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Soccer Off-Season Strength & Speed
Soccer Off-Season Strength & Speed is an intermediate soccer program that runs 12 weeks at 3 sessions per week. It is built into Ægir Iron and free to load for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster.
What this program is
A 12-week off-season program for soccer players, three sessions per week in three 4-week blocks, each ending in a lighter week. Squats and trap bar deadlifts move from sets of 6 and 5 down to sets of 3, Romanian deadlifts from 8 to 5 and hang power cleans from triples to doubles, with split squats, lateral lunges, pull ups and presses beside them. Sprinting runs on two days: accelerations from 10 m up to 20 m, and flying sprints for top speed. Broad jumps, lateral bounds and single-leg hops are counted in contacts. Nordic hamstring curls and Copenhagen adductions are on two days a week each, building week by week.
At a glance
| Discipline | Soccer |
| Experience level | Intermediate |
| Length | 12 weeks |
| Training days | 3 per week |
| Equipment | Barbell + Trap Bar + Dumbbells + Cable + Pull-up bar + Bench + Nordic anchor |
| Season phase | Off-season |
| Loading | RPE targets on the lifts, with sprints set by distance and jumps counted in ground contacts. |
| Price | Free for individual lifters and rostered athletes |
Free for individual lifters and for athletes on a coach's roster. Coaches pay only for roster tools.
How it works in Ægir Iron
Inside Ægir Iron the plan is real Cycle, Block, Week, Day structure. The 12 weeks are grouped into 3 blocks, and the sets, reps and effort targets change from one block to the next. Lifts carry RPE targets rather than percentages, and you choose the weight. If you would rather run a lift off a percentage of your max, switch that row to a percentage in the editor. You load it in a couple of taps, then adjust any session, and a coach can push it to an athlete's account in real time.
Original source
Ægir Iron's template is built from these sources. Under each one is what the template takes from it.
- Petersen J, Thorborg K, Nielsen MB, Budtz-Jørgensen E, Hölmich P (2011). Preventive effect of eccentric training on acute hamstring injuries in men's soccer: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39(11):2296-2303.The Nordic hamstring ramp in the soccer pre-season and off-season programs: 1 session of 2x5 in week 1, 2 of 2x6 in week 2, 3 of 3x6-8 in week 3, 3 of 3x8-10 in week 4, then three sets of 12, 10 and 8
- van der Horst N, Smits DW, Petersen J, Goedhart EA, Backx FJ (2015). The preventive effect of the nordic hamstring exercise on hamstring injuries in amateur soccer players: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Sports Med. 2015;43(6):1316-1323.The off-season Nordic frequency: about two sessions a week (25 sessions in 13 weeks)
- Mjølsnes R, Arnason A, Østhagen T, Raastad T, Bahr R (2004). A 10-week randomized trial comparing eccentric vs. concentric hamstring strength training in well-trained soccer players. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2004;14(5):311-317.Where the 10-week Nordic progression comes from, and that it raised eccentric hamstring torque 11 percent
- van Dyk N, Behan FP, Whiteley R (2019). Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 8459 athletes. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(21):1362-1370.Why every adult soccer program carries the Nordic: programmes that include it about halve hamstring injuries
- Cuthbert M, Ripley N, McMahon JJ, Evans M, Haff GG, Comfort P (2020). The Effect of Nordic Hamstring Exercise Intervention Volume on Eccentric Strength and Muscle Architecture Adaptations: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses. Sports Med. 2020;50(1):83-99.The table the Nordic ramp is read from (sets x reps x sessions a week)
- Harøy J, Clarsen B, Wiger EG, Øyen MG, Serner A, Thorborg K, Hölmich P, Andersen TE, Bahr R (2019). The Adductor Strengthening Programme prevents groin problems among male football players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(3):150-157.The Copenhagen adduction pre-season build: one set per side, 3-5 reps twice in week 1, 3-5 three times in week 2, 7-10 three times in weeks 3-4, 12-15 three times in weeks 5-6, 12-15 twice in weeks 7-8; the off-season program climbs on the same reps twice a week
- Chen A, Zhuang M, Huang Z, Zhao L, Wang L (2026). The effects of field-based repeated sprint training on physical performance in soccer players: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis. Front Physiol. 2026;17:1745959.The repeated-sprint rows in the soccer programs: rounds of 6 x 20 m inside the review's 2-6 sets of 4-10 sprints of 10-40 m, 20-30 s between sprints and 1-5 min between sets
Start Soccer Off-Season Strength & Speed
Open Ægir Iron, go to Program and choose New Program, then the Program Wizard. On the first screen pick your discipline, then choose Soccer Off-Season Strength & Speed from the cards under WHAT DO YOU WANT TO RUN? It is free on iOS, Android, and the web, with your data synced across all three.