.png)
As you move up in the football ladder, you will encounter opponents who are faster, stronger, bigger, and more powerful than you.
Whether you're making that jump in an age group, or you're making the jump from a lower division to a higher division; Players who play at higher levels will have a higher muscle mass index, and generally be able to produce more power, than players in lower divisions.
If you're looking to move up to a higher league or level than what you're currently at, then you must invest your time not only improving the technical side of football, but also your strength and athleticism as well.
I've made this point several times in my past blog posts, but if you are not at the best level you can be at athletically, your performance will suffer when you go out there on the pitch.
Leg Strength is very important in football. Not only because it is directly connected with your force and power output, but also because it helps reduce the risk of injury, as well as aid your functional performance when competing.
In this blog post, you will see 10 unique lower body exercises that help you build leg muscles, lower body strength, and power output.
1) Back Squats
The back squat is an excellent compound exercise to help build raw strength, and power in athletes.
The back squat targets many of the major muscle groups in the lower body, such as the glutes, quads, and hamstrings, as well as challenging your core.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart, and they're pointed forward or slightly out.
Brace your core, and make sure you're keeping your back straight throughout the motion.
Hinge the hip backs until your torso is at a 60-degree angle.
Drop your hips until your hamstrings creates a 90-degree angle with the back of your knee. If you can, try and go a little lower to improve your mobility and strength!
Using your major leg muscles, (i.e glutes, quads, hamstrings) explode back up into a standing position.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom of the article for sets and reps!
2) Trap Bar Deadlifts
The trap bar deadlift is an excellent compound exercise that helps with developing lower body strength and explosive power.
This exercise heavily works the entire posterior chain, as well as the quads.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Get into a hinge position, which means driving your hips back, and bringing your torso into a leaning position.
Grip the handles of the trap bar, and tighten your core, and create length through your back.
Using your glutes and hamstrings, push the ground away from you with power, making sure to keep your back straight.
Bring your hips back to their neutral position.
Slowly lower the weight down by once again hinging at the hips, and creating length in your posterior chain.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
3) Romanian Deadlifts
The Romanian deadlift is another great compound exercise that is very similar to the trap bar deadlift, however it is less quad-dominant.
This exercise works your posterior chain the most, as well as your lower back and core muscles.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Have your feet under the barbell, with the barbell just over your midfoot.
Your feet should be slightly narrower than shoulder width.
Similar to the trap-bar deadlift, get into a hinge position, and grab the barbell with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width.
Using your posterior chain (NOT YOUR LOWER BACK), push the ground away from you, making sure to keep your core braced and your back straight throughout the movement.
To bring the weight back down, slowly hinge at the hips until you're back in the hinge position. You should feel a nice stretch in your hamstring. (although the higher in weight you go, this might be a little more dangerous, so practice this with caution).
Once the bar is at about your shins, explode back up.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
4) Single Leg Romanian Deadlift
This next exercise is very similar to your typical Romanian deadlift, except this time we're focusing a lot more on unilateral strength, power, and stability, which is essential for functional movement as an athlete.
Just like the Romanian deadlift, the single leg Romanian deadlift works your entire posterior chain, as well as your lower back and core. The SL RDL also works the smaller stabilizer muscles in your lower body and trunk too, which is essential for injury prevention.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Grab a reasonable weight, preferably a kettlebell or dumbbell.
Hold the weight with the opposite hand of your working leg, then find balance on one foot to prepare for the movement.
Hinge at the hips, making sure to lengthen the hamstring and the entire posterior chain as you bring the weight down to about your shins. Your back should be straight and your core should be braced. Your other leg should go up and be kept square in order to recruit the hamstrings more.
To bring the weight back up, push the ground away from you with your foot, and bring your hips back by contracting the entire posterior chain, particularly your glutes.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
5) Reverse Lunges
The reverse lunge, or split squat, is another great unilateral exercise to develop your functional and raw strength, as well as improving your stability and single leg power.
The split squat primarily works the same muscles as your typical squat, such as the quads, glutes, and hamstrings, however, there is a lot more emphasis to your quad.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Find some weight, this can be in the form of a barbell over your shoulders, a dumbbell being held in each hand, or a single dumbbell being held in one hand for an extra challenge on your stability and core strength,
Hinge at the hips until your torso is at 60-degrees. Your back should be straight, and your core should be braced.
Lower your hip and put all the weight onto the quads and hip muscles, with your other leg following behind you. There should be no weight on the other leg, all the tension should be on the working leg.
Push the ground away from you using your quads and hip muscles, making sure to keep your back and core straight and braced.
Stand back up into a normal stance.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
6) Single Leg Box Squats
Another great unilateral strength exercise that will bring many benefits to your athleticism, is single leg box squats.
Like the normal squat, the single leg box squat works on your major lower body muscle groups like your glutes, hamstrings and quads. However, one thing that the single leg box squat works on that the normal squat doesn't is your stability and ability to exert power from one leg.
This exercise will help improve your jumping, your acceleration, and your change of direction since it is working on being able to exert maximum force output through one leg.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Start off by standing tall on one leg, and make sure you're holding a dumbbell and kettlebell up to around your chest and chin.
