Soccer is a sport that shares much in common with long distance (marathon) compared to other sports (ex: hockey and squash).

In a regular soccer game you will approximately have the ball at your feet in 2 minutes and approximately 35 minutes running where you will usually cover several miles.

Your endurance is therefore crucial if you want to have advantage on your opponents.

To increase your endurance you don’t need to run 10-15 miles a week, instead you need to focus on some elementary things:

Basic Tips for Endurance Training

The first thing you need to do is to build up your base. To build up a good base you will need at least six weeks during your off season.

Any aerobic activity will be fine for building your base. Some of the most common are cycling, jogging or swimming.

Set up Concrete Goals

Second, try to set up concrete goals for your soccer fitness. One way of doing this is to create an individual fitness test such as hill running.

This test should be increased in every week or so. You could for example try to run 200 meters like this:

1. First 50 m with 50 % of your max speed.

2. Second 50 m, with 100 % of your max speed.

3. Third 50 m, again with 50 % of max your speed.

4. And last 50 m with 100 % of your max speed.

Train for Your Recovery

Recovering quickly from high intensity bursts is the most important thing when talking about endurance.

One of the best ways to increase your recovering periods is through sprint workouts.

While practicing on sprinting you should try to shorten the duration of your recovery for each practice session.

You could, for example, run 7 x 20 meters then 5 x 40 m rest little and then run 4 x 70 m. Allow yourself to rest at least one minute between intervals.

Feed Your Muscles

Feed your muscles with quality fuel. Many soccer players don’t realize the advantage of fueling their muscles during trainings sessions and matches. Your most important fuel during your soccer practice and matches is water.

Some experts claim that sports drinks would give you some extra boost but my opinion is that water is still the best fluid in this context.

You need to drink a lot of water especially in hot and warm weather conditions. I would recommend you to drink at least 2 liters during the match day.

Simulate Game Conditions

Every practice should be equal to a regular match. What you do in your practice session will directly affect the way you play in a regular soccer match.

If you really want to become good at soccer you must see every practice like a cup final. This mean that you should work hard and do whatever your coach tells you to do.

Summary

Keep in mind that endurance is just part of your overall soccer training. But it doesn’t mean that you should not take endurance training seriously.

See it like an important part of your soccer education and take it for what it is – you have what it takes, you just have to trust in your training!