Strength Training for Soccer: Exercises + Workout

Strength Training for Soccer – Introduction

Is strength training necessary for soccer players? And if it is, what are the best strength training exercises a soccer player can use to improve his or her performance on the field?

Soccer (also known worldwide as football) is a dynamic team sport involving many physical attributes.

To be a successful soccer player, you need aerobic and anaerobic fitness, speed, endurance, power, agility, mobility, and balance in equal measure. However, many soccer players neglect muscular strength.

That’s probably because the strength demands of soccer are not always obvious. After all, soccer balls are very light, and there is far less physical contact than with many other team sports.

Because of this, soccer players may not see the value in strength training, and that’s a problem.

Why is Strength Training Important for Soccer Players

Strength is the foundation on which all other fitness components are built. The stronger you are, the better conditioned, faster, and more powerful you’ll be.

Being strong also helps injury-proof your body by increasing stability.

Most soccer players should hit the gym and lift weights 2-3 times a week, especially in the off-season. We’re not talking about building big bodybuilder muscles. Strength for soccer should focus on performance rather than appearance.

This article reveals the eight best strength training exercises for soccer and provides a full-body soccer strength training workout.

8 Great Strength Training Exercises for Soccer Players

Forget about bodybuilding staples like biceps curls and triceps pushdowns. Soccer players need full-body strength; compound exercises are the best way to develop that.

Here are eight of the best compound strength training exercises for soccer players.

Lateral deficit squat
Split squat jumps
Single-leg Romanian deadlifts
Table bridge
Push-ups
Inverted rows, aka Australian pull-ups
Single-arm overhead press
Slow-motion mountain climbers

Strength Training for Soccer Exercise Descriptions

#1. Lateral deficit squat

Target muscles: Quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, abductors, adductors.

The lateral deficit squat will develop leg strength and hip mobility.

Soccer is a multidirectional sport, so it makes sense to train your body similarly.

This exercise will enhance your ability to change direction quickly, a critical soccer skill.

How to do it:

Stand on a 6 to 12-inch box or a couple of stacked weight plates.
Hold dumbbells in your hands or a kettlebell in front of your chest.
Step to the side, place your foot on the floor, bend both knees and descend until your thighs are roughly parallel.
Push off your outer leg and return to your platform.
Do all your reps to one side and then switch or alternate sides as preferred.

Goblet lateral squats demonstration

#2. Split squat jumps (aka jumping lunges)

Target muscles: Quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, abductors, adductors.

Soccer is primarily a unilateral sport, meaning you use one leg at a time. Kicking, sprinting, tackling, cutting, and dribbling are all unilateral activities. Therefore, including unilateral exercises in your soccer strength training workouts makes sense.

Split squat jumps emphasize your front leg and develop your explosive power, allowing you to kick harder, sprint faster, and jump higher.

How to do it:

Step forward and into a staggered stance.
Bend your legs and lower your rear knee within an inch of the floor.
Using your arms for momentum, jump into the air and swing your front leg backward and your back leg forward.
Land with your foot position reversed and repeat.
Do this exercise weighted or unweighted as preferred.

Jumping lunges aka Split squat jumps demo

#3. Single-leg Romanian deadlift

Target muscles: Hamstrings, gluteus maximus, abductors, adductors.

When it comes to leg training, many people fall into the trap of doing too many squatting exercises. These moves tend to emphasize the quads, the muscles on the front of your thighs.

However, the glutes and hamstrings are equally important, and strengthening these muscles will help you sprint harder while reducing your risk of hamstring tears.

Single-leg Romanian deadlifts are a fantastic exercise for strengthening your hamstrings and glutes and are also helpful for improving balance and hip mobility.

Single leg Dumbbell Romanian deadlift technique

How to do it:

Stand with your feet together, arms by your sides.
Hold dumbbells if you wish. Shift your weight over onto one leg.
Bend your supporting knee slightly for balance.
Hinge forward from your hips and lean over, lowering the weights toward the floor before your feet.
Extend your non-supporting leg out behind you for balance.
Take care not to round your lower back.
Stand up straight and repeat.
Do the same number of reps on both legs.
If keeping your balance is an issue, do this exercise next to a wall and use it for support.

#4. Table bridge

Target muscles: Hamstrings, gluteus maximus, core, deltoids, triceps, trapezius.

The table bridge is part strength and part mobility exercise. Using just your bodyweight, it’s a great way to undo the damaging effects of prolonged sitting and fire up the muscles you use for soccer.

Do it as part of your warm-up or anytime you want to train your posterior chain.

Table Top Bridge

How to do it:

Sit on the floor with your legs bent and weight on your heels.
Place your hands next to your hips, fingers pointing forward, arms straight.
Push your hands down on the floor and lift your butt.
Next, drive your hips forward and up as you pull with your hamstrings.
Push your butt up toward the ceiling so your knees, hips, and shoulders form a straight line. Look up!
Lower your butt back to the floor and repeat.
Make this exercise harder by using one leg at a time.

#5. Push-ups

Target muscles: Pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps, core.

