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The Best Gym Strength Training Exercises For Soccer Players

Strength training is a key aspect of training regimes for all successful soccer players. In fact, strength also underpins agility, endurance, speed, and power — every quality you need to be a good soccer player, no matter the position. Despite this, strength training can often be overlooked by soccer players. Fortunately, by implementing the best strength training exercises into your training regime, you can maintain a fit, strong, and powerful physique, while also enhancing your stamina, agility, power, and speed.

Trap bar deadlifts

Trap bar deadlifts are an excellent exercise for soccer players as they help strengthen your hamstrings, quads, glutes, erector spinae, trapezius, and back muscles. A trap bar (also known as a hex bar) is simply a hexagonal-shaped barbell. To lift the trap bar, you stand in the middle of the hexagon, rather than standing behind the standard straight barbell. Whereas barbell deadlifts put a fair amount of pressure on your lower back, trap bar deadlifts don’t — they place less stress on the lumbar spine and therefore reduce risk of injury for soccer players. Trap bar deadlifts also eliminate the potential for hyperextension (a common issue with barbell deadlifts), which again minimizes your injury risk. 

Barbell back squats

Barbell back squats are effective at strengthening your core, hips, hamstrings, quads, and calf muscles — therefore helping build vital lower body strength. This move can also improve hip flexibility, which is crucial for soccer players. To perform this simple exercise, you place the barbell over the back of your neck and squat while holding the weight in place. Above all, finding a good gym with the right equipment is also essential for getting the most out of all your strength training workouts. Ideally, you should look for a gym that offers equipment from some of the best strength equipment brands, such as, Hammer Strength, Precor, NordicTrack, and Life Fitness. By working out with top-of-the-line strength training brands, you can benefit from increased quality, safety, and peace of mind.

Kettlebell swings

Kettlebell swings work to strengthen a number of key muscles, including your hips, core, shoulders, back, hamstrings, and glutes, as well as giving you the strength needed for explosive power moves on the pitch. And, since kettlebell swings demand proper hip hinges, they also end up improving your vertical leap — which comes in particularly handy when you need to perform a head ball. Keep in mind, a kettlebell swing isn’t a shoulder exercise; it involves using your legs and driving your hips forward and through to lift the weight, so you get to work principles of plyometrics training, while also building your strength thanks to the added external load.

To be a successful soccer player, you need to reach and maintain a certain level of fitness and strength. Fortunately, by adding moves like trap bar deadlifts, barbell back squats, and kettlebell swings to your training regime, you can improve your strength and become the best player you can be.

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