Goalkeepers come in all shapes and sizes. Although most of the modern goalkeepers are more or less tall we still have plenty of skinny goalkeepers across the pro game. Guys like Marcelo Barovero or even Jan Oblak make us wonder how much time they are spending at the gym after practice. To be honest there are still guys out there that are relying on goalkeeper training, and their good given talent a little too much. In today’s day and age we know that if you’re not putting in extra work outside the field you’re just doing yourself a disservice. Particularly if you’re serious about goalkeeping and having a career that can maybe help you pay your way through college if not end up in the pros. You need to put in the work, but what type of work? Do goalkeepers need to be fit?
Right off the bat I can reiterate this idea that you don’t need to be Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime to be a good goalkeeper. In fact, as I’ve been mentioning we usually see goalkeepers who are even leaner than some field players. There’s a good reason as to why this is the case. As a goalkeeper you need to be able to throw your body around and put yourself in harms way literally. So you don’t want to be too heavy to the point where you find it difficult to dive and lift yourself back up off the ground. This helps me segway into my first point. Do you really need to have big biceps to be a good goalkeeper?
Do Strong Arms Help Goalkeepers?
Yes, and there are actually different ways that strong arms can help goalkeepers. Building up forearm strength for example is going to allow you to have stronger hands in general. That means that you’re going to be able to make clean catches on harder shots. Of course, you need to have the right catching technique to be able to do this effectively. Having those strong forearms though is going to help. Of course, having strong arms should technically allow you to throw further, and punch the ball out further when you decide that that’s the best course of action.
What can you do to build your arm strength as a goalkeeper? Any type of weight training that you do is obviously going to help. What you don’t want though is to just build muscles for show. It’s not going to be beneficial for you as a goalkeeper to have bulky arms. If you’re not sure whether pumping iron is going to be your thing you can try all sorts of throwing and catching drills with a medicine ball. That way you’re essentially still working on technique while making sure that you build up arm strength. The medicine ball training method is great for younger keepers that we maybe don’t want to be putting in the gym just yet. At some point though, you’re going to need to pump some iron!
Are Sick Pack Abs A Must For Goalkeepers?
This is actually not a must, and you also have the benefit of being able to build your abs through goalkeeper training. Does this mean that you can forgo this type of training outside of the pitch? Essentially yes, as long as you really put a ton of effort in drills like the warm-up drills that are essentially crunches with catching and diving. I’ll put a small video here to let you know the exercise that I’m talking about. I’m not saying that you can slack off in these types of exercises. A lot of coaches what they’ll do is compliment training with push ups and crunches. That’s an option that you can look into and put that work in on the pitch.
If you want to make sure that you’re getting the most out of your training though, and you’re not just aimlessly doing push ups and crunches you can work on goalkeeping drills that essentially mimic the same motion. For push ups, it’s real easy, do drills where you start out on the ground you have to get up and make a save. Get more reps in on that drill. With crunches, I already talked about the typical warm-up drill that virtually all goalkeepers do. You can end your session with a ton of reps from that particular drill to work on those abs. To be a great goalkeeper you don’t need ultimate ab definition, but if you work hard on the field you’ll probably get it anyway!
Try and Find Ways To Do Cardio Outside The Training Ground
In my playing days I started doing a lot of jogging, it allowed me to take my mind off of things in general. It’s something that I hated doing when it was mandatory in the preseason. Oddly enough it stuck with me, and it’s something that I do recommend a lot. There are a couple of reasons why you’ll want to do some jogging on your own time. Number one is that you may be forced to do it in team training. It’s always a plus when you arrive at a new team, and you’re able to jump right into the rhythm that they’re asking of you. Plus, you can make it that positive active for mental health like I was talking about.
If you’re someone who is getting up there in age, I do feel that jogging may not be the best idea for you. Swimming can be the next best thing. If you can do a little bit of both that’s going to be ideal. Swimming is great for goalkeepers because it helps you relax your muscles a bit. You don’t have to be Micheal Phelps, but you have to put some effort into it. As I mentioned maybe a light swim to help you loosen up. Also, what that will help you with is build up stamina as well as other muscles in the body. You’ll be glad you have that extra stamina on hard training days.
