The ability to produce ‘power’ is essential for soccer players, but what is power, when is it important on the soccer field, how often should it be trained, and what type of body weight power exercises can encourage power development for soccer players?
Table Of Contents
- Power Versus Strength
- When Is Power Production Important On The Soccer Field?
- How Often and How Should I Train Development As A Soccer Player?
- 10 Bodyweight Power Training Exercises
Power Versus Strength
Power for soccer players is generally defined as the ability to produce high amounts of force, quickly.
Strength on the other hand is the ability to produce a large amount of force, without considering the speed at which it’s produced.
For example, a box jump as demonstrated in the image is considered a power exercise, where you generate high force over a short period against little to no additional resistance.
You’re only required to work against gravity, so you theoretically would be able to produce force more quickly compared to something like a weighted box jump.
If you were to perform a heavy barbell front squat as seen in the next photo, you would produce a larger amount of overall force compared to a box jump, but at a much slower speed.
In this particular case, you’re working against gravity and the weight on the barbell, meaning you will be required to produce a vast amount of force, with less of the focus on the speed at which this force is created.
Power training and strength training go hand in hand for soccer players, so you must strength train to develop your power production, and vice versa.
Interested in learning more about strength training exercises for soccer players? Read our blog 11 Single Leg Strength Exercises For Soccer Players.
When Is Power Production Important On The Soccer Field?
As a soccer player, you are constantly required to produce significant amounts of force at an explosive speed.
Defenders jumping to challenge for a header.
Midfielders changing direction to intercept a pass.
Attackers sprinting in behind the opposition’s defence.
And goalkeepers diving across their goal to make a save.
Each of these movements demands the athlete to move at a high speed, and the only way to do that is to produce a high amount of force, quickly.
How Often Should I Train Power Development As A Soccer Player?
This can all depend on your experience in the gym, your training and game schedule, and your fitness level as a player.
Generally speaking, players should aim to perform 2-3 power-based training bouts per week.
Soccer players should aim to perform 1-6 repetitions of each exercise, while working at maximum intensity every single repetition, and getting 60 – 90 seconds of rest between exercises.
You MUST perform each repetition at maximum intensity. If you don’t, you will not get faster, you will not get more explosive, and you will not perform optimally on the soccer field.
If you are interested in learning more about power development training that’s specific for you, get in contact with [email protected], who is always accepting strength & conditioning clients in person and online.
With that said, here are 10 of our favourite bodyweight power training exercises for soccer players!