3 min readTHE FIFA WORLD CUP has taken over North America, and, like so many others, you might have caught football fever. Whether you’re itching to hit your local park for some pickup soccer or you’re already a regular at a rec league, you should consider that there’s more to a good game than just lacing up and hitting the pitch. Especially if you’re beyond your school age days, you can—and should—train for the characteristics that will keep you competitive and healthy in the gym, too.
One particularly important characteristic for soccer is speed, the key to breakaways and rallying defense. But it’s important to remember that the type of speed you need on the pitch is different than you would need as a track star. “The soccer athlete is working over a much shorter distance—they’re not racing 100 meters down the track,” says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. Instead, footballers are stopping and starting, only bursting up to top speed over 30 to 40 meters.
Also important: Soccer players don’t run in lanes, taking a straight line from start to finish. “It’s called curvilinear speed,” Samuel notes. “They’re often taking an angle and working in these curves, so we need to prepare our body for that.”
Samuel created a quick series of exercises that can help you support this type of speed. The movements are simple, and don’t require heavy weights—but you will need to perform them with focus and intent.
The World Cup Soccer Speed Workout
Hip 90/90 Series
Samuel says that a key to speed—especially the curvilinear speed World Cup stars rely on in competition—is all in the hips. Use this series to get them right.
How to Get in the 90/90 Position
Sit up tall on the ground, knees and hips at 90 degree angles. Extend your arms out in front of your torso. Avoid rotating or scooting your butt along the floor.
Hip Flip
30 seconds
How to Do It: Shift the position of your legs from one side to the other while keeping your torso upright.
Knee Lift
30 seconds per side
How to Do It: Squeeze the glute on your outer leg to raise your knee and lower leg off the floor. Pause briefly at the top, keeping your shin parallel to the floor.
Heel Touch
30 seconds per side
How to Do It: Shift your outside leg inward to touch the opposite heel. Keep your torso stable and avoid rotating.
Curtsy Lunge
3 sets of 6 to 8 reps per side; rest 1 to 2 minutes per set
This movement will also hammer the hips—but it focuses on prepping your body to control rotational force. When you perform this exercise, focus on explosive power more than heavy loads.
How to Do It: Stand holding a dumbbell in one hand. With the same side leg, step behind your other leg and bend your knees into a lunge. Press your planted foot into the floor to stand back up forcefully into hip extension.
Stomp Stepup
3 sets of 6 to 8 reps per side; rest 1 to 2 minutes per set
Sprint speed comes with force—more specifically, the force you create when you drive your foot into the ground. This move gives you a chance to emphasize and strengthen that aspect of of the gait cycle. You’ll need a low box or a stable platform for this.
How to Do It: Stand in front of a low box holding a pair of dumbbells. Raise one knee up, then stomp down onto the box and drive your opposite knee up. Elevate onto your toe and make sure your raised foot is dorsiflexed (ankle flexed up).
Loaded Copenhagen Plank
2 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 seconds
Samuel calls this an “ultra-elaborate side plank” that doesn’t just target the obliques. Instead, the focus is on your adductors, the muscles in your inner thighs that pull your legs inward toward your body’s midline. You’ll need a stable weight bench to do this exercise.
How to Do It: Start by getting into a side plank position on your elbow, then put your outside knee and shin onto the bench. Rest your weight on your elbow and elevate your other leg off the floor with your knee bent, as if driving up in your running stride. Squeeze your glute and brace your abs to hold the position. Once you’re able, rest a small weight plate on your elevated leg to increase the challenge.
Brett Williams, NASM-CPT, PES, a senior editor at Men's Health, is a certified trainer and former pro football player and tech reporter. You can find his work elsewhere at Mashable, Thrillist, and other outlets.
