,with team,matches..) and go to the gym 3 times a week to strenghten my body
I always run like hell and sprint AS FAST AS I CAN OFTEN TO CATCH THE BALL..YOU KNOW and you just need to stretch abit
and have enough sleep and nutrition for recovery,a massage is great is you can get one
i wish you the best

you said you don't consider your self a bodybuilder but maybe you should eat more like one to help your muscles repair quicker, try drinking some decent whey powder in between sessions if you dont already and see if that makes a difference to your muscle recovery?

Thanks for the replies. Well my soccer stopped after I did my knee during a game. Basically took me out all season. But I believe it was due to purely being not as fit as I thought I was.

It's good news though. I'm spending this end of the season on pure cardio, and plan on doing the same in the off season.

I don't consider myself a bodybuilder, but I think I'll take "I got lazy" on the chin. Outside of soccer I didnt do any cardio and I think this finally caught up with me.

Now I'm doing a lot of runner/cycling additional to gym, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results next season.