If you want to enjoy soccer and have the best chance of winning, you need to be fit and in good condition. But how to get in shape for soccer?
Well, there are lots of things you can do to boost your fitness levels, and we take a deep dive into how to work on your fitness in the following sections.
So, how to get in shape for soccer?
To get into shape for soccer, you need to improve your conditioning. You should work on your aerobic fitness and strength, improve your diet, and eliminate bad habits. Overall, you can make subtle changes to your lifestyle that will make a big difference to your overall performance on the soccer field.
In the sections that follow, we explain in detail how to get in shape for soccer and provide you with some top tips that you can incorporate into your weekly routine to prepare you for game day.
Hit the gym
Signing up for a gym membership is a great way to get in shape for soccer. After all, you can work on so many different aspects of your fitness at the gym, including cardio and weight training.
If you can, attend the gym 2-3 times a week, focusing on a different aspect of your health and fitness during each session.
You can also sign up for some classes to keep things interesting and to meet new people during your workouts.
While most professional soccer clubs have fully equipped gyms at their training grounds, we suspect you will have to sign up for a gym in your local area. Still, investing in a gym membership is a great way to get in shape for soccer.
Work on your aerobic fitness
Research shows that to successfully compete in team sports, you need to maintain a high level of aerobic fitness. Therefore, performing aerobic exercises will help you to improve your condition and compete during soccer matches.
Following a 4-10 week aerobic fitness regime can have significant improvements when it comes to your performance on the field, but it really depends on how intensely you work out.
Aerobic exercises include running, cycling, and swimming, which you can perform in your own time and between soccer practice sessions.
They all increase your aerobic capacity and enable you to get into shape in preparation for your soccer matches.
Try HIIT workouts
HIIT – High-Intensity Interval Training – is an exceptionally popular way to increase your fitness levels. Studies show that HIIT is great for burning calories, but it’s also excellent for boosting your general fitness and wellbeing.
The idea behind HIIT is that you perform intense bouts of exercise for relatively short periods of time. Many HIIT workouts are up to ten minutes long, but the intensity at which you work out is much more pronounced.
HIIT can be beneficial for soccer because:
- Your metabolic rate remains high for multiple hours following a HIIT workout.
- You can lose fat by regularly performing HIIT.
- HIIT can help you maintain muscle, although it depends on the workouts you perform.
- By performing HIIT, your oxygen consumption can improve.
The above benefits can all contribute to helping you get in better shape to perform well on the soccer field. To get started with HIIT, conduct a YouTube search and gain some inspiration from fitness channels.
The beauty of HIIT is that you can do your exercises at home alone or in the gym with other people. Overall, it’s a great approach to improving your fitness on the soccer field.
Take pre-season training seriously
While the off-season is typically a time for soccer players to enjoy a vacation and spend more time with their families, it’s also a crucial part of the season.
After all, it’s also the time when pre-season training gets underway.
Most of the time, pre-season starts 4-6 weeks before the commencement of the season itself. During this time, soccer players focus predominantly on their fitness, leaving the technical training aside for a later date.
Pre-season training is grueling, and it mainly consists of cardio drills. But it’s super important for preparing you for the upcoming season.
Even if you’re not playing for a team during the off-season, you need to take pre-season training seriously. If you don’t, you will be playing catch-up throughout the season, and you will struggle to keep the pace set by your teammates.
Attend soccer practice
This tip goes without saying! But lots of players assume that they can just turn up on matchday, and everything will click into place.
But the reality is that the most important work soccer players do is out on the training field. As well as planning tactics and formations, players complete drills that help them stay in peak physical shape.
Even if you just miss one or two sessions here and there, it will have an impact on your general condition.
So, do everything you can to ensure you attend soccer practice and complete all of the drills that the coach sets out for you.
Play small-sided soccer
Enrolling in a small-sided soccer league is another great way to work on your fitness levels. For instance, playing in a weekly 5-a-side league will boost your fitness levels and will help you work on other parts of your game.
The great thing about small-sided soccer is that the games are usually intense and fast-paced, as the ball doesn’t go out of play as much as it does in 11-a-side matches.
What’s more, most teams employ a player-to-player marking strategy, meaning you typically have to follow your opponent around the field for the entirety of the match.
This presents you with a great workout, and small-sided soccer is also super fun!
Adjust your diet
What you eat is just as important as your exercise regime when it comes to your fitness levels. Processed foods, snacks that are high in sugar, and excessive refined carbohydrates are all bad for your health.
Therefore, if you’re serious about improving your conditioning on the soccer field, it might be time to adjust your diet.
The thing is, you don’t necessarily need to follow a specific diet to prepare yourself for soccer. It’s just about making better choices as far as eating is concerned.
Eating healthily isn’t rocket science, but it’s not super easy to get into the swing of things. So, consider making incremental changes where possible and look to improve your diet slowly.
Following the latest fad diet and restricting yourself won’t work in the long run, so make small, tangible changes wherever possible to help you get started.
Drink lots of water
Equally as important as your diet is the amount of water you drink, particularly on match day and during training sessions.
Statistics show that more than 50% of adults in the United States don’t drink enough water. Not only is this bad for your general health and wellbeing, but it will also affect your performance on the soccer field.
Approximately 60% of your body is made up of water, and you need to make sure you replenish any fluids that you lose through sweat.
If you don’t, you run the risk of becoming dehydrated. Needless to say, if you’re dehydrated during a soccer game, it’s impossible to play at the peak of your powers.
Bonus tip: Ever wondered what soccer players drink? Find out in this article where we share our recommendations on the best drinks for soccer players.
Eliminate your bad habits
Finally, your soccer performance will improve significantly if you can cut out some of your bad habits.
Now, while we’re not telling you to live a life completely devoid of pleasure, you do need to cut back on certain things if you’re serious about getting into shape for soccer.
Reducing your alcohol consumption, eliminating cigarettes, and getting at least eight hours of sleep at night are all good starts.
While we all have our vices, if you want to perform well on the soccer field, it’s important to make some sacrifices, and the above changes will undoubtedly help you.
Recap: How to get in shape for soccer
Even if you’re just playing soccer casually with your friends once a week, you need to think about your conditioning. If you’re unfit, the game is nowhere near as fun as it should be.
We hope the above tips have helped you see how easy it is to get in shape for soccer, and we wish you the best of luck as you try to implement them into your weekly routine!