Being in excellent shape is a key factor in being a great soccer player. Without being in great shape your performance on the field will follow. Being fit will also protect you from a variety of injures.

There are two ways that fitness is measured in soccer; aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic fitness simply involves the level of oxygen you bring into your heart and lungs during a workout. Building your ability to be fit aerobically helps increase your endurance during a soccer match. To strengthen your aerobic capacity, you will have to do more than walk. Walking for example doesn’t put stress on your body and most people will at least be able to walk few hundred yards without getting tired.

The level at which this fatigue takes place will take longer with aerobic training – meaning you won’t get so out of breath as quickly with practice. Your heart and lungs will become more efficient for the exercise.

Anaerobic fitness is about intensity. One common anaerobic fitness activity is sprinting. When you sprint your body will work at a level where it cannot provide enough oxygen and your muscles will not be able to get energy from your glycogen fuels. You will not be able to work long at this level before you get out of breath. Why do you want this, you ask? With anaerobic training your body will become more efficient at using your glycogen stored fuels but also help you deal with oxygen debt.

The effect of oxygen debt is the buildup of lactic acid (a burning feeling in your legs at the end of a long sprint). The lactic acid must be eliminated from your muscles fast and this is where anaerobic training helps you.

As a soccer player you will need a combination of aerobic and anaerobic soccer fitness. Depending on the position you play, you may require higher levels of anaerobic or aerobic fitness. For example, if you are a midfielder and you have to cover a lot of field during a regular soccer match, you will need to be strong aerobically. Forwards and strikers will need to sprint fast and will need therefore more anaerobic fitness.

In a regular soccer game you may have the ball approximately at average 2 minutes and 35 minutes, running and covering several miles. Endurance training is therefore crucial if you want to have advantage on your opponents. What can you do to increase your endurance? While it seems running 10-15 miles a week is the ticket, there are instead other basics you could do instead.

For instance, you want to build up what is called your base. To build up a good base you will need at least six weeks during off-season to incorporate aerobic activity. A common activity can include cycling, jog or swimming.

Next, you want to set up fitness goals. Your goals should include increases every week or so. For example, if you want to run 200 meters like this:

1. First 50 m with 50 % of your max speed
2. Second 50 m, with 100 % of your max speed
3. Third 50 m, again with 50 % of max your speed
4. And last 50 m with 100 % of your max speed

To build endurance you want to have the ability to recover quickly from high intensity workouts. One of the best ways to do this is through sprint workouts. While practicing on sprinting you should try to lessen the duration of your recovery for each practice session. For example, you can run 7 x 20 meters then 5 x 40 m – rest, and then run 4 x 70 meters. Allow you self to rest at least one minute between intervals.

You can also use the Fartlek training program, which offers a nice variation and is great for group training. This program consists of running, jogging and walking intermittently. For example a player could cruise for 30 seconds followed by a light jog for 60 seconds, followed by a three quarter sprint for 10 seconds.

This cycle is repeated for the duration of the session – 20 to 30 minutes on average. There is any number of combinations for Fartlek training. It’s a good introduction to the training season and adds variety to the often monotonous, continuous endurance training. Interval endurance sessions, being more intense, tend to be shorter in time than continuous runs. During the in-season a competitive game acts as an interval endurance session.

Usually that is enough to maintain the aerobic conditioning built up during pre-season preparation. One extra session per week is fine also.

As your body adapts to vigorous training it will soon fall into a comfort zone again. To continue improving you must progress the intensity (or duration) to bring about more overload and so more adaptation. After a while, your body will build endurance and before long your performance level will also be improved.

There is no getting around it, exercise is an important part of your soccer training as much as handling the ball. So get out there and step it up.At Inside Soccer we emphasis soccer training programs presented in video clips, training drills and training tips. With world-class content we’ll help you coach, consistent with your beliefs and philosophy or play with confidence. Visit online for more information.
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