THE COMPLETE SOCCER PLAYER
In order to be a good soccer player, one needs to have various components that add up to make one a fantastic competitor. Strength and conditioning in soccer is extremely important due to the nature of the game. At the professional level, conditioning is stressed by the coaches and meds, but in the lower levels, strength and conditioning is neglected. The best soccer players at the lower level is one who has great agility and fantastic conditioning.
I personally do a lot of research on how to become the most complete soccer player and I have found interesting things that I would like to share with you guys. Strength is an important component of fitness that can benefit athletes in any sport, although it is often viewed as having little importance in soccer. However, strength forms the basis for power and speed. Soccer players also need strength to hold off challenges from opponents. Other benefits of strength training include: injury resistance leaner body composition faster metabolism more energy greater explosiveness improved balance, stability, and agility faster recovery greater bone density.
According to Josh Hewett, a professional soccer expert, high level soccer players don't need to have the same absolute strength as American football players or rugby players, but a properly designed „off-field‟ strength training program will definitely improve your in performance! Relative strength is more important in soccer than absolute strength. Relative strength is simply your absolute strength in relation to your body weight. Your strength training program should focus on compound, functional exercises (such as lunges, squats, step ups, pushups, dips, chin-ups), and take into account balancing the strength of opposing muscle groups (i.e.- quadriceps vs. hamstrings). Don't waste your time training solely on machines, and avoid useless, non-functional exercises such as leg extensions. The majority of your exercises should be ground-based, using bodyweight or free weights as resistance, and should involve movement of your full body. Train all the major muscle groups, with emphasis on your lower body and core.
Another significant component of a soccer fitness program is speed and agility training. The speed of play in today's game is quicker than ever. While endurance and strength are very important to improving your performance, faster players have a definite competitive edge. You may have better endurance than the next guy, but if he makes it to the ball first it won't matter that you can run marathons! A simple speed test is a sprint over 30 yards from a standing start. You can try this yourself and have someone else time you. A sprint time under 5.0 seconds is good. Professional players average around 4.0 seconds. Power is the combination of strength and speed. A more powerful player is a more formidable player. To improve your speed and explosiveness you should include power movements in your program, such as jump squats, high pulls, power cleans, and push presses, as well as plyometric drills such as box jumps, alternate push-offs, lateral shuffle, and split lunge jumps.
Another important aspect of fitness is flexibility. Maintaining a healthy range of motion can be very beneficial, however, few people understand the most effective methods of stretching or when to use them. Many athletes still do passive stretching before their workout or practice, when actually this can diminish performance and increase risk of injury! The safest and most productive way to integrate flexibility training into your routine, is to do a dynamic warm up (walking lunges, bodyweight squats, high knees, butt kicks, arm circles, etc.) before a workout, practice or game, and then spend some time stretching at the end. Also, a better alternative to static passive stretching is static „active‟ stretching (using your own muscular effort to hold the position).
A very important component towards becoming a complete soccer player and a great athlete is nutrition. It is one of the most neglected components in any sport despite the fact that it is the most important component. Let's start with carbohydrates, the most important fuel for contracting muscles. In fact, our body has its very own storeroom supply of this--called glycogen--in the muscles. Once the blood's supply is used up it will turn to this reserve to break down. Carbohydrates are found in bread, rice, pasta and cereals. Whole grain varieties of these are a better choice as they are broken down at a slower rate and will give longer lasting energy. Next is protein, which is found in meat, fish, beans, nuts and lentils. Protein is needed to repair and rebuild muscles that have been damaged during exercise. It's important to note that you don't need to overdo this. Fat is found in meat, butter, dairy, convenience food and oils. Try to choose monounsaturated fats such as olive oil or canola oil and eliminate trans fats. It will protect your heart and maintain healthy cholesterol levels. You want to ensure that the meals you eat give you the most nutritional bang for your buck. A healthy meal should be made up of 2/3 whole grains, fruits and vegetables and 1/3 low fat meat, dairy, beans or other protein-rich foods. Fast foods have very little nutritional value and, in turn, will hinder performance on the field. However they can be part of a healthy sports diet as an occasional treat. It is vital to fuel your body on a regular basis, having three nutritious meals a day with snacks. Make time for meals, as they are just as vital as the training session.
If you put all of these components together and use everything to your advantage, you will become the soccer player that every coach will want on their team. It is not even close to been easy to becoming the most complete athlete but hard work and dedication will definitely get you there. One thing that will help towards achieving your goal is to focus on the output, not much on the input. I hope that you will become a great player and use these tips to help you.
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