For women footballers, gaining muscle is almost like a mandatory test because having only skills without physical strength can easily lead to losing balance during matches, thus affecting on-field performance. However, for females, gaining muscle is not simply about hitting the gym and lifting weights blindly. It's about exercising different parts of the body in a targeted manner to smartly utilize these necessary muscles to enhance on-field performance. Therefore, there are some things you need to know and some easy and effective methods can help you to gain muscles.
Women Footballers' Smart Muscles
1. Misconception and Truth
Misconception 1:
Gaining muscle will make me bulky and cumbersome.
Truth:
As long as it's not hypertrophy or excessive muscle gain, muscle training will only make you stronger.
Misconception 2:
I only need to exercise the muscles in my legs, and other parts are irrelevant to my performance on the field.
Truth:
Since professional clubs spend a large money each year for trainers to take care of player’s strength training, there must be some points to it, right? In fact, besides the thigh muscles you can think of, we use ankle muscles when dribbling, calf muscles when shooting, and core and back strength during confrontations. Therefore, improving muscle strength is a comprehensive process with mutual reinforcement that cannot be ignored.
Misconception 3:
I'm too young/old/busy with work to spend a lot of time in the gym working out.
Truth:
Apart from children who are currently in adolescence and may not benefit from excessive strength training, everyone else can benefit from strength training. Muscles are present in everyone's body and are the basic component of our physical structure. Having more muscle mass can enhance our resistance to diseases, so muscle-gaining training is helpful for almost everyone. Furthermore, if you feel that going to the gym for workouts would consume too much of your time and money, today we'll recommend some efficient methods that allow you to exercise at home, on the football field or everywhere.
2. Build it Smartly : Thigh
Quadriceps:
The quadriceps muscles are heavily involved in the kicking motion and accelerating and jumping, and they are a group of four muscles located at the front of the thigh.
Easy and Efficient Method at home:
Tips: Try not to touch your heels when leaning backward, and feel the exertion in the front of your thighs. Do 4 sets of 20-30 repetitions each.
Easy and Efficient Method at gym:
Leg extension
Curtsy Lunge From Dedham Health&Athletic Complex
Hamstrings:
The hamstrings are a group of three muscles located at the back of the thigh, which assist in decelerating the body and stabilizing the knees during rapid changes in movement.
Easy and Efficient Method at home:
The Reverse Frog is a highly effective training method that requires no dumbbells or kettlebells. It's important to note that you should spread your legs apart to an angle of 45 to 60 degrees. Then, follow the motion shown in the GIF to raise your knees as high as possible. Aim for 15-20 repetitions per side, and complete 4 sets.
Easy and Efficient Method at gym:
In the gym, the goblet squat taught by Women's Health is very useful. You can choose a suitable weight dumbbell, starting from 10 lbs, then progressing to 15 lbs, 20 lbs, gradually increasing the training intensity. Aim for 12 repetitions per set, completing 6-8 sets in total.
3. Build it Smartly : Ankle
Ankle muscles:
It’s hard to understand why we need to strengthen ankle strength, and I didn't get it before either, until I saw Messi's ankle strength and realized why we need to train these muscles. Changing direction and abrupt stops both rely on the power from this area. When you play on soft grass, you need to exert more force to change direction. In a addition, strengthening you ankle can significantly reduce the risk of sprain.
Easy and Efficient Method at home and gym:
The ankle is different from the thigh; it's a small joint, so we can't use heavy equipment to increase strength. Therefore, the training methods for the ankle are the same at home and in the gym.
4. Build it Smartly : Core
Our core acts as a link between the upper and lower body, facilitating the transfer of power generated by the legs to the upper body during kicking and throwing movements. At the meantime, core also enhances agility and control over body movements, allowing footballers to change direction quickly.
Easy and Efficient Method at home:
Plank is a well-known exercise for targeting the core muscles, but it's also an exercise that is easy to perform incorrectly. Without someone to correct your form, it’s very easy to raise your butts too high, which can reduce the effectiveness of the exercise. Therefore, when doing this exercise at home, it's important to ensure that the head, back, and butts are in a straight line. Aim for one minute per set, and complete four sets in total. If you find it challenging to hold the plank for one minute initially, start with 20 seconds and gradually increase by 10 seconds each time. With time, you'll find it easier to sustain the plank for a full minute.
If you've mastered the plank, you can try the mountain climber knees exercise, which is a bit more challenging. Following Madfit's demonstration, aim to complete as many repetitions as possible within 30 seconds, ensuring that your knees touch your elbows.
Easy and Efficient Method at gym:
With the assistance of resistance balls and dumbbells, core training in the gym engages your entire body in strength exercises, and the key of these movements is still maintaining stability in the abs.
5. Build it Smartly : Back and Shoulder
Easy and Efficient Method at home:
When it comes to back and shoulder training, we can still trust Madfit's training methods. This 30+30 seconds circuit effectively targets the muscles in your upper back and shoulders, areas crucial for ball protection and heading duels.
The first movement involves vigorously clasping your hands together and swinging them up and down for 30 seconds. Immediately after, assume a plank position and moving your hands back and forth as if you are swimming, 30 seconds as well.
By the way, based on my 10+ years long training experience, I believe that focusing the back and shoulders does not necessarily require you to work at the gym. Sometimes, simple exercises can be very effective. While shoulders and back are indispensable in football, dedicating a lot of time to these areas may not yield significant benefits. Therefore, spending some time practicing the following workouts after core , lower body training or just your daily training session should suffice.
6. Conclusions
The above training methods are best we have tried and found beneficial for women gaining muscles quickly and easily. As long as you consistently practice these exercises, your on-field performance will undoubtedly improve significantly—I guarantee it. If you have more training methods to share, please feel free to leave them in the comments section. Stay tuned with Hana!
