Two weeks ago we started a series on what makes a complete soccer player.

We determined that the best way to describe the complete soccer player was using the acronym FASTEST. This meant that the complete soccer player has the following attributes –

Fitness
Agility
Strength
Team Player
Excellent Ball Control
Shooting Skills
Tactically Sound

Today, we’re going to talk about fitness. To begin, when we say fitness, we mean cardiovascular fitness and endurance. We will talk about strength and agility in later posts.

Fitness training is not a lot of fun. The first thing we did in every high school practice was to go on a thirty minute run. No dribbling, no soccer drills, just…running. I HATED these runs, but looking back now, these runs allowed my team to succeed. Our state final game went into double overtime (120 minutes), and without this fitness training, we would not have been able to outlast the other team and win our school’s first ever state soccer championship. We won because we had the fitter players.

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard” – Tim Notke

Being fit can be looked at as the great equalizer. A player cannot choose the level of talent or athletic ability he or she is born with (though everyone can improve the skills they have). However, a player can choose HOW HARD THEY WILL WORK in preparation. The vast majority of the time, the player that is willing to outlast and out-fit everyone else can beat more talented players.

Here’s why –

The average professional soccer midfielder will run approximately 6 miles in a game. Now you’re probably not playing soccer at a professional level (if you are, thanks for reading!), and you may not be a midfielder, but it’s probably fair to assume that in a given outdoor soccer game on a full size field that the average player runs at least 2-3 miles. It doesn’t matter how many times you touch the ball or how many team drills you do, if you haven’t trained your body to be able to run for a complete game, all your other training is wasted. Many players try to get by on talent alone, so when the moment comes at the end of the game and they need that little burst of energy that comes from being fit, they don’t have it. This is when the player that has worked harder and trained harder wins the game.

Now that we determined that fitness is important, the next question is “What is the best way to improve our fitness?”

When beginning to work on your fitness, realize that change will not come overnight. Improving fitness will take months of consistent hard work. Just like with strength training and skill building, your body requires time to grow and develop as you get more fit. You must be willing to make a commitment to building your fitness over the course of weeks and months.

A great way to do this is to follow the steps we discussed in our “Getting in Shape After the Holidays” post. Since this is a post about fitness, not steps for setting goals, we will only post a summary of those steps. If you want more information on these steps, please visit getting in shape after the holidays.

Step 1 – Honestly assess your current level

This step is important so you can set realistic goals.

Step 2 – Determine your goals

A great way to set your goals would be to talk to your coach. You coach probably has an idea of what level of fitness you should be at to be a competitive player. If you are preparing for tryouts, ask the coach conducting the tryouts what you will be tested on and train accordingly.

Step 3 – Set milestones

Make sure you are keeping track of your progress so you know how close to your goals you are.

Step 4 – Set accountability

Talk to a coach, another team member, or a family member about helping to keep you accountable on your progress.

Here are a couple exercises you can do to work on your fitness

1. Timed mile run – There is no substitute for good old fashioned running. Time yourself and try to go just a little faster every time you run. A good way to measure a mile is by running laps around a high school track (4 laps = 1 mile), or if your soccer field is 100 yards by 60 yards, 5.5 laps around a soccer field is a mile.

2. Mile run while dribbling – Dribble a ball with you while you run. Practice different moves as you go (stepovers, scissors, roll & cut, etc)

3. Mile run with strength training – To work on your strength, stop every 1/4 of a mile and do pushups, situps or squats (1/4 of a mile is one lap on a high school track).

4. Mile run with stop for juggling – Run a mile, stopping approximately every ¼ mile to juggle for a few minutes – not only will this help with your fitness, it will get you used to handling the ball while tired. If you are going to do this, run your mile by doing laps around something rather than in a single straight line. This way you can leave your ball at a certain point on your path and keep an eye on it.

5. Juggling field lap – run a lap around the field while juggling. Try to keep the ball in the air as much as possible.

6. Suicide sprint – Start at the goal line – sprint to the 6 yard box, jog back, sprint to the 18 box, jog back, sprint to half field, jog back, sprint to the opposite 18 box, jog back, sprint to the opposite 6 yard box, jog back, sprint to the opposite goal line, jog back. If this is too easy, sprint the whole way.

7. Alternating speed dribbling lap – Dribble a ball around a soccer field – alternate jogging and sprinting along each side of the field.

8. Square drill – set up 4 cones 20 yards apart – Start off at one corner, backpedal to the next cone, then side shuffle to the next cone, then karaoke, then sprint to the final cone. Do 5 sets.

What kind of drills do you use to work on your fitness? Tell us below in the comments.