Surely if we talk about football and the importance of the muscles in it, almost everyone could think first of the musculature of our lower train as a key point, but this is not entirely true. Despite being a sport in which the lower train predominates, the musculature of our upper body and, above all, our core, are equally important when it comes to having a good performance in games with friends.

Lower train exercises

Dead weight

One of the best exercises we can incorporate into our routine to improve performance in Sunday games is the deadweight. Although the power in stroke and hitting of the ball is generated mainly with the muscles of the quadriceps, the hamstring or femoral musculature is extremely important, since it is usually unbalanced in relation to the front of our legs.

The isquisoural musculature will be of great importance in deceleration movements such as braking in a sprint or hitting the ball, so we must strengthen this area if we do not want to suffer a painful breakage of fibers .

 Squats

The classic exercise par excellence to gain strength, speed and power in the lower train . As we have mentioned on some occasion, the strength is the physical quality from which we will be able to improve the rest of the qualities , so that building a strong and powerful bottom train in the gym will undoubtedly give us a better performance in the party on Sundays.

In addition, the stronger our legs are, the more resistant they will be to fatigueand the blows we can receive, thus reducing the risk of injury from direct trauma.

 Strides

In addition to being an exercise that will allow us to gain strength and power , the strides will allow us to work also with a certain degree of instability , so they will have a direct impact on all the stabilizing muscles , especially in our gluteus medius. This will represent considerable benefits when we receive a load or a push, since it will be more difficult to throw ourselves to the ground or lose vertical position.

 Plyometric jumps to the drawer

Obviously, in a football game we are going to have to jump, so the more jumping power we have, the greater our jumps and the greater advantage we will havewhen trying to head or clear a ball.

With the plyometric jumps to the drawer, we work both the jumping power and the fall (which is almost as important or more than the jump itself, since if we do not know how to fall we have a good chance of getting hurt).

Strengthening twins

At the time of running, one of the muscles in which less people think is in the twins, and this, in a sport in which we are almost all the time running can be a mistake that ends up leading to an injury .

Although with the plyometric jumps to the drawer we will already be working our twins, incorporating classic exercises such as the elevations of twins to our routine will help us build strong and resistant cufflinks .

Abdominal work

The abdominal muscles will be of great help when making changes of direction, fighting for a ball shoulder to shoulder, in the ball shots, in the jumps … And therefore work and strengthen this area will be a good form of, in addition to preventing injuries by having a weak core , improve our performance.

We have also commented on more than one occasion that the main function of the abdominal muscles is to stop movements instead of generating them , so in a sport in which the changes of direction, turns, bumps or falls are constant , a strong core will help us facilitate the coping with all kinds of movements.

Irons

The plates are one of the basic exercises to strengthen and strengthen the core musculature . We can do them both in a stable way (supported directly on the ground or any other “fixed” surface) or by incorporating an element that generates instability such as a bosu or a fitball .

Ideally, for us to be able to deal with any “unforeseen” during the game is that we work both with and without instability, because this way we will achieve a global and compensated work .

Press pallof

This exercise, whose main objective is the work of the obliques, will help us to improve the core musculature that intervenes in the turns and changes of direction, avoiding possible injuries by a pull or by having that part of the musculature weak.

Core work on unstable surface

As we just mentioned above, the work of core on unstable surfaces helps us improve, in addition to the muscles, our balance before unbalanced movements that may take place in the game as strokes, trips or shoves.

In addition, generally the core work performed on unstable surfaces will force us to work equally with the upper train (as for example in the case of making a frontal plate with bosu and our arms resting on the bosu) and the lower train (in case of supporting our feet on the bosu instead of the arms).

Abdominals with core sliders

The core sliders are a very useful accessory to work dynamically our abdominal muscles , so they will give us a multitude of exercises to prevent it from becoming boring.

In addition, because the core work we will do with movement, we will also incorporate some cardiovascular work (exercises such as the climber or the plank jacks are going to raise the pulsations quite a lot), with which we increase the benefits of these exercises beyond the core musculature.

 Upper train exercises

In football, the upper train is just as important as the lower train , since changes in pace, sprints, braking or jumping are constant, and we need “elements” to help us maintain balance (apart from our musculature).

If you look at a soccer player when he jumps, they never do it with their arms attached to their bodies. When they turn, they never do it with their arms still. Or when they run, they do not do it with their arms still. The arms are a stabilizing element that gives us a certain “aerodynamic” at the time of jumping or running , so we must also work in the gym. In addition, they will be one of the main victims when we fall to the ground, so a strong muscle will absorb the impact better than a weak one .

 Exercises for shoulders

Before a blow or fall playing football, the shoulders are one of the points of our anatomy that are most exposed to injuries from direct trauma , especially in the rotator cuff , so it is very important to strengthen this area as best as possible .

One of the best ways to work is through the use of elastic bands to perform abduction / adduction movements and exercises such as the military press, side elevations or birds and face pull (these last two exercises especially indicated to work the posterior head deltoid, which is usually weaker than the front and side).

Backgrounds for triceps

It may seem silly, but having a strong triceps can make a big difference when we talk about football , especially if we want to get good throw-ins: if you notice, the movement made by players to take off the band is exactly the same as when we made an extension of triceps in high pulley above the head.

 Dominated

The dominated will allow us, in addition to showing a strong torso, gain strength and power throughout the upper body , so we will gain stability and balanceand improve performance in actions such as a shoulder to shoulder load or when we want to protect a ball from behind Unlike.

Push-ups

Something similar to the dominated happens with the push-ups, since they are one of the exercises that more strength and power will allow us to win in our upper body . In addition, if we choose to perform the push-ups on an unstable surface such as a bosu, we will also work on the stabilizing part of our shoulders and we will add a good load of abdominal work , so we will multiply the benefits of this exercise.