Three essential upper body exercises for goalkeepers

To bring this article about, we had to go to the advice of a Physical coach who provided us with three arm and upper body exercises to help you keep…

Strength and conditioning for soccer players has many layers. There are many different factors to consider when it comes to putting together a workout for goalkeepers. For goalkeepers, it is extra complex because there must be multiple areas of focus. A strong, powerful and agile upper body is just as important as a strong core and legs.

Every strength and conditioning trainer would like to see all the players they train be the perfect all-around athlete, but realistically, that can’t always be the case. Certain players, depending on their position, injuries, weaknesses and more, need extra attention to certain areas. In goalkeeper training, that special focus is on the upper body, especially the shoulders.

In this article, we give you three essential upper body exercises in a single arm format. These will help build strength in the upper body, all focused around the shoulder joint. We have a one-arm row, a shoulder press in a kneeling position, and a chest press.

All three exercises in this goalkeeping workout will help strengthen the upper back, the top of the shoulders, and the chest simultaneously. When the muscle groups in these areas are strong, our shoulders are better prepared when we need to reach for the ball during a save, extend our arms above our head for a catch or a punch, and even do things like throw the ball to a teammate.

The added benefit of the exercises in this goalie workout is that they are done with one arm, which means the upper body has to do a lot of work to stabilize the body during each repetition.
When you pull or push weights with only one hand, there is a lack of balance on the side without weights. That lack of balance often causes us to twist our upper body as we perform the exercise.

So, to get the most out of the exercises, you must not only focus on what your working arm is doing, but also keep your torso as still as possible and not rotate during the movement. Why is this beneficial for goalkeepers? It may sound obvious, but control of your upper body and keeping it in the right direction will help you on the field. Think about how many goalkeepers are technically overwhelmed by not being straight at the ball.

If you reach for a ball with one arm and your upper body rotates with it, your body may be facing the wrong direction relative to the direction of the ball. If you then have to make a second or even a third save right after the first, you will have to spend extra time that you probably don’t have to get your body in the right direction first before you can even think about the next ball.