Steele Canyon High School Women's Soccer

An Introduction to Strength Training for Soccer By Renato Capobianco, MA, CSCS I've often heard people say that lifting weights is bad for soccer players because it makes you slow and you lose flexibility. Well, that statement can be both true and false. If one embarks on the wrong type of strength training program, say, one more suited for body building, and doesn't bother to work on their flexibility, then it would be easy to think that lifting weights is detrimental to a soccer player. But if the right kind of strength training program is used and a player continues to work on their flexibility, strength training with weights can be a beneficial form of training for soccer players. This is kind of like saying that eating food makes one fat. If you eat the wrong foods all the time, never watch your caloric intake, and never exercise, eating any virtually any food under those circumstances will make you fat. But, if you tailor your diet to suit your needs and include proper exercise, one will see that food as the necessity it is. We must always ask ourselves, "Why are we doing what we are doing?" Time is precious so let's use it efficiently. I recently gave a summer conditioning program to a college soccer team. I made it very clear that the strength training aspect of the program was to supplement their soccer playing and their anaerobic/aerobic conditioning. Inevitably, some of the players will find that lifting in an air conditioned gym is less strenuous and more fun than running shuttles in the hot summer sun. In their mind, they got their workout out in, right? By the end of the summer, they may have missed 6-8 running sessions and countless 4v4 games because, in their mind, the strength training constituted a soccer workout. Hence, the loss of flexibility and the decreased ability to run for 90 minutes. Strength training is a very important element in developing a total athlete. However, it should be viewed as one of many elements a soccer player must enhance. I place it in the same category as juggling, playing soccer tennis, being proficient at 5 v 2, and the development of individual skills. All these activities will improve one's touch and decision making in tight spaces. Hopefully one will see this translate onto the field in the form of better technical skills and improved decision making. Strength training can make movements faster and more powerful. I also believe that, especially with teenage players, increased strength can give a player added confidence, especially when having to go into challenges with bigger players. How you apply the added strength and power as it relates to a soccer situation will ultimately determine how effective it is. Strength training for soccer should be approached as a total body proposition. The upper body, the core (abs, obliques, low back), and the legs must be part of a comprehensive program. One should focus on exercises that strengthen groups of muscles versus exercises that only work individual muscles. Remember that 99 % of all body movements in an athletic setting take place when a group of muscles work together in a kinetic chain. This is where the phrase "Train muscles, not movements" comes from.