Soccer
conditioning
translates to
improving your physical condition by using a mid or long term exercise
program.
Every soccer club out there that's even slightly serious about their
performances will have a team conditioning program to which
players can
add
individual conditioning sessions.
So let's assume you're a soccer
coach on a youth squad; where do you start in getting your young
players'
physical condition to its highest?
For starters, you should know that
soccer
conditioning is the end result of working on 6 different parameters:
soccer warm-ups, soccer strength, soccer power, soccer endurance,
soccer
agility and
soccer speed.
This entire section will be dedicated to these soccer
conditioning factors, but before we plunge into the actual articles,
let me
give you a short paragraph of insight of what's in the articles.
Soccer
Warm Ups - Has 3 aspects
that affect conditioning. First of all, a good warm-up is required to
maximize
a player's physical condition just prior to a match, or training. By
playing/training at this level, a player will improve his performance
by a fair
amount.
Secondly, to avoid muscle strains, joint problems and
several other issues that might appear mid-match or mid-practice, warm
up is
crucial since it prepares the organism for the effort it will sustain.
Last but
not least, warm-up can also improve a player's flexibility (especially
through
stretching exercises), which affects another aspect of soccer
conditioning,
namely agility.
Click
here for more details on soccer warm ups...
Soccer
Strength - Today's game is more physical
than ever and having a solid constitution is crucial if you want your
players
to stand a chance. Almost all players, regardless of their position on
the
pitch, will be required to work on their strength throughout their
entire
playing career since it affects speed, balance, shielding, dribbling,
headers
and shot power.
Click
here for more details on soccer strength...
Soccer
Power - Soccer power can easily be
confused with soccer strength, but although they're in the same
ball-park,
they're not similar notions. Power mostly refers to shot, header and
throw
power in soccer and despite the fact that all three of these factors
can be greatly
improved through strength training, this is not the only factor that
affects
power.
Technique is also extremely important when determining the power
of a
shot, header or throw: if you don't kick, hit or hold the ball
like you
should,
then all the power in the world won't allow you to perform a correct,
powerful
shot/header or throw.
Click
here for more details on soccer power...
Soccer
Endurance - If you want your players to be
able to hold up an entire match, soccer endurance should be a constant
in your
training sessions. Sure, endurance is worked out even when you're not
specifically aiming for it, for example while practicing sprints,
forward runs,
long passes and during training matches. But you should also set aside
a fair
part of your schedule for specifically working on endurance since it's
a
crucial factor in today's soccer.
Click
here for more details on soccer endurance...
Soccer
Agility - Agility works both ways for a
player, helping him in the offensive and defensive fronts at the same
time.
Good agility can make the difference between a successful dribbling and
a
turnover, or between a decisive successful tackle and a penalty kick in
favor
of the opposing team. But besides dribbling and tackling, working out
your
agility will also help with finishing, receiving, shielding and jumping.
Click
here for more details on soccer agility...
Soccer
Speed - Physical speed is not a
requirement in soccer, since, as everyone says, it's the ball that
should be
doing most of the running, not the player. However, speed can be a
deadlock
breaking factor between two players and more and more coaches look
after fast
players in favor of ones that are skilled with the ball, strong and so
forth.
Speed is also a good factor to determine a player's best position on
the pitch,
but we'll discuss that in the article. See you there!
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