I know what you’re thinking.
Soccer is all legs. You kick. You run. You jump. You shoot. All legs, right?!
Most girls soccer players have this mindset. They believe they need to be all quads, hamstrings, and glutes, and only train these in the gym. While the lower body must be strong for injury resiliency, speed, and explosiveness, the upper body must be equally as strong.
The truth is, the human body is connected.
When you sprint down the field at full speed, your legs and arms must work in coordination with one another so you can run your fastest. Sprinting is one of the most extreme things the human body does, so the arms and legs must work together to produce force into the ground.
If you aren’t training upper body strength, you’re holding your speed potential back. Weak arms and a weak core ruin your sprinting posture,, mechanics, rapid arm movement and force production.
If you look at the world’s fastest sprinters, they have jacked upper bodies. They have the muscle mass all over to be powerful with their stride all the way from their legs to their arm action. You can’t go wrong getting strong.
Strength also improves agility, so your ability to cut, change direction, and explode.
A weak upper body destroys your agility. If you can’t stabilize your core, and your trunk and arms are flailing like a tree, it’s going to be very hard for you to change direction quickly. The most agile athletes have control of their bodies, and their all-over muscle mass allows them to move efficiently.
Final question: why would you want to be all legs? Why would you only want your muscle mass distributed to your legs? You definitely don’t want fat mass to outweigh muscle mass on your arms because you won’t be as powerful. You also are less likely to shield and hold off defenders with a weak body composition in your upper body. You want to be strong everywhere so you’re can withstand hard contact.
Heck, you bolt out of every tackle like a boss!
Expanding on this, upper body strength gives you confidence. You step onto the field with your shoulders back. Your posture is tall and strong. You’re confident in your ability to go against that bigger opponent. You don’t fear tackles or 50/50 balls. You know you can do a pull-up (or several!) and your ready crush it on the field because you know you can handle any challenge.
As a strength coach, I’ve seen the most shy, insecure, weak and timid girls eventually become confident queens because they eventually got their first pull up (or more!) in the gym. It’s amazing what upper body strength does for the mindset of girls soccer players.
So don’t be all legs. Be legs and upper. Be the complete, confident and robust soccer player you can be! You can’t go wrong getting strong.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Mulholland is a former college 3x All-American soccer player and now Hall of Famer from Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Master of Science in Exercise Science and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, who has been helping female athletes of all sports with speed, agility, strength, power, and conditioning for 14 years. She is also the author of the best-selling book Female Athlete High Performance.
Work with Erica in Lutz Florida for speed, agility, and strength training: BOOK ASSESSMENT HERE
Work with Erica remotely: BOOK CONSULT HERE
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