Slowly hinge the hips back until your torso is slightly leaning forward, then begin to lower down, making sure to put all the weight onto the quad and glutes muscles. Your core and lower back should be braced and straight when performing this exercise.
Lower down until your hips reach the chair or bench that you're using for this exercise.
As soon as you reach the chair, push the ground away from you, and stand tall once again.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
7) Swiss Ball Hamstring Curls
This exercise is an excellent exercise to work on your hamstring strength, and is excellent for preventing injuries.
This exercise works your hamstrings by focusing on contracting the muscles during the concentric portion (which is the part where you bring the ball in), and lengthening the muscles in the eccentric portion (which is the part where you roll the ball out).
For an extra challenge, try holding the isometric phase as your hamstrings are contracting in order to further bring tension and stress onto the hamstring muscles.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Place both heels on top of the ball, with your back flat on the floor, and your legs straight.
Dig your heels into the ball, and brace your core to find balance. Bring your butt off the floor and have your hands at your sides.
Once your butt is elevated, activate your glutes and bring the ball in towards your butt by contracting your hamstring muscles.
Make sure that you're body is in a straight line as you roll the ball in.
At the top of the movement, hold the isometric for a few extra seconds for an extra challenge, then slowly roll the ball out by lengthening your contracted hamstrings.
Roll the ball out until your legs are straight again, then lower your butt down.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for reps and sets!
8) Bulgarian Split Squats
The Bulgarian split squat is one of the best lower body strength exercises you can do as an athlete. It works on many different aspects of your athleticism such as stability, functional strength, and your power and explosiveness.
Similar to the squat and reverse lunge, the Bulgarian split squat, works your quads, glutes, and hamstrings, and works your entire hip as a whole.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Elevate your back foot onto a stable surface such as a chair, bench, or platform. Then find balance on your standing leg, making sure to have enough space to reach full range of motion during the exercise.
Brace your core, and slowly hinge your hips back until your torso is slightly leaning forward. This is to incorporate more of the hip muscles in your leg and to avoid placing any weight on your back foot.
Bring your hips down until you've created a 90-degree angle with your knee.
Explode back up by pushing into the ground using your quad and hip muscles.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
9) Lateral Lunges
Another great exercise for footballers is the lateral lunge. The reason why this exercise is excellent for all athletes is because it develop functional strength while putting all your weight on one side, while also helping develop your lateral strength and power.
This exercise is a compound exercise that works on all the major muscle groups, such as your quads, glutes, and hamstrings, as well as your inner muscles as well, like your groins and knee muscles.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Plant your feet wider than shoulder width. You're going to want to make sure you extend them almost as much as you can. Trust me when I say that you're going to need more space thank you think.
Slowly hinge your hips back until your torso is leaning forward at a 60-degree angle, brace your core and keep your back straight as you perform the exercise.
Drop your hips towards one side of your body, making sure to create a 90-degree angle with your knee. Your knee should not be past your toes, your lower limb should be as straight as possible.
Push the ground away from you, making sure to engage the entire leg, and return back to your starting position.
Repeat.
Scroll to the bottom for sets and reps!
10) Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is one of the most common (yet also one of the most effective) exercises to build lower strength in your posterior chain.
This exercise is heavily geared towards beginners, but athletes who are more advanced with this exercise can increase the difficulty by adding resistance using weights, as seen in exercises as your typical barbell hip thrusts, with resistance bands, or doing the exercise unilaterally as opposed to bilaterally.
You can also make this exercise more challenging by holding the isometric phase as the hamstrings are contracted, slowly lower in the eccentric, and explode in the concentric to really work that hamstring muscle. Playing with the elevation is also an excellent way to further challenge the posterior chain.
To perform this exercise, follow these steps:
Lay flat on your back, with your heels just barely touching your butt.
Brace your core, and flex your glutes. This will make sure that your lower back isn't overcompensating.
Push the ground away from you using your posterior chain, making sure to contract the hamstrings, until your torso and hips form a straight, diagonal line.
If it is in your practice, hold the isometric phase for a few seconds, making sure to really squeeze the glutes and the hamstring, then slowly lower down.
Repeat.
How Many Sets and Reps Should I Do?
The reason why I didn't include sets and reps when listing the exercises, is because depending on your goals, the volume you will need to do will differ.
If you're looking to build raw strength and power, you will need to gear your reps in the lower end, around 3-6 reps, and anywhere from 2-6 sets. It's more beneficial to go heavy and low when training for raw strength and power.
If you're looking to build more muscle as opposed to strength and power alone, then you will need to stay around 7-12 reps, and anywhere from 2-4 sets. The weight should be heavy, but not too heavy that you won't be able to complete the reps with good form. The goal of hypertrophy is to break down muscle tissue through muscular tension.
If you're looking to build muscular endurance and be able to produce strength and power while fatigued, then you will need to do over 13 reps, and sets are up to how much intensity you want in your workout.
I hope this article helps you structure your lower body workouts to be more effective for you as a player. Remember that you're going to the gym to train like an athlete, and not a bodybuilder, so choosing the right exercises will help elevate your performance on the pitch.
Thanks for Reading! Alex from GoGrind Soccer Signing off...
Get Up. Go GRIND.
Comments