Preparing for a soccer match is a holistic endeavor.
It involves loads of tactical training, studying, skill practice, and physical training.
And no one is more important than the other.
Take the German soccer club Bayern Munich, for instance.
One of their core philosophies in layer development is to build their bodies.
No player goes to that club and retires or leaves for another club the way they came. This has helped them stay at the top of their division for a long time.
Here are 11 soccer workouts you can do to prepare for the rigors of the sport.
11 Soccer Workouts
Here are some soccer workouts that can make your body ready for the sport.
Trap Bar Deadlifts
Speed, agility, and stamina are the secrets to a successful soccer career.
Trap bar deadlifts are a great way to train your legs as a soccer player.
It looks like a deadlift but with a trap bar, which makes lifting the weights easier on the lower back compared to regular deadlifts.
It also reduces the strain on the spine while focusing on strengthening the lower back and legs, which are a soccer player’s most important body parts.
How to do it: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, then bend your knees slightly. Make sure your knees are over your toes, and your back is straight.
Next, put the barbell over your toes to lift it to your knees. Keep your back straight and use your legs to lift the weight.
Barbell Back Squats
Squats are exercises that help you build strength in your lower body.
It also helps to improve the hip’s motion range and strengthen the quads, hamstrings, and calves.
A good way to do this exercise is to start with weights a third of your body weight and move up to at least twice your body weight. This is a very important exercise in fitness circles and most sports, not just soccer.
How to do it: Rest the squat bar on your shoulders with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keep your chest and head up, and keep your hips back.
Start squatting with your lower body, staying down and your knees bent towards the floor. Stop when your hips are just below your knees, then push back up to the starting position.
Bench Press
Bench presses are a strength exercise for your chest and shoulders.
Generally, it works on the upper body.
This exercise is especially important for soccer players who participate in a lot of duels.
Strikers who have to outmuscle defenders or defenders who have to outmuscle a striker need serious upper-body strength.
Midfielders who have to duel with other midfielders to give their team an advantage need upper-body strength.
How to do it: Lie down on the flat bench with the bar resting on the rack above your eyes. Straighten your wrists and grip the bar with both hands.
Lift the bar straight up and over your shoulders. Keep your forearms vertical, then lower the bar to your chest while. Lift up and down and lock your elbows at every lift.
Tire Drags
Pulling or pushing around weights helps with your strength and stamina.
Regular gym weights are cool, but doing them with tires allows for more mobility and effort to be expended, which in turn blesses your body with the strength and stamina it needs.
The muscle groups that this exercise works on include your hip muscles, your quads, all the muscles in your lower back, your calves and your hamstrings.
How to do it: Get an old tire – a truck or an airplane tire – and tie a rope around it. Attach a belt to the rope and strap it around your waist.
Move forward with this weight as fast as you can for 60 seconds. As the weight’s resistance lightens, increase the load you have to pull around for greater effect.
Front Lunges
If you’ve ever knelt to tie your shoelaces, that’s a lunge.
When you think about it as an exercise, that’s where the stress comes in.
But hey, no pain, no gain, right?
Lunges are very important in a soccer player’s workout routine because they develop all the muscles in their legs at once.
If you’re a soccer player, I recommend you do yours with weights.
How to do it: Stretch your arms out in front like a boxer on guard. Keep both feet together, and then lunge forward with your right foot.
Keep your lunging leg low, almost to the floor, so that your left leg takes a kneeling position. Go as far as you can with your lunge before you return to your starting position. Do this for both legs.
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
Strong backs, strong legs, and great upper body strength allow soccer players to last for as long as they do in this game, which doesn’t stop until there’s a foul, a substitution, or the ball goes out.
One-arm (or single-arm) dumbbell rows help to work the player’s back muscles, especially the lats and traps.
How to do it: Start on a flat bench with dumbbells on the floor either side of you. Choose which side of your body to start with, place the opposite leg on the bench, and lean forward, using the opposite arm to hold the bench.
Pick up the dumbbell with the appropriate arm and lift. Make sure you pause at the top of the lift and contract your back muscles. This helps strengthen and grow your muscles.
Turkish Get-Ups
Many scenarios in-game require a quick change of direction either for a pass or to get away from a marker.
This is what stands players like Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé out.
Turkish get-ups are a great exercise for soccer players because they help them with their hip mobility, which allows them to change directions quickly.
How to do it: Use a dumbbell or a kettlebell for this exercise. Start by lying on the ground, right knee bent, left leg extended and flat-footed.
Pick up the dumbbell in your right hand and extend your left hand diagonally with your palm facing down.
Then, push up using the weight on your right hand and your hips into a lunge position, then stand up. Your right hand with the weight should not drop.
Running
Soccer’s a ball sport which means there’s a lot of running involved.
Therefore, players must run as a workout to get into the shape and frame of mind to chase down the ball and their opponents on a soccer field.
Running is also excellent cardio. Doctors recommend running for at least 10 minutes a day because it can significantly lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Also, runners lower their chances of dying from heart disease by half.
A soccer player gets all of these benefits and more when they run because it also helps them build endurance.
The longer they run, the more endurance is built. This endurance is then translated to the field where they face off against others for 90 minutes as they work to win a game.
Goblet Squats
Soccer games happen once every three to five days during the regular season, which means exercises that they can quickly recover from are the best.
Goblet squats fall into this category while also helping to strengthen the lower body and core muscles the player needs.
This is a regular squat with a dumbbell.
It works several areas in your lower body and helps activate your hamstrings, quads, glutes, and core.
Using a dumbbell instead of a barbell in this squat puts less stress on the back and spine.
How to do it: Hold a kettlebell or a dumbbell up to chin level in a squatting position – feet shoulder-length apart. Then squat while keeping your back straight before you return to your starting position. Increase the weights as you get stronger.
Cone Drills
If you’re a soccer player, you’ve most likely done several types of cone drills.
There is no method to it, really. The primary aim of cone drills is to help the soccer player adapt to all the weird movements that can happen on a soccer field.
Here are some cone drills you can try at home:
- Set up 4 cones in a square.
- Sprint forwards around the cones.
- Sprint backward from the first cone to the last cone.
- Sprint forwards to the first cone, then backward to the next cone and repeat.
- Sprint to cone, then sidestep to the next cone.
- Sprint to the first cone, then cross diagonally to another cone.
Remember, always start slowly, working at your own pace to get up to speed with your agility improvement.
Kettlebell Swings
If you’ve followed soccer long enough, you’ll know that the hamstring is the most injured muscle in a soccer player’s body.
Kettlebell swings are an exercise that helps to strengthen this muscle.
Kettlebell swings also work out a range of areas including the core, hips, glutes, and shoulders while also helping players develop explosive power movements which helps their acceleration on the soccer field.
How to do it: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. The kettlebell should be on the floor in front of you. Squat in this position and pick up the bell with both hands.
Now, use your legs and glutes to explosively extend your hips as you swing the kettlebell between your legs and bring it up to eye level. Increase the weight as you get stronger.
Final Thoughts
Congrats on making it to the end of this article! There are several more, but these exercises have been highlighted because they make up most players’ gym routines.
Reading this means you fall into one of these categories: You want to be as fit as the tireless soccer players you have seen live or on television, or you want to know what makes them tick.
Or perhaps you’re just starting out as a soccer player and want to know how to develop your strength, speed, and stamina.
Whatever category you fall into, know that building one’s body – especially for a sport – is not easy.
