Blog 3: Everything Soccer
Part 3: Building A Strong Soccer Body: Strength, Mobility and the Work That Keeps You on the Pitch
Welcome back to Everything Soccer. Part 1 covered the injuries; hamstring strains, groin issues, ankle sprains, knee problems, and shin pain. Part 2 explained the physical demands behind those injuries and why fatigue and load are the common drivers. Now we get into what to do about it. The activation work, strength training, and mobility habits that build a soccer body that holds up through a full season.
Most soccer players train their soccer. Very few train their body for what soccer asks of it. That gap is where most injuries live.
Activation Before Every Session
As we covered in our Activate Before You Train series, the glutes and hip stabilizers switch off with prolonged sitting and are chronically underactive in athletes who do not deliberately wake them up before training. For soccer players this matters enormously because the hip complex is central to every movement the sport demands.
A five to eight minute activation routine before every training session and match:
Hip Hikes:
12 per side on a step or curb. Establishes pelvic stability and glute medius activation before any lateral or single-leg loading begins. This is your pelvic control checkpoint before every session.
Standing Fire Hydrants:
12 per side. Wakes up the deep hip rotators and glute medius in a standing position that mirrors the cutting and change of direction mechanics of soccer.
Alternating Glute Bridges:
10 per side. Trains the rapid on-off glute firing that mirrors the running stride. This is the most directly sport-specific activation movement in this routine for soccer players.
Lateral Walks (monster walks):
12 steps each direction with a light band. Loads the glute medius under continuous tension in a functional standing position before the lateral demands of training begin.
Strength Priorities for Soccer Players
These are the areas where strength training delivers the highest injury prevention and performance return:
Hamstring Eccentric Strength:
The single most important strength target in soccer. Nordic hamstring curls have one of the strongest evidence bases in all of sports medicine for reducing hamstring injury rates. A systematic review found that regular Nordic curl training reduced hamstring injury incidence by 51% in soccer players. If you are a soccer player doing one strength exercise, this is it.
Hip and Glute Stability:
Single-leg squats, hip thrusts, and lateral step-ups build the unilateral hip strength that protects the knee, groin, and lower back through cutting, striking, and landing. The ability to absorb and control force on one leg is foundational to soccer performance.
Adductor Strength:
The Copenhagen plank and its progressions build adductor strength in the eccentric range most relevant to kicking and stride recovery mechanics. Research specifically in soccer players found significant reductions in groin injury rates with Copenhagen plank training.
Ankle Strength and Proprioception:
Single-leg balance progressions and calf loading build the stability that protects against ankle sprains and supports change of direction demands.
Landing Mechanics:
Learning to land with the knee tracking over the toes, the hip loaded, and the trunk upright is one of the most important injury prevention skills in soccer. Box landings, jump progressions, and deceleration drills train the neuromuscular control that reduces ACL and patellar tendinopathy risk.
Mobility Work for Soccer Players
The mobility targets that matter most:
Hip flexor length: soccer players spend significant time with the hip in a flexed position during kicking and running. Chronically tight hip flexors alter pelvic position, inhibit the glutes, and load the lumbar spine. Daily hip flexor mobilization is non-negotiable.
Hip internal and external rotation: the cutting and kicking demands of soccer require full rotation in both directions. Restriction drives compensatory lumbar movement and groin loading.
Ankle dorsiflexion: restricted ankle mobility changes ground contact mechanics, increases Achilles load, and reduces the body's ability to absorb force through the lower limb. Address this before every session.
Thoracic rotation: the trunk rotation involved in striking and shielding requires adequate mid-back mobility. When the thoracic spine is restricted, the lumbar spine and hip compensate.
The FIFA 11 Plus: Built Specifically for Soccer
For youth players and their coaches, the FIFA 11 Plus programme deserves a specific mention. It is a 20 minute structured warm-up protocol developed specifically for soccer that includes running exercises, strength work, balance training, and landing mechanics. A landmark study found it reduced overall injury rates by 30 to 50% in youth and amateur soccer players. It is free, evidence-based, and takes 20 minutes before training. There is very little else available with that level of evidence behind it.
Up Next: Training Smart Through a Long Season
You have the tools to build a soccer body. Part 4 of Everything Soccer covers how to manage the season intelligently. Load across tournament weekends, back-to-back games, and long competitive periods, so you are not just surviving the season but finishing it strong. See you there.
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Want a strength and prehab plan built specifically around soccer and your individual movement patterns? I work with players at every level to build the physical foundation that keeps them on the pitch. Reach out to book an assessment with Dr. Keirstyn at Endurance Therapeutics.
📍 Endurance Therapeutics | Oakville, Ontario
📞 905-288-7161