Armas Strength and Conditioning

11 months later ACL Return 💪🏻💪🏻⏳

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As a footballer, you need to learn how to use the gym to your advantage and not your disadvantage.

In another video, Nico Gonzales talks about how he was doing too much and constantly finding himself injured.

The reality is that the right exercises, at the right volume, based on your schedule and overall training load, matter.

For many players, this can seem confusing. But once you understand what to look for, it becomes much simpler.

That’s exactly why I created my Online Football Performance Community to help you understand what your body needs, how to manage your weekly training load, and how to train smarter so you can perform better and stay healthier throughout the season.

Yes, gaining size helps but only if the athlete can use that size to produce force and move efficiently.

Research consistently shows that improvements in sprinting, jumping, and match actions are more strongly linked to relative strength and rate of force development, not just increases in body mass (Suchomel et al., 2016; Comfort et al., 2014).

At the highest levels, players aren’t just getting bigger they’re getting stronger relative to their body, more explosive, and more efficient.

In elite youth football, physical development (strength, power, speed) is heavily influenced by both maturation and structured strength training, but technical performance remains less dependent on physical size alone (Malina et al., 2015; Lloyd & Oliver, 2012).

That’s why academies don’t just chase weight gain they track growth, adjust training, and develop the athlete based on where they are biologically.

Finding the right balance is everything. Knowing when to increase your training load and want to reduce your training load is everything to maximize performance and development.

If this is something you struggle with, then I know you will truly benefit from my online performance community.

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Training maximal velocity does a lot of things:

- Faster speeds in matches
- Strong and robust hamstrings and glutes
- Less hamstring issues

Do it weekly.

Ways to strengthen the hamstrings:

* High-speed sprinting (90-95%+)
* Eccentric work (Nordic hamstring curl, Romanian deadlift)
* Heavy strength (bilateral + single-leg)
* Isometrics (holds, long-lever bridges)
* Manage training load (no big spikes)

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Other factors that contribute:

* Consistent sprint exposure
* Fatigue (late game risk)
* Core/pelvic control
* Glute strength
* Sprint mechanics
* Previous injury
* Warm-up quality
* Calf/soleus strength

As an individual player, your prep MAY look different leading up to a match compared to your teammate.

One player may need a full recovery day with dynamic stretches and pool work while a more adapted player may want/need single leg squats at low volume (5ea x2 sets).

The more you are aware of your body the better you can prepare it.

In my online football performance community we discuss and guide this.

At this age it’s all about building the engine and exposure.

Jumping, plyos, medicine ball tosses will lead to better athletic performance later into their career.

Movement quality and intro to proper strength training is key. As they get older this will increase and setting the right dosage is key.