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.
Nonetheless, you or your team may have to deal with the lack of time to practice prior to a competition. But you don’t need to compromise on the conditioning exercises because of this. You don’t intend to see your players suffering injuries during or prior to the game.
A well planned soccer fitness training course has the capacity to fully train the players even in less that 3 days time. All that it takes is seriousness, good preparation, and its implementation. Here are a few tips to work with short but effective conditioning programs.
Warming up: The players must be told to begin with either of these; a five minute jog, jumping, high knees, or heel flicks. Take adequate rest for a few seconds in between. Then tone the muscles up by doing some stretching exercises for 5 minutes. Be sure to include all the major muscle groups in these soccer workouts.
Running: Some coaches have a tendency to make the players do constant running. Though it’s absolutely ok, but in my opinion the players should be made to practice only soccer specific running. This leads to the fact that they do running, jogging, walking, and sprinting in no set order for half an hour.
Running in this manner enables the players to get strong and control their bodies better. Also, they do not get fatigued since a walk after a sprint balances things out.
Leave it to the individual players to decide what they want to do and when. If they enjoy doing sprints more than jogging, that is OK. As the stamina of the kids increases, you can increase the duration of the soccer conditioning program slightly.
Stretching: Impress upon the kids to do stretching after the match as well as a training session. Concentrate on working out the whole body specially the hamstrings, groins, quads, calves and lower back. Keep in mind that the stretching positions should be longer than the warm-up sessions. Generally, 20 to 30 seconds is a good duration.
A day before the match, make the players rest. This will help the muscles restore their form and also there will be no possibility of an injury. It is also a good time to have a discussion with them and boost their confidence.
Discuss some funny things or joke so that they feel lighter.
Have faith in me! Once you start to apply this to your training practice sessions, you’ll watch your players perform like hard core professionals on field. If you wish to know more about soccer conditioning, subscribe to our youth soccer coaching community and equip yourself with loads of relevant information.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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 training fun in less than 29 days! Download your free pdf guide at: Soccer conditioning