Legs Are A Must
If you play goalkeeper you’re going to want to hit the leg press sooner rather than later. If you have strong legs you’re going to be able to dive all over the place, and of course you’ll usually benefit from that same power to kick a bit further. Now, you don’t just want to do a ton of leg work in the gym and expect that to be good enough to get you the benefits that you’re looking for. Much like in the case of getting your arms stronger you won’t necessarily benefit from having bulky legs that you could potentially show off. The good thing for goalkeepers is that a lot of the training that we do goes towards making sure you jump higher and further.
You’re not necessarily going to need to kill yourself on leg day at the gym to be able to get the benefits that you’re looking for. Actually, if you’re doing goalkeeper training every single day 2 or three days at the gym are all that you’re going to need. Because what you also don’t want is to be stiff the whole time. I’m going to get to this in a bit here. As a goalkeeper though you have to wrap the idea in your mind that you’re going to have to do leg press workouts. That’s just the way that it’s going to be.
What Type of Trainer Should You Be Looking For?
If you’re serious about goalkeeping, and you want to improve your game working with a personal trainer at the gym could be a good idea. One of the problems, though, that you may face when you just go to any gym, and seek help from some of the trainers that are there is that they may not be well equipped to recommend a training regime that’s tailored to goalkeeping. You really do want to make sure that you’re not just bulking up senselessly. As I’ve said already most goalkeepers are actually lean, even leaner than some of the other players on the pitch. This is because as a goalkeeper you need to be able to put your body in awkward positions in a way that field players potentially won’t have to.
There are a couple of things that you can do when looking for a trainer. Obviously if you find a personal trainer that has experience working with football players, and specifically goalkeepers you’re going to be better off. Another thing that could work is to have your goalkeeper coach craft an exercise routine for you to follow. Once you have that you can go to any gym, and potentially get help from the gym coaches that are there with technique and things like that to make sure that you’re exercising the right way to not hurt yourself. Goalkeeper coaches should definitely look to educate themselves to be able to craft workout routines off the pitch that can help goalkeepers.
Schedule Your Off The Field Training So You’re Always Fresh On The Field
This is essentially one final tip that I want to throw out there. Make sure that you schedule your on the field and your off the field workouts in such a way that you’re getting the rest that you need in between them. If you’re a goalkeeper who is trying to earn a spot on a better team a college or whatever it may be I would recommend that you prioritize being fresh for your on the field activities. You have to then adjust your off the field workouts to make sure that you’re going to be ready for game day. The last thing that you want is to arrive at a game or any type of showcase opportunity all sore because you went all out in the gym.
If you’ve made the decision to maybe upscale your workouts make sure that you’re essentially putting the same type of effort into your recovery. I’m coming up on my 30s, and I have to be honest I have to take ice baths after every game or heavy on the field activity. When you’re younger you maybe won’t need as much recovery time, but it’s a good idea to build a recovery routine whether that include ice baths massages or whatever it may be. If you have resources at your disposal at a training facility for your team be sure to use them. Ultimately what this is going to do is make sure that you’re in better shape for the next game or training activity.
Do Goalkeepers Need To Be Fit? – Conclusion
Really if there’s one main idea that I would like goalkeepers to take from this article is that you don’t have to look the part you just have to feel the part. What I mean by that is, you don’t need to look extremely buff. In fact, show muscles are not necessarily what you want to have to be a great goalkeeper. Again if you look at the goalkeepers in the best clubs in the world it’s tough to find even one of them with ultra large biceps. Essentially what you’re trying to do is get strong, but not necessarily bulky.
It can be really hard to drag yourself to the gym after you’ve just gone through a tough goalkeeper training session. There are ways to be able to make it easier on yourself if you’re able to incorporate off the field workouts maybe on days when you won’t be as worn out. The good thing about not needing to be extremely strong is that you can afford to really start from the bottom and build yourself up without having to lift too much weight. Don’t get frustrated if you’re not seeing results at the gym remember that the most important thing is the work that you do on the field!
