Want to Play Soccer Competitively...Weight Training Help?

[nas_is_illmatic]

Hi all,

I'm about 20 years old and really want to learn how to play soccer and eventually play competitively in local clubs. I already know that for cardio (which should probably be my primary focus beyond soccer specific skills) I need to do interval training and some distance running, but what about weight training? I'm guessing I need to do lower body compounds mostly, but what is a good routine? Would I want to keep reps high or low?

Thanks

[TSRBlog]

Keep them reps and overall volume low as relative strength and power is the goal for athletes and you don't want to be sore for skills sessions.

Rippetoe Starting Strength is a good program I'd recommend starting off with:

Book - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976805421...2CF6VBNHK34WJ&
BB.com Thread - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224
Wikia - http://startingstrength.wikia.com/

[nas_is_illmatic]

Are there some exercises I could cut out for the upperbody? My lower body is really lagging relative to my upper body in strength so I want to focus more on that.

[michaelamicone]

Hi all,

I'm about 20 years old and really want to learn how to play soccer and eventually play competitively in local clubs. I already know that for cardio (which should probably be my primary focus beyond soccer specific skills) I need to do interval training and some distance running, but what about weight training? I'm guessing I need to do lower body compounds mostly, but what is a good routine? Would I want to keep reps high or low?

Thanks

Good luck bro... soccer is a difficult sport to pick up late in life due to the stills it requires. Take into account basketball everyone can shoot a basketball. baseball we can all throw one catch one or hit one. football and so on... but soccer is another animal it takes years of muscle memory to develop the foot skills and agility to compete at a high level. none the less good luck Michael

[Rizzy920]

For cardio training, focus on HIIT workouts. (These workout are for you to go all out to see results).

Weight lifting: IMO keep your reps low with heavy weight's to gain muscle. And yeah, your workouts should focus on your core & legs.

[michaelamicone]

Good luck bro... soccer is a difficult sport to pick up late in life due to the stills it requires. Take into account basketball everyone can shoot a basketball. baseball we can all throw one catch one or hit one. football and so on... but soccer is another animal it takes years of muscle memory to develop the foot skills and agility to compete at a high level. none the less good luck Michael

Plus i wouldnt concern yourself with your physical attributes but would focus more of ball handling and foot work... Being an athlete who is strong and fast helps once your at the elite level but in the begining gain a foundation and work from there. After all could you see Veron Davis, arguable one of the best athletes in the world, being competitive in soccer if one day he just decided to pick it up ? i highly doubt it. Point being is that you can possess all the phyical attributes in the world but nothing beats being good with the ball at your feet.

[OLDFitnessBlitz]

Technique is paramount when it comes to soccer, but you need a strong foundation in order to repeatedly execute technique properly. By not weight training you are foregoing some of your potential, this is for any sport, not just soccer, BUT, when it comes to soccer, you dont want to be a powerlifter, or bodybuilder, you want to train like an athlete, so you need to think of weight training as simply a supplement to your overall goal, not the main focus, and I would say my general advice would be to get to the point, at least initially where you can throw your body weight around. Doing things such as high intensive jumps, etc, can be dangerous without a proper foundation.

I would start, generally speaking, constructing a great warm-up that you can do before you practice/compete, dynamic flexibility + cardiac work 3x a week, Low intensive jumps, coupled with full body lifting 3x a week....mixed with calisthenics. Your lifting should be in the 60-80% zone. I dont prescribe reps. This is on a case by case basis.

Hi all,

I'm about 20 years old and really want to learn how to play soccer and eventually play competitively in local clubs. I already know that for cardio (which should probably be my primary focus beyond soccer specific skills) I need to do interval training and some distance running, but what about weight training? I'm guessing I need to do lower body compounds mostly, but what is a good routine? Would I want to keep reps high or low?

Thanks

[jumpman023]

I'm interested in soccer as well. Would doing weighted ab work be beneficial or is it better to keep reps high? Also, any tips for recovering from DOMS from squatting, especially if one is doing cardio continuously to improve endurance?

[beeney]

Unless you are going to play a central defender or a striker you don't need to lift weights, speed and skill are paramount to be a good soccer player. If you look at the 3 Ballon D'or (world player of the year) finalists Xavi, Iniesta and Messi are all 5'7 and i doubt any of them would be very impressive in the weights room. They all have unbelievable technical skill and speed over 10 yards. If you want to be good at soccer you'll be better off doing ball drills than you would be in a weight room.

[sojulnip]

I personally disagree that the top soccer guys wouldn't be impressive in the weights room. Just because you aren't big, doesn't mean you aren't strong. Ever seen Christiano Ronaldo without a shirt on? That guy is ripped and I bet he can bench more than his body weight. Try kicking a soccer ball without moving your upper body and tell me that it isn't important to be super strong up there.

Can weight training help you jump higher to get your head first on the ball? You bet it can.
Can weight training help you be super fast in the first 10 metres? You bet it can.

