5 Ways for Soccer Players to Build Up Stamina
You can be the most skilled soccer player in the world, but you lose so much value to your team if you can’t last an entire game. Being able to put all of your effort into every play will both make you a better soccer player and help you to stay in great shape.
Make sure to take our Soccer Quiz to see if you, your player or child has what it takes!
Make sure to take our Soccer Quiz to see if you, your player or child has what it takes!
Many soccer players don’t even think about stamina as they are developing because their primary focus is on improving their dribbling skills and becoming better shooters. Unfortunately, if you don’t have good stamina, then you aren’t getting all that you can out of your abilities.
Below you will find the five best ways to increase your stamina so you can perform at your best for the entirety of each soccer match.
Cardiovascular Exercise
There are plenty of great ways to increase your stamina, but there simply isn’t a better way than working on your cardio. You have to run or jog for about 60 percent of every soccer game you play, so it is essential that you work on running those distances so you don’t overwhelm your body during your games.
What’s great about cardiovascular exercise is that you have a plethora of ways to build up your stamina. You can jump on the treadmill; you can go swimming; or you can even go onto a soccer field to work on getting into game shape.
The most popular stamina exercise for soccer players is the endurance sprint. It is a very simple drill in which you run 100 meters and then jog back those 100 meters to your starting spot. You can do this drill either by yourself or with a partner. If you do the endurance drill with a partner, have them start their sprint as soon as you have jogged back to the starting spot.
Strength Training
Building up your strength for soccer can help in a number of ways. Not only are you building up your muscles, you are also making it easier on your body when you need to move around the field at the pace. Your body can handle a lot more when it is stronger, so your stamina will increase as you gain strength.
Great strength training exercises that every soccer player should do are push-ups, squats and sit-ups. Make sure that you get about a minute of rest in between each set to allow your body to recover.
Stretching
Stretching doesn’t necessarily build up your stamina, but it is essential if you want to be able to stay on the field. Without regular stretching, soccer players can pull muscles or even pick up more significant injuries. When you are injured due to lack of stretching, you will have to start the whole stamina-building program over again from scratch.
Even though you will want to get right to your exercises, make sure that you get a full stretching routine in before you begin. You obviously want to put a lot of your focus on your legs, but be sure to get in a few upper body and core stretches, as well.
Make sure to take our Soccer Quiz to see if you, your player or child has what it takes!
Healthy Diet
You can greatly impact the speed in which you build stamina by eating three balanced meals per day with a few smaller meals in between them. You can put in hours upon hours of endurance training, but you will only see great results if you give your body the fuel it needs. Focus on eating foods that are high in carbs while avoiding fatty foods.
Sleep!
All of the hard work that you put into working out and eating healthy can be washed away if you are not getting your eight hours of sleep every night. Your body has to recover, so you can greatly slow your progress down if you limit that recovery. If you are serious about getting into game shape, then you have to put together a schedule that will allow you to get the sleep that you need.