Best Warm-Ups Before Soccer Practice

Warming up before a soccer competition is something that everyone should do not matter how old, but it becomes more important the older you become. It can prevent you from getting unnecessary injuries by warming the muscle up properly before you start doing strenuous activity. A good warm up starts off slow and builds up to game ready activity with added moving stretches in between stretching all the large muscles groups, especially the lower legs. The warm up should last for about 15 to 20 minutes, after which there should be game related activity which lasts about 20-25 minutes ending with some shooting or long passing, which will stretch the muscles fully.

I would recommend starting the warm-up phase by setting up cones about 20 yards apart. You should start with a light jog 20 yards back and forth 2 or 3 times. Butt kicks can be done after the jog, butt kicks to the cone and then high knees coming back. Next you should do quadriceps stretches by walking to the cones and using your hands to pull your foot towards your butt. Hamstring stretches can be done next by pulling your knees to your chest walking side lunges can be done next to stretch the lateral muscles of the leg.

To stretch the medical muscles of the leg, you can turn your leg to the side in a figure four portion and pull it up to your chest. The next stretching exercise that can be done is front kicks while walking towards the cone and coming back the other direction kicking behind you. After the dynamic stretching is done, you should do agility exercises. This is to get more ready for game time activity. The first thing that can be done is jogging a little bit and doing air "headers" in between. Carioca can be done in one direction to the cone and the other direction going back.

Next, sprint at a 50% pace, then 70%, and lastly 100%.

The best pre-workout is one that gets your muscles warm and helps you to break a sweat. Getting your heart rate going before exercise is also good before jumping into strenuous activity. After your body is warm and your heart rate is going doing, a possession drill for about 20 minutes and getting yourself ready by touching the ball and moving is the next step to prepare you before the game. This step helps get you ready for game-like activity without having to run the distance of the field.

A shooting drill before the game can also be good for the forwards and the midfielders of the team to get comfortable with their shot before game time, and the defenders can kick long balls to each other before the game for their end of warm up activity.

Warming up is essential before playing soccer so that you will not pull any muscles and not risk any other injuries. Working in steps from getting your heart rate going from jogging to dynamic stretches to sprinting will get you prepared to move on to the possession part of the warm up, which works on small passing and moving and gets the legs ready for the last part, the shooting and long balls. This gets the legs ready for game time and your body ready for any stress that you place on it. Doing a warm-up especially when you get older can keep your body healthy and injury free. Even after a team warm up is done, you may have to do extra stretching and running to get yourself prepared for activity. Everyones body is not the same, and making sure that your body is taken care of is the most important part of the warm up. How you warm up can influence how fast your start of play is when the game starts.