SOCCER SPEED, EXPLOSIVENESS & POWER TRAINING

Soccer is a game that is getting faster and more powerful every year. Players are quicker on and off the ball, explosive shots are fired from all angles and everyone is looking for that space to attack.

My name is Lucas Kruel and I am a personal trainer of many top football athletes worldwide. A large part of my training is increasing power, explosiveness and speed to enhance the performances of the athletes.

Power and speed training benefits for soccer players

Your training program to increase speed and power

BEFORE YOUR START:

DURING THE TRAINING:

TYPES OF SPEED AND EXPLOSIVENESS TRAINING: 

A variety of exercises from these types of trainings will enhance your speed and explosiveness.

Functional training to increase speed & power

Functional training strength exercises are perfect for increasing power and speed for any soccer player.

Incorporating repeated exercises that involve sharp and controlled movements are number one for power training. Functional training in the #TRUSTMYCOACH Program also focuses on only body weight exercises (no machines) to push yourself off into a faster position. This is sport specific because in a soccer game, you only have your body to rely on getting past opponents. So your balance, agility and strength must be on fire to release that power within.

Check out this soccer based speed and power workout below! I am incorporating functional training and plyometric exercises to enhance your explosiveness.

Douglas Costa: The explosive superstar

I have personal trained Costa for many years during his time at Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayern München and the Brazilian National Team. He is an incredible athlete that enjoys training and most of all... enjoys the great results that it brought to his performance.

Costa has always put in the extra work on the side of his team training. At times, he used to call me up at midnight and we would train on the street in that moment! We practiced functional training in every session to help strengthen his body, as well as enhancing his strength, power and mobility on the pitch.

Take a look at what he says about functional training, his favourite speed and power exercises and his full workout!

Costa's top speed & power exercise: Reverse Lunge Knee-Up

This is my go-to exercise that I give my clients when I train this. It’s brilliant because we focus on power, balance, coordination and endurance in one - which is exactly what you need when trying to pass your opponents quickly. You need to control yourself when descending (focus on balance) and then make a controlled but fast movement coming up (focus on breathing, power and fluid movements). This type of muscle contraction is similar to the movement that you execute when ‘taking off’ and beating your opponent in a game. The more controlled and powerful you become in the exercise, the faster you will be on the pitch.

Douglas Costa's full workout:
Explosive & speed exercises

We all know that Costa has the speed and explosion of an absolute machine… so I’ve created a workout that will help you to become more explosive on the pitch. I have based this workout on the speed and power exercises that Costa already trains, however it is adapted to your level!

WORKOUT TIPS:

There are many areas of the game that we can improve - and the good thing is that power and speed is one of the areas that can be increased through simple but effective exercises, discipline and focus. Costa and I worked really hard for years on his power and speed and now the results speak for themselves!