How To Get In Shape For Soccer When You're Over Forty

Playing soccer for over-40s is well within the realm of possibility, as evidenced by Manchester United's Edwin Van Der Sar playing at age 40 at a stratospheric level. If you are just looking for amateur games, master's leagues welcome older players. And regional and national tournaments offer over-40s the chance to play without zippy, just-out-of-college players to contend with. For female players, playing in your 40s offers a chance to combat the changes of peri-menopause and increase bone health through weight-bearing exercise. Getting serious about getting in shape may lead to the best soccer of your life in your 40s.

Step 1

Improve your cardiovascular fitness by running or by playing pickup games of soccer between league games. "If you are going to be running and controlling the ball, you have to prepare beforehand," says Wes Harvey, former coach of the men's soccer team at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and an over-40 tournament player himself. "If the game is 90 minutes, you should be able to run for 90 minutes, not necessarily at full speed." If you can't find a pickup game, try to find just one to three other players for a mini-game on a tiny grid 10 yards square marked with cones.

Step 2

Cross-train with other activities to increase overall fitness without running every day, which can wear your down in your 40s, Harvey states. He recommends riding a bike because it's low impact on the knees, swimming for overall fitness or hitting at a batting cage for upper-body strength.

Step 3

Add two or more sessions a week of strength training to create a strong core, the most important focus area for strength on the soccer field. Include exercises for your legs and arms as well, to resist challenges, to increase your throw-in distance and to improve your balance and jumping ability. Emulate the programs of college and pro soccer athletes, who perform lunges, presses, pull-downs, squats, curls, side lifts, single-leg balancing and medicine ball twists in the weight room. Perform pushups, situps and bodyweight lunges on the field if you prefer or if you lack gym access.

Step 4

Work on your endurance and speed with interval training or fartleks, also called varied-intensity conditioning, if you are playing at a competitive rather than recreational level. Perform a continuous sequence of sprinting for 10 seconds, jogging for 20 seconds and walking for 10 seconds for a total of 10 minutes. Rest for two minutes and repeat two more sets, recommends University of North Carolina conditioning coach Greg Gatz in "Complete Conditioning for Soccer." Time yourself to measure progress.

Tips and Warnings

The heavier you are, "the more strain you put on your ankles and knees, so it helps to have a good diet and lose weight," Harvey advises. Especially in a serious league, getting in shape and managing your weight are important, although fitness can also matter at the recreational level.