Any workout tips to improve my speed, agility and acceleration for football/soccer?

Hi Mitch,

Pretty much the four key strategies would be:

1. Doing actual agility drills - running around cones, start stop, running side to side, etc. There are hundreds of training and coaching manuals that give details of the many different drills. Try and get your hands on one that is specific for soccer agility. I mention this one first because it most conforms to the concept of "sport specific training" in that the movements most reflect the way you would have to react and move during an actual game.

2. Plyometrics - this is an exercise method that forces muscles to load (lengthen) and then contract rapidly and it's specifically designed to improve muscle power...this will certainly improve your acceleration and your agility.

3. Sprints - To run fast and accelerate fast, you've got to practise doing those very things. For your goals, I would stick to several 30 and 40 metre sprints.

4. Traditional resistance training and power lifting - Power cleans, deadlifts, lunges, squats, etc cannot be avoided if you want maximum speed and acceleration. These can be incorporated in and amongst your plyometric training.