Natural Men’s And Women’s Soccer Training

Thirdly Ball Handling Skills


Thirdly training ball handling is quite simple, you just need to get used to the feel of the ball on your feet and practice drills constantly.

That being said Here is a training split I would recommend

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Monday - Ball Control Workouts
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Focus on ball feel and practice drills
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Tuesday - Endurance workouts
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Focus on different types of high-intensity interval training

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Wednesday - Rest
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Thursday - Strength Training
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Focus on heavy compound lifts
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Friday - Rest
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Saturday - Rest 
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Sunday - Agility Workouts
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Focus on Compound lifts, plyometrics and fast-paced movements such as dashes

Here are some exercises I recommend for certain days

Monday - Ball Handling Workouts

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Dribbling
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Diagonal Dribbles 
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Zig Zag Dribbles
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Juggling 
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Box Passing (If you have others with you)

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Cone Weaves
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Passing against the wall
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Passing with others
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Tuesday - Endurance Workouts

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Mountain Climbers
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Air Squats
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Alternating lunges
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Treadmill sprints
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Sprints
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Dashes
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Thursday - Strength Training

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Compound Movements 
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Bench press
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Deadlift
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Squats 
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Barbell Rows
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Push-ups
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Pull-ups
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Dips
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Sunday - Agility Workouts

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Compound Movements 
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Bench press
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Deadlift
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Squats 
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Barbell Rows
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Push-ups
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Pull-ups
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Dips
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Plyometrics/HIIT Workouts
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Jump ropes
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Jumping jacks
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Clapping push-ups
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Split squats
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Burpees
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Box jumps
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Depth Jumps
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Side Shuffle
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Lateral Ladders 
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High Knees
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For Any Definitions You Are Unsure Of Please Click Here

What Do Soccer Players Need To Train

Through years of playing soccer and interviewing my friends on the topic, I can firmly say that soccer is a sport that requires a ton of strength, endurance, ball handling, and agility. You will see that many professional players such as Christiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Ronaldhino, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, just to name a few, have all of these attributes at their limit. So let me explain how to gain these attributes

Secondly, Training Endurance

Secondly, to train endurance, as explained in the basketball section, it is important to utilize High-Intensity Interval Training. This is because HIIT cardio has been shown to have significant benefits for your VO2 Max, (‘the maximum amount of oxygen your body can absorb and use during exercise’,(Tim Jewell, 2023)). A study conducted by the NIH which split 40 healthy young men into 4 groups showed that the 2 groups who trained with High-Intensity Interval training/ interval training increased their VO2Max by around ‘7.2%  and 5.5% respectively’ which was significantly higher compared to the other groups, (Jan Helgerud, Et al, 2007).

Fourthly Agility


Agility, defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘the ability to move your body quickly and easily’ plays a very important role in soccer as it allows you to change direction fast, giving you the opportunity to outpace defenders and strategise.

Similar to training explosiveness in basketball, to train agility you simply need to do fast-paced movements, for example, Compound movements, plyometrics, Dashes, ETC. So taking that into consideration you should train with high intensity for low rep ranges, preferably ‘3 to 5 sets of 2 to 6 reps per exercise’ each time we train, (Trevor Thieme C.S.C.S, 2022).

Glossary

Lastly Diet And Rest

And lastly, like any other sport, I would like to point out the benefits of rest and diet, as they can really make or break your performance. Generally, as stated in the Strength section and the basketball section, you should get between 7  hours + of sleep every day to optimise your strength and rest for 20 - 1 minute to train endurance. Furthermore, as stated in the bodybuilding section you should also eat at a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight, eat in a calorie surplus to gain weight, and eat in a calorie maintenance to maintain weight. But most importantly it is important to eat whole foods, get enough protein, get enough carbs, get enough unsaturated fats and limit processed foods. For example, Christiano Ronaldo sticks to a low-fat, high-protein diet with whole grains and fresh fruit, (Max Mathews, 2023).

Firstly Training Strength

To train Strength we want to focus on heavy compound movements for low reps as they assist in the building of strength, and stability, and even help reduce the risk of injury which is detrimental to a soccer player’s career, (Chris Beck, 2023). As explained in the strength training section we want to focus on having  ‘3 to 5 sets of 2 to 6 reps per exercise’ each time we train, (Trevor Thieme C.S.C.S, 2022). Additionally, we should also try our best to train to failure during these workouts.