The technical stuff is super important. But I'll tell you one thing, the stronger you get, the easier the technical stuff is. Do lots of swiss ball and bosu ball stuff to get your balance and core muscle coordination top notch. Be sure to do plenty of one legged squats and core work. Become proficient in the progression of side planks, and you'll want to start doing heavy squats and many, many agility drills.

If you want any clarification on any of these exercise be sure to let me know and I'll give a bit more detail.

Point is that strength training is super, super important for soccer players. If you don't want dead weight, and want to increase your power to weight ratio, then pure strength and power training is the way. You get stronger and more powerful without putting on muscle bulk. It's because you are training the nervous system rather than the muscles.

[2-stroke]

One of freinds in school wrestled and played soccer and he was always pretty successful in soccer. So what I am saying... wrestling = weight training+ futbol= success X 1000!!!!!!!!!!*
* These statments have not been evaluated by the FDA, this is not supposed to used as sole source of nutrition.

[bmontgomery87]

I picked up soccer last year, and have been playing in the local rec league, which is pretty competitive in my area.
Your biggest training is gonna be on the pitch. Working on footskills and practicing shots.
Second biggest training is gonna be your cardio.
Third would probably be the weight training. A lot of soccer players aren't really strong, they're fast, conditioned, and have spent countless hours working on foot skills. But it is an advantage if you're strong. It helps to be able to fight for the ball when crosses/corners are coming in.

During the season I mainly focused on upper body workouts, with cardio on my off days. And I'd do leg days one day a week, around tuesday or wed, so I'd be recovered by Sunday for my games.

Off season, I've been hitting my legs 2 times a week and really focusing on hitting them hard to try to get some progress before season starts in May.

Best of luck to you. It's hard coming into such a challenging sport this late in life, but if you put the time in you can do it. I've been playing for about 8 months now, and when I joined the team, people had no idea that I had just picked up soccer a few months before that.

[gatovolador]

Plus i wouldnt concern yourself with your physical attributes but would focus more of ball handling and foot work... Being an athlete who is strong and fast helps once your at the elite level but in the begining gain a foundation and work from there. After all could you see Veron Davis, arguable one of the best athletes in the world, being competitive in soccer if one day he just decided to pick it up ? i highly doubt it. Point being is that you can possess all the phyical attributes in the world but nothing beats being good with the ball at your feet.

soccer is a skill sport, work on technique and ball handling. Messi, Villa, Iniesta, Forlan.... they aren't huge and strong, yet they are great. technique first

[jhonkame]

Good luck bro... soccer is a difficult sport to pick up late in life due to the stills it requires. Take into account basketball everyone can shoot a basketball. baseball we can all throw one catch one or hit one. football and so on... but soccer is another animal it takes years of muscle memory to develop the foot skills and agility to compete at a high level. none the less good luck Michael

not every one can play bascket ball because not everyone is tall.

[ErikRok]

Not too much cardio either. If you think about how you move in a soccer game, you are never really running for long slow distances. There is a jog here and there then...
a lot of starts, stops, change of directions, and acceleration/ deceleration. These are things that should be worked on, along with weight training and, skills session.

[Dropkickpride]

Coaching Soccer is my primary profession, and Im a former personal trainer and strength and conditioning specialist.

If you want some info PM me and I will help you any way I can.

[WaterIsGooD]

Hi all,

I'm about 20 years old and really want to learn how to play soccer and eventually play competitively in local clubs. I already know that for cardio (which should probably be my primary focus beyond soccer specific skills) I need to do interval training and some distance running, but what about weight training? I'm guessing I need to do lower body compounds mostly, but what is a good routine? Would I want to keep reps high or low?

Thanks

My best recommendation to you is to do an upper/lower split. That way, you pay a little bit of attention to your upper body in one day and then the other pay a lot of attention to those ever so important quads and hams. This allows you to train the lower body more frequently. HOWEVER. And this is a massive however. As another poster posted, you're much better off being on the pitch practicing your skills. Hell, if I was in your place, I'd forgo the gym and just do cardio/running and plyometrics. Luckily, I started a full year before you and can now call myself a proficient player after 4 years but I dedicated 4 entire summers, day in and day out to playing it, sometimes for hours at a time by myself. I'd say the gym helped me 5%, the other 95% was just touching the ball. Note that even after these 4 years, sometimes I still get my ass handed to me by 14 year olds.

Good luck friend. You'll need it.

P.S. Don't give up.

P.P.S. I'm serious, it's worth it in the end.

P.P.P.S. I'll **** you up if you give up.

[nas_is_illmatic]

Wow, I wonder who bumped it, but anyway, I've started playing a bit. As you can see from a thread I made recently, I'm trying to work on endurance right now (get better at 5k before moving on to even longer distances). What is a good weight training routine though? I've heard people mention swiss balls, squats, etc. but is there a proper weight training routine anyone has on them with exercises, reps/set numbers, etc.?