Strength Training for Footballers: What to Lift and Why

Introduction

For much of football’s history, the weight room was viewed with suspicion. Coaches worried that strength training would make players slow, heavy, or “musclebound.” Some clubs banned it entirely. The science has comprehensively ended this debate. Maximal strength is one of the strongest predictors of sprint speed, jump height, and injury resistance in football. Players who are stronger run faster, jump higher, recover better between sprints, and get injured less often. The question is no longer whether to lift, but what to lift, how much, and when.

The Science

Strength training for football operates through three primary adaptation pathways:

Neural adaptation (weeks 1–4): The nervous system learns to recruit more motor units simultaneously, increasing force production without muscle mass changes. This is why new lifters gain strength rapidly in the first weeks, they are not growing muscle; they are learning to fire it more effectively.

Muscular hypertrophy (weeks 4+): Progressive overload signals muscle protein synthesis, increasing cross-sectional area and force-production capacity. For footballers, this is desirable in the lower limbs (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings) and core, excess hypertrophy in upper body muscles can add non-functional mass.

Rate of force development (RFD): More relevant to football than peak force, the speed at which maximum force can be produced. A player who can generate 80% of peak force in 100ms is more explosive than one who reaches the same peak force in 250ms. RFD is developed through explosive lifting (Olympic lifts, jump squats, trap bar deadlift jumps) rather than slow, controlled bodybuilding-style training.

Key movements for footballers:

• Bilateral lower body: Back squat, trap bar deadlift, Romanian deadlift, develop absolute lower limb strength
• Unilateral lower body: Bulgarian split squat, single-leg RDL, step-up, develop the single-leg strength and pelvic stability that match play demands
• Explosive/power: Jump squat, hip thrust (explosive), trap bar deadlift jump, power clean, develop RFD
• Posterior chain: Nordic curl, glute-ham raise, GHD, specifically target hamstring eccentric strength and injury prevention
• Core: Anti-rotation, single-leg stability, trunk rotation (covered in Article 36)

Load and set structure for football-relevant strength gains: 3–5 sets of 3–6 repetitions at 80–90% 1RM for maximal strength; 3–4 sets of 3–5 repetitions at 40–60% 1RM performed explosively for power/RFD development.

What Research Says

Wisloff et al. (2004) established the fundamental strength-sprint relationship in elite Norwegian midfielders, showing squat 1RM was significantly correlated with both 10-metre sprint time (r = -0.94) and countermovement jump height (r = 0.78). The correlation between maximal squat strength and explosive performance is one of the strongest bivariate relationships in football sports science.

Rønnestad et al. (2008) demonstrated in a randomised trial that adding heavy lower body strength training (4 × 4 repetitions at 90% 1RM) to existing football training improved 1RM squat by 34%, sprint speed by 2.3%, and countermovement jump by 8.4% compared to football training alone. The control group, who continued football training without lifting, showed no significant improvements in any explosive measure.

Beattie et al. (2014) confirmed in a systematic review that maximal strength and RFD were both independently associated with football performance outcomes, with RFD showing particularly strong relationships with match-specific explosive actions (change of direction, reactive sprint) where force must be produced rapidly.

Did You Know? The Nordic hamstring curl, an exercise where the player kneels, feet anchored, and lowers their body toward the ground using only hamstring eccentric strength, reduces hamstring injury rates by 51% in compliant populations (Petersen et al., 2011). It requires no equipment, takes less than 5 minutes to complete, and directly targets the hamstring eccentric strength deficit that is the primary injury risk factor. Despite this, survey data consistently shows fewer than 20% of professional clubs perform it as a routine component of training.

Applied to Football

Strength training integration into football programming:

1. Two sessions per week in-season, three to four in pre-season. In-season sessions should be brief (30–40 minutes), full-body, and scheduled on MD-4 or MD-3. Never lift heavy the day before a match.
2. Prioritise unilateral work. Football is a single-leg sport. Split squats, step-ups, and single-leg RDLs address the asymmetries and single-leg strength demands of match play more specifically than bilateral squats alone.
3. Include Nordic curls. Every week, without exception. Ten repetitions, two to three sets. The hamstring evidence is overwhelming.
4. Progress loads systematically. Increase weight when the player can complete all prescribed reps with proper form. Random or untracked loading produces random results.
5. Separate strength and endurance training. Performing heavy lifts within 6 hours of high-intensity aerobic training blunts both adaptations (the interference effect). Schedule strength and endurance sessions on different days when possible.

In Short

• Maximal strength predicts sprint speed and jump height, squat 1RM correlates strongly with 10m sprint time
• Rate of force development (RFD) is more match-relevant than peak force, train explosively, not just slowly heavy
• Adding strength training to football programmes significantly improves sprint, jump, and repeated sprint performance
• Nordic curls reduce hamstring injuries by 51% and should be performed in every team, every week
• Two strength sessions per week in-season; three to four during pre-season; never the day before matches

References

• Wisloff, U., Castagna, C., Helgerud, J., Jones, R., & Hoff, J. (2004). Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height in elite soccer players. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 38(3), 285–288.
• Rønnestad, B. R., Kvamme, N. H., Sunde, A., & Raastad, T. (2008). Short-term effects of strength and plyometric training on sprint and jump performance in professional soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22(3), 773–780.
• Beattie, K., Kenny, I. C., Lyons, M., & Carson, B. P. (2014). The effect of strength training on performance in endurance athletes. Sports Medicine, 44(6), 845–865.

Next in Series: The Biomechanics of the Football Kick

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Written by Hüseyin Akbulut, MSc Coach

Hüseyin Akbulut is the founder of Sporeus and author of THRESHOLD (EŞİK), a 540-page Turkish-language book on endurance science.

• 540pp THRESHOLD Book
• MSc Sport Sciences
• Marmara University

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