To train your upper body for soccer, you do not need to do bench or chest presses. Instead, the humble push-up will work your chest, shoulders, and triceps without lifting heavy weights.

Like the US Army Physical Readiness Training (PRT) and the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), make push-ups a cornerstone of your upper body workouts; you won’t regret it!

How to do it:

Kneel and place your hands flat on the floor, about shoulder-width apart.
Your fingers should point straight forward.
Pull your shoulders down and back, point your elbows backward, and brace your core.
Walk your feet out and back so your body is straight.
Bend your arms and, with control, lower your chest to within an inch of the floor.
Pause for 1-2 seconds.
Push yourself back up to full arm extension and repeat.
Too hard? Bend your legs and rest on your knees for three-quarter push-ups.
Make push-ups more demanding by putting your feet on a chair or wearing a weighted vest.

83-year-old demos pause push-ups

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#6. Australian pull-ups

Target muscles: Latissimus dorsi, trapezius, biceps, glutes, hamstrings, core.

If you can do pull-ups and chin-ups, those exercises should be part of your strength for soccer workouts. But Australian pull-ups are a good alternative if you can’t lift your entire body weight using just your arms.

Also known as inverted rows or body rows, this exercise is much more accessible as you don’t have to lift as much weight.

How to do it:

Set a bar in a squat rack or Smith machine to about waist height.
Alternatively, you can use a suspension trainer (e.g., a TRX) or gymnastic rings.
Sit below your handle with your legs straight.
Hold the handle with straight arms, lean back, and lift your hips so your body is straight.
Brace your core, tense your legs, and pull your shoulders down and back.
Bend your arms and pull your chest up to your hands.
Extend your arms and repeat.
You can make this exercise easier by bending your legs, bringing your feet beneath your hips, or raising your hands so your body is not angled so steeply.
Make it more challenging by putting your feet on a bench or chair or wearing a weighted vest.

Australian pull-up (bodyweight row/inverted row)

#7. Single-arm overhead press

Target muscles: Deltoids, triceps, core.

Overhead pressing strength is essential for shoulder health and will give you a more powerful throw-in. However, doing single-arm overhead presses means you’ll need to use your core more, and that’s never bad.

Also, unilateral exercises like this help identify and fix left-to-right strength imbalances.

How to do it:

Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart.
Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in one hand.
Brace your core and lift the weight to your shoulder, palm facing forward.
Pull your shoulder girdle down and back.
Press the weight up and overhead to full arm extension without leaning to the side.
Lower it back to your shoulder and repeat.
Do the same number of reps on both sides.

Single-arm Dumbbell overhead presses + how to decrease stability

8. Slo-mo mountain climbers

Target muscles: Core muscles

When most people do mountain climbers, aka hill climbers, and alternate leg squat thrusts, they do them very fast. Fast mountain climbers are a great cardio exercise, but that’s not why we want you to do them.

Instead, slow motion (slo-mo) will tax your entire core for better lumbar spine stability.

How to do it:

Adopt the push-up position with your arms and legs straight.
Brace your abs.
Bend your leg and SLOWLY pull your knee into your chest.
Squeeze your abs as hard as you can.
Extend your leg, change sides, and repeat with the other leg.
Slowly alternate legs for the duration of your set.
Focus more on the tension in your core than the number of reps performed.
Fewer, slower reps are better than more, faster reps.

Slow mountain climbers

Strength Training for Soccer Workout

If you love playing soccer, use this full-body workout to boost your athleticism and protect yourself from injury. To avoid overtraining and for the best results, do this workout 2-3 times a week on non-consecutive days, e.g., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Begin each workout with a short warm-up of 5-10 minutes of easy cardio followed by dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for your main muscles and joints. Choose weights that take you to within 1-3 reps of failure within the prescribed rep range.

For bodyweight exercises, just do as many good-quality reps as possible, as indicated by AMRAP on the chart below. If you are new to strength training, do two sets of each exercise.

More experienced exercisers can do three or four sets of each exercise.

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Split squat jump	2-4	8-10	60-90 seconds
2	Table bridge	2-4	10-12	60-90 seconds
3	Lateral deficit squat	2-4	8-10 per side	60-90 seconds
4	Push-up	2-4	AMRAP	60-90 seconds
5	Australian pull-up	2-4	AMRAP	60-90 seconds
6	Single-arm overhead press	2-4	8-10 per side	60-90 seconds
7	Slow mountain climbers	2-4	10-12 per side	60-90 seconds

Strength Training Exercises for Soccer Players – Wrapping Up

Strength is a critical fitness component for soccer players. The stronger you are, the more effective your cardio, power, agility, and skill training will be. Also, strong muscles are more resilient.

Given the importance of strength for successful soccer, it’s surprising that players don’t spend more time in the gym. It truly is the missing link in soccer conditioning training.

So, to maximize your soccer fitness, hit the gym 2-3 times a week. This small investment in time will have a huge impact on your playing performance and lower your risk of injury.

Strength Training for Soccer: Exercises + Workout

Strength Training for Soccer – Introduction

Why is Strength Training Important for Soccer Players

8 Great Strength Training Exercises for Soccer Players