Soccer
training program
Repeated sprints, sharp change of direction, and bullet-proof hamstrings + groins across 90 minutes.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.
Why this program exists
You can run all day but you get beaten over the first five metres. Or you have the pace and your hamstring goes in the 70th minute for the third season running.
Hamstring strain is the single most common injury in football, and eccentric hamstring strength is its best-evidenced modifier — which is why the Nordic curl is in nearly every week of this program and why the testing battery measures your Nordic break point. Barbell pressing is de-emphasised: nobody wins a header with a bench press. Lower body is where the money is.
A default soccer week
This is the sport’s own template — the starting point before it is fitted to your days, your equipment and your season. Team nights and game day are protected; everything else moves to the days you are free.
What soccer is won with
These are the qualities the program is built to develop, in priority order. They come from the sport, not from a generic template.
- Repeated-sprint ability
- Change of direction
- Hamstring + groin durability
- Aerobic endurance
| Session | Type | Duration | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Strength + Plyo | Gym | 55–65 min | Single-leg power + injury armour |
| Repeat Sprints + COD | Conditioning | 35–45 min | Match-speed running |
| Upper + Core | Gym | 40–50 min | Robustness for duels + sprint posture |
| Aerobic Intervals | Conditioning | 40–50 min | Last-20-minutes engine |
The season changes the program
Winter community leagues. The app follows the Australian season, not the European one.
- Pre-season
- February – March — set volume ×1.2. Build the engine and the strength base.
- In-season
- April – September — set volume ×0.7, prescribed weights hold. Maintain, don’t drain.
- Off-season
- October – January — baseline volume. Rebuild general strength and fix the niggles.
- Block structure
- Four-week blocks: three weeks accumulating, one week deload. The block’s character changes across the year rather than repeating.
- Game day
- Protected. The day before gets a 20-minute explosive primer with no running, no heavy legs and no prehab block bolted on.
The soccer testing battery
Five numbers, re-run every eight weeks. Chosen to match what soccer programs actually measure — and the results re-price your training weights and reset your conditioning paces.
| Test | Measures | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery 1 | Repeat-effort capacity with recovery, which is how a game is actually played. | level |
| Max pull-ups | Relative pulling strength — the best upper-body number there is for a field athlete. | reps |
| Med-ball chest throw | Upper-body power rather than strength — the speed end of pressing. | m |
| Standing vertical jump | Lower-body power in its purest form, and the cheapest fatigue check you own. | cm |
| Nordic hamstring break point | Eccentric hamstring strength — the best-evidenced hamstring injury screen there is. | ° |
Staying available
The prehab block is matched to the region of the session it sits in and to the tissue this sport actually punishes — not a generic mobility flow bolted to the front.
Prehab only works if it happens, and the reason it usually does not is that it has nothing to do with the session it is attached to. Rotating a pool by session number puts shoulder work before a squat day and Copenhagen planks before a bench press. Technically covered; nobody does it.
In Train Smart each movement is classified by the region it protects and matched to the session, and the pool rotates across the week so you cover all of it rather than doing the same three moves three times.
More on prehab that people actually do →
Soccer training questions
What does the Train Smart soccer program include?
When is soccer pre-season?
Can I follow this program if I only train twice a week?
What tests does the soccer program use?
Do I need a full gym?
Get your soccer program
Pick soccer, answer eight questions, and your week is built — around your team nights, your game and the days you can actually train.
One month free, then A$24.99/month. Cancel any time. iPhone and iPad.