How to Get Faster in Soccer: 5 Essential Aspects of Speed

Ever wonder why some players seem to glide past defenders while others struggle to keep up? As a soccer player, you can be fast in two main ways: physically or mentally.

Physical speed in soccer isn’t just about running fast in a straight line; it’s about developing explosive movements, improving reaction time, and mastering the ability to accelerate quickly in all directions with and without the soccer ball. The players who dominate matches are those who’ve learned to combine their speed with other important skills such as decision making, awareness, composure, first touch, ball control, passing, dribbling, shooting, and defending.

As a soccer player, coach, and sports coordinator, I’ve seen and experienced firsthand how important it is to perform every soccer skill with speed. Whether you’re making an important pass in tight spaces, pulling off a quick turn to beat a defender, or sprinting to defend or attack, that extra burst of speed can be the difference between making the play and missing the opportunity entirely.

The truth is, if you want to become a better soccer player and get in soccer shape, you have to improve the main pillars of player development, which include talent, game IQ, mindset, athleticism, fitness, recovery, and discipline, and be fast both physically and mentally, although you can succeed by favoring one. In this blog post, I’ll share 5 essential tips and drills that will help you build explosive speed, reaction time, and agility needed to dominate a soccer game.

Table of Contents

How do you improve your speed for soccer?

Develop a Strong Athletic Foundation

As a footballer, your athleticism is the foundation of your speed because the more athletic you are- meaning the more body awareness, balance, coordination, and access you have to your tissues- the easier it is going to be to control your body and the soccer ball at speed. To improve your overall athletic performance, focus on training your central nervous system, fascia system, breathing mechanics, playing a lot of soccer, cross-training with other sports, and the right balance, footwork, isometrics, and plyometric drills for you.

The most important foundations of athleticism include the following, and once you have developed these traits, you’ll be able to run faster.

Improve your body’s biotensegrity via the fascia system, which involves training the feet, the hands, and the tongue
Learn to lock the ankle, create ankle stiffness, and apply force through the ball of the foot
Improve strength in isometric positions
Improve your body’s ability to create and absorb force through plyometrics
Develop back-chain dominance during movement
Improve the spiral characteristics of your body

Improve your Running Mechanics and Arm Techniques

Proper running mechanics and arm technique are essential for soccer players who want to run faster because mastering these fundamentals helps you accelerate quickly, reach maximum speed faster, and avoid getting as tired. For running, it’s important to understand the internal and external rotation involved in the femur and humerus heads.

When you sprint forward, your femur internally rotates as you push off the floor and externally rotates to land in a bow shape during the landing phase, while your humerus mirrors this opposite spiral pattern.

Get Faster Mental Speed

Mental speed is just as important as physical speed because it determines how quickly you can process game situations, make decisions, and react to changing situations on the field. To develop faster mental speed for soccer, players need to learn through experience and use video analysis, positive self-talk, journaling, visualization, and meditation, and game-situation drills to improve reaction time and anticipate plays before they happen.

Focus on Recovery

Just as important as all of the physical, mental, and technical training you do on the soccer field is recovery. Prioritizing recovery through better sleep, nutrition, hydration, EMF protection, and time in nature will help you maintain speed throughout a game or training session, build explosive speed more effectively, and reduce the risk of injury and burnout.

Practice Sprint Training Consistently

Once you have worked on your athleticism, improved your running mechanics, and established proper recovery habits, it’s time to put theory into practice with consistent speed training sessions. As obvious as this might sound, the best way to get faster for soccer is to sprint faster consistently.

Before a soccer training session, team training, or on a day off from team training, you can spend time working on max sprints, which can be as simple as sprinting the entire field, half the field, or any other length, resting, and repeating for a set number of reps. You can also work on other footwork, plyometric, speed ladder, agility drills, or weight training, but really, the best way to improve your top speed for soccer, on top of the tips above, is simply to sprint at full speed regularly.

Final Thoughts

To summarize, getting faster in soccer requires a holistic training approach that combines building a strong athletic foundation, mastering proper running mechanics and arm techniques, developing mental speed, prioritizing recovery, and consistently practicing high-intensity speed drills. The key is understanding that physical speed alone isn’t enough – you must train your body’s fascia system, improve your spiral movement patterns, and sharpen your mental processing to truly dominate on the soccer field.

By implementing these five essential aspects into your training routine and committing to consistent practice, you’ll develop the explosive speed, quick reaction time, and agility needed to glide past defenders and perform at your highest level.

FAQs

How to get explosive speed in soccer?

To improve your explosive power as a soccer player, focus on the same factors on this list: building your athletic foundation, maintaining good form in everything you do, improving your mindset and central nervous system, and prioritizing recovery. On top of these, to improve speed, do plyometric exercises, acceleration drills, reaction-speed drills, strength training, and top-speed sprint drills regularly, with enough recovery to improve overall performance and physical condition.

How to improve stamina in soccer?

To improve your stamina for soccer, like with speed, focus on building your athletic foundation, maintaining good form, improving your mindset and central nervous system, and prioritizing recovery. On top of these things, instead of speed drills, you can do other exercises that challenge endurance, such as shuttle runs, interval training, soccer flying sprints, the beep test, or high-intensity exercise like cross-training with other sports.

What is the best training equipment to get faster for soccer?

The best soccer training gear and equipment for soccer speed drills includes cones and other agility equipment like hurdles and poles. Other equipment includes a speed ladder for foot-speed exercises, plyometric boxes for box jumps to build explosive power, a quality soccer ball for ball-based training, and a stopwatch or soccer tracker to track progress during sprint and high-intensity sessions.