You’ve probably heard it a hundred times that a basic soccer conditioning program is at the core of a team’s success. It is because of soccer exercises which build strength, agility, and endurance that players manage to stay in shape and thus dream to become match winners for their team.
Nevertheless, situations may arise where you or your team don’t get sufficient time to practice before a match. But you don’t need to compromise on the conditioning exercises because of this. You don’t wish to see your players getting hurt prior to the match or at some point in the game.
If a soccer fitness training series is devised correctly, even 3 days time would be sufficient to train the players fully. All you need to do is be honest in carrying out the plan based on some good homework. There are one or two tips which work well with short but successful training plans.
Warming up: Guide the players to open with any of these; high knees, jumping, or heel flicks or a five minute jog. Take adequate rest for a few seconds in between. Then tone the muscles up by doing some stretching exercises for 5 minutes. Make it a point that these soccer workouts comprise of all the key muscle groups.
Running: Some coaches have a tendency to make the players do constant running. While that is not bad, I recommend that you make the players do soccer-specific running. This leads to the fact that they do running, jogging, walking, and sprinting in no set order for half an hour.
This running at varying speeds builds stamina and also helps players control their body. And they do not feel exhausted since a walk after a sprint evens things out.
Just let the individual players decide on what they wish to do and when. If they have a liking for sprinting more than jogging, so be it. As the kids develop more strength and energy, you can increase the length of the soccer conditioning program by 10 minutes.
Stretching: Encourage the players to do it whenever they can; after a training session and after the match. Concentrate on working out the whole body specially the hamstrings, groins, quads, calves and lower back. Ensure that the stretching postures are longer than the warm-up sessions. Generally, 20 to 30 seconds is a good duration.
Make the players rest a day before the match. This will give the muscles time to recuperate and also overrule the possibility of an injury before the big day. It is also a good time to have a discussion with them and boost their confidence.
Share some lighter moments as well so that they get into a great mental shape in addition to the physical one.
Understand me! Once these techniques are applied, your players shall start playing dramatically well. To know more about soccer conditioning, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community which will leave you richer with resources on youth soccer.
Andre Botelho is the author of “The Expert Youth Soccer Coaching Guide” and he’s a recognized expert in the subject of youth soccer coaching. Learn how to explode your players’ skills and make coaching sessions fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Soccer Drills For Kids.
Tags: conditioning for soccer, Soccer conditioning, soccer exercises, soccer fitness, soccer fitness training, soccer workouts