A warm up is the most important part of your training session or game and it should start slowly while gradually involve all your muscles in order to prepare them for the physical effort.

Soccer is an active and physically demanding sport. The importance of warming up properly prior to your game cannot be overemphasized.

The risk of getting injured is greatly reduced by increasing your overall muscle elasticity.

You need to always be on your toes and capable to work at 100 percent directly for the kick off. In soccer, there are 3 main types of warm ups…

Passive Warm Up

This warm up type includes massages, steam baths, hot showers etc. My experience is that the most common passive warm up is massage.

You will not see this type of warm up so often in amateur teams. But in professional soccer this is a must. However, if your team can afford a masseuse then you are very lucky!

My experience is that there is nothing better than getting a real massage before a game. You will feel like a newborn and be in great shape for the game.

General Warm Up

This type of warm up will increase your overall body temperature. This is achieved by moving most of your major muscle groups that are associated with playing soccer.

This warm up is great after a massage 🙂 You need to keep in mind that you are actually not warming up physically with a passive warm up.

What you are doing is to soften your muscles to make them ready for the general warm up.

Specific Warm Up

This warming up type concentrates on the positions of your body that will be used for the upcoming activity.

For example, stretching your legs to prepare for a shooting exercise would be part of the specific warm up category.

This one is good if you have recently made come back from an injury and need to stretch properly to avoid getting injured again.

Summary

My experience is that soccer players don’t willingly stand and stretch their legs, thighs etc.

They will do everything to avoid anything related to soccer fitness as soon the coach turns his or her back on them, they will directly start to kick a ball.

You should try to avoid doing this because warming up properly will surely increase your performance on the field.

Yes, I know that warming up is boring but trust me; you must do it no matter what!