Soccer Conditioning Drills

Soccer Conditioning Drills

Moving on from the build-up of your arms and legs, you are also going to want to ensure that your body is receiving a full cardiovascular workout on a regular basis in order to help the body to receive and process oxygen through its various systems as efficiently as possible during periods of high activity. The good news is that there are numerous activities in which you can participate that are considered to be primarily cardiovascular in nature and are extremely enjoyable; in fact, for many of them you do not even have to tell your mind that it is exercising!

Before we get to the list, however, let us briefly touch on precisely how often you should give your body a cardiovascular workout, simply because once you read down through the list you are probably going to be wondering to yourself exactly why it is that a special section should be made just for cardio- workouts. Quite simply put, although running every day will provide an adequate workout your body will quickly become bored with the activity, and it will cease to have such a strong effect on the systems. If you were attempting to lose weight this would result in a decreased number of calories being burned; since you are attempting to shore up your cardiovascular system the end result is that the
system eventually reaches equilibrium, the point at which the exercise no longer has any effect on it. 

Since you want your cardiovascular system to continue to grow in efficiency you need to stir the pot up a little bit by throwing in an extra half hour of exercise three days a week on top of running on a daily basis. Remember, you don’t just want to be fit enough to play soccer, you want to be fit enough to play soccer well.

• Cardiovascular exercises recommended for athletes by physicians are: 
• Running/jogging
• Walking
• Swimming (this will provide you with a fabulous full body workout, helping to tone the muscles in the arms and legs as well as build up cardiovascular strength)
• Riding a bike (this is strongly recommended in conjunction with regular training runs for cross-country and triathlon athletes, as it serves to build up the thigh and calf muscles)
• Horseback riding
• Skiing
• Playing a sport (such as soccer, basketball or tennis)
• Skating (either ice or roller)
• Aerobics
• Dancing
• Karate
• Yoga
• Jumping rope
• Jumping on a trampoline Rowing
• Stair climbing

Anything else you do that causes your heart rate to rise!

You do not necessarily have to stick to this list; this is just to get you started. As a general rule, if there is any activity that you do that causes your heart rate to rise and you to break a sweat it is probably cardiovascular in nature and will have a positive effect on your system, resulting in increased efficiency and a higher level of fitness. 



I got all of my conditioning drills from this ebook. I was lost without it. It's cheap and easy to keep with you like I did on my Ipad for quick reference. Click here to download it now.

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