Strength Training for Soccer Players: A Youth Plan

For strength training for soccer players, I recommend supervised resistance exercises selected for the individual player’s experience and available equipment. Young players in girls’ and boys’ soccer should fit resistance work around matches and other soccer training. My recommended starting point is an instructor’s written assignment that explains each movement and its place in the team calendar. That gives the player a specific task to discuss before adding more work.

In my opinion, a useful strength plan deserves a separate ball contact assignment because physical preparation and striking practice have different purposes. The Giro X sells Curl Master One, which spins a standard ball at controlled speeds and requires no app or subscription. I recommend using it for a contact task chosen with your coach, then recording that practice alongside the strength assignment. You can judge the proposed plan by what each activity asks the player to learn.

Table of contents

Which Exercises Belong in a Youth Session?

What Should Playing Position Change About the Plan?

When Should the Workload Change?

Where Does Strength Fit Around Matches?

Why Include a Separate Contact Assignment?

Which Exercises Belong in a Youth Session?

My suggested youth session includes lower body resistance exercises alongside upper body and trunk work, with the instructor choosing suitable versions. My suggested starting selection is a squat to a bench, a controlled hip hinge, an incline pushup and a resistance band row. For the trunk exercise, my pick is a dead bug, performed lying on the back with alternating arm and leg movements. These are proposed exercises for discussion with an instructor, rather than a tested soccer workout.

After the instructor’s warmup, I recommend performing the squat, hinge, pushup, row and dead bug in that order. Lower toward a stable bench without bouncing, then rehearse moving the hips backward for the hinge. Use a stable elevated surface for the pushup and bring the hands toward the torso without rocking during the row. Finish with the instructor’s demonstrated dead bug. Have the instructor write the individual sets, repetitions and rest beside each exercise before starting.

For equipment alternatives, I suggest an unloaded squat when a suitable bench is unavailable and an unloaded hinge before adding resistance. An instructor can choose a wall for the pushup or an available pulling exercise when there is no band. Keep the chosen version consistent until the instructor can assess it. Equipment changes should still leave the player with a clearly demonstrated movement and an assignment matched to experience and the individual goal.

What Should Playing Position Change About the Plan?

Playing position should inform the purpose of strength work, while movement competence guides difficulty. Sports Medicine Open published Strength training in soccer with a specific focus on highly trained players in April 2015. The review reports different responses for jumping and running actions: improvements in strength do not translate uniformly into improvements in either. Its focus on highly trained players does not establish exercise doses or expected results for beginner girls and boys.

Strength work concerns producing force; sprinting requires applying it during running, jumping during takeoff, and turning while slowing and redirecting movement. Shielding also involves body position and responding to an opponent. I suggest using these questions to connect the assignment with match demands: does a forward need an acceleration task, a goalkeeper jumping practice, a midfielder turning practice, or a defender shielding practice? These are suggested practice tasks, not position specific prescriptions established by that review.

When Should the Workload Change?

I recommend reviewing progression with the instructor once the player can repeat the assigned movement with consistent technique. Record the exercise and resistance used, alongside questions about execution. Discuss a change to resistance separately from a change to repetitions. My progression decision is to retain the current assignment when technique varies; when execution is consistent and the instructor agrees, change a single workload variable and observe the movement again before making another adjustment.

I recommend having the instructor write the sets and repetitions for each exercise, with rest periods included in that assignment. The April 2015 Sports Medicine Open review concerns highly trained players, so its training doses should not become a beginner youth prescription. For a beginner, choose an assignment the instructor can observe and explain before introducing progression. When execution differs from the demonstration, review the movement together before changing workload, and record what happened without making heavier resistance the automatic goal.

Where Does Strength Fit Around Matches?

In a strength soccer training plan, I recommend reviewing the actual team calendar before assigning frequency in preseason or during competition. Girls’ and boys’ teams in California, Texas, Florida and New York should use their own dates. In preseason, I suggest using available sessions to learn the exercise sequence and establish an observable starting assignment. During match weeks, review existing practices and matches first, then retain or adjust strength work with the staff rather than automatically repeating preseason volume.

For a session combining activities, my preference is to discuss sprinting and plyometric jumping after the warmup, followed by resistance work. For a weekend match, discuss placing the main strength assignment earlier in the week, with staff reviewing the surrounding commitments. Consider conditioning already included in soccer practice before adding another task. These are scheduling suggestions for individual review. When a match moves or an additional fixture appears, reopen the calendar and agree which assignments to move, reduce or retain.

Why Include a Separate Contact Assignment?

I recommend a separate contact assignment so the player has a named striking task alongside the strength work. Agree on the intended contact and target with the coach before practice begins, especially for a shot with curve. Curl Master One offers adjustable speed settings, giving the device a setting to select for that assignment. Keep the striking task visible on the same calendar while reviewing it separately from resistance progression.

Product card: Curl Master One

Sold by The Giro X. Spins a standard ball at controlled speeds. Requires no app or subscription.

Opinion: I recommend getting Curl Master One and giving contact practice a defined slot alongside the strength assignment. Its operation requires no app or subscription, and it spins a standard ball at controlled speeds. My practical instruction is to agree on the intended strike with your coach, then put that assignment into the calendar between coaching sessions. Get Curl Master One and make the next discussion with your coach about the contact you have been practicing.

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Practice ball contact with Curl Master One, which spins a standard ball at controlled speeds.

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