Soccer players are known for their strong and sized legs! This is normal since the sport is mainly based on using your lower side to score, pass, shoot, dribble, control, juggle, you name it …
… But also, there is another factor, a good chunk of gym workouts for soccer players is leg day, so they can keep their legs strong and fit as much as possible!
However, there are many questions surrounding that, especially whether you should practice soccer after your leg day or not.
In this Post, I breakdown these questions and much more ….
Can you play soccer after leg day?
Practicing soccer regularly is, obviously, a great way to become a better player! However, you will need a little bit more than that to perform even better, like being on the gym, exercise and pay attention to your nutrition.
When it comes to going to the gym, your leg day, is probably one of the most important workouts to do. Otherwise, you will significantly lack in power, fitness and become more vulnerable to muscle injuries!
But, should you play soccer right after your leg day? No, you should not! Indeed, the best range is anywhere from 48 to 72 hours between the two.
Otherwise, this will lead you to fatigue during soccer practicing or even during games!
Your muscle needs to rest!
It also needs to rehydrate and get the metabolism work at the normal level asap.
Remember, that after working out your legs, your muscle cells and fibers gets destroyed! So you need a good nutrition rich in vitamins and proteins plus drinking a lot of water to allow you muscles to recover and be fit enough for your next game or drills.
Important Side Note: If you are a soccer beginner or amateur and would like to improve your soccer skills, then I strongly recommend to use soccer shoes with decent Quality and reliable Grip to perform at the best of your abilities. You can have a quick look at these quality soccer cleats to get an idea!
Is leg day bad for soccer in general?
Absolutely not! Just have a look at professional players in the best leagues in the world …
…They simply do all different types of workouts that will make their leg stronger. However, these are the cases where this could impact your soccer playing abilities:
- If you are new to soccer, then you probably should avoid too much workout before practicing. At those early stages, you lower body is just not used to the soccer movements that involves lot of running, accelerations, directions changes, shooting the ball with power and jumping as high as possible. If your muscles are tired from a workout day, then you won’t’ be able to make it.
- If you are not used to gym workouts, then I invite you to avoid playing soccer for a while until you feel strong enough! This should take you a couple of weeks to get to that point.
- One more case is when you’ve got a sort of injury. Maybe a bad knee or muscle injury … In this case, instead of working out before a soccer game, you probably should more focus on rest and recovery. This will be more helpful for you.
Does training your legs improve your attributes as a player?
Yes it does, training your legs properly will improve many attributes of you as a player! These include:
- Less vulnerability to injuries: The biggest nightmare of most soccer players are injuries! Indeed, some injuries could put you out of the sports for many weeks or even several months if it is a severe one! Most of the injuries happen on the lower part of your body. So, training this part properly will strengthens it and make you less vulnerable. Thus, you will get the chance to practice soccer consistently. And consistency will make you overall a better player.
- Stamina & Endurance: These are very important attributes that make or break soccer players! In fact, soccer games last up to 90 minutes and requires a lot of endurance, everything being almost equal the team that has the most endurance will outwork the opposite one. Strong legs dues to gym workout and running on the treadmill … will give you these abilities!
- Weights: Most of our body weight is carried on out low part! Obviously for playing soccer you do not want to be overweight, but you do not want to be underweight either! Otherwise, you will be out powered but stronger players especially if you will be playing on the defense. Having strong and sized legs will help you carry enough weight that should give you enough strength.
- Shooting power: Roberto Carlos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale are all known for their tremendous power shooting abilities … Have a look at their legs! They are very strong! This translates in powerful shots, thus more goals!
- High Jumping: Jumping is an important part of the sports! This will allow you to score more headers and defend more attacks coming from corners and free kicks! Stronger legs will allow you to persist more in the air and jump higher.
Does leg day help your recovery after a soccer game?
Yes it could help if done properly! I don’t advise you to do squatting at all, this would extend your recovery and won’t help …
… Instead, you would want to do some running or cycling if possible!
Don’t do much of it! If you choose to go for the running part, don’t do more than 3 miles per day! Anything more than that won’t be helpful.
Aqua gym on the other hand would be really helpful! Training your legs in the pool will be extremely helpful and will fasten your recovery speed tremendously.
Conclusion
Hope this article has answered most of your questions when it comes to playing soccer and combining it with a good workout based mainly on your leg day …
… Just remember this, you can work on the gym as much as you would like as far as this won’t deteriorate your abilities to perform better on the soccer field!
In the end, I strongly invite you to learn about these solid practices to lose weight with soccer! You will find it really interesting …