How does gaining strength help me as a soccer player?

As we get older (U13 and up), adding strength to a player will make them a faster, more powerful player. Here is why: There is a proven coorelation between strength and speed. Developing a players "posterior chain" of muscles has several positive effects. Before we get to that, let's describe the muscles we are referring to here. Basically these are the muscles you don't see should you be looking at yourself in the mirror. The Posterior chain of muscles are your back, your glutes, your hamstrings and your calf.

Getting them stronger, will absolutley make a player faster. These are the muscles that are used to propel an athlete forward. They allow the athlete to become very explosive and quick in their movements.

Now saying all of this, the athlete must be smart in how they train this set of muscles. An athlete should be training to gain functional strength. There are many ways to achieve functional strength. Functional strength combines resistance and movement. This powerful combination allows an athlete to become stronger by training in multiple planes.

Many athletes want to "bench press" as an example to get stronger. For movement athletes, benching is not as productive as say "tire flipping" in generating functional strength as a bench press only incorporates one level of plane, while flipping a tire builds several levels in!

Getting a soccer player stronger helps with creating more speed for the soccer player but also they become more powerful too!

Have a great day!

Gary
www.soccerandspeedcoach.com