Bradford Fitness Chino, California (909) 660-3153

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Soccer training
in Chino, California.

Sprint repeatability, hamstring strength and the durability to hold up under a club-and-school schedule that never really stops. Strength and speed work for soccer players, grades 2 through high school.

Where seasons end early

It's the hamstrings and the groin

Soccer's injury profile is unusually predictable. Hamstring strains and adductor problems account for a large share of the time players lose, and both cluster in the same places — late in matches, at top speed, and in athletes doing a heavy fixture load without the strength underneath it.

Both are also among the most trainable problems in sport. Eccentric hamstring work has one of the strongest evidence bases of any single intervention in athletic development, and adductor strength work is close behind. Neither is complicated. Both get skipped, because they're dull and they don't make anyone feel fast on the day.

They are in every soccer block here as standing items, not as optional extras.

Where seasons end early

The two injuries that cost the most time

Hamstring strainsLate in matches, at top speedMost time lost
Adductor problemsClose behind
Best-evidenced answerEccentric strength
How often it gets skippedDull, and it doesn't make anyone feel fast on the dayUsually
Where it sits in our blockStanding item

The soccer year

Club and school rarely leave a gap

Soccer carries the third-deepest program in the system — a full five-phase arc, a dedicated peaking block, role tracks, and the second-highest exercise volume of any sport we run. Around a third of its movements are specific to soccer rather than borrowed.

May – August
Off-season

Whatever the club calendar allows. Heaviest loading, maximum strength, and the eccentric hamstring work that needs an uninterrupted run to be worth anything. Nine programmed blocks.

September – October
Pre-season

Four weeks of peaking. Sprint exposure rises deliberately — the surest way to strain a hamstring is to reach top speed in a match having not reached it in training for two months.

November – March
In-season

Sixteen in-season blocks. Two matches and four training sessions a week is already a lot of running; what we add is short, strength-focused and scheduled away from match days.

Role tracks

A keeper and a winger need different weeks

Soccer programming splits by role, because the physical demands of the positions diverge more than most people assume.

Outfield
Repeat sprint

High-speed running exposure, hamstring eccentrics, change of direction, and the capacity to sprint hard in the eighty-eighth minute as well as the eighth. Most of the running load in a match is not sprinting — but the moments that decide matches are.

Goalkeeper
Explosive, then still

A different sport in the same kit. Short-range explosive power, lateral push-off, landing from awkward heights, and upper-body and trunk strength that outfield players simply don't need.

Girls' soccer
ACL risk, addressed directly

Soccer and basketball are where ACL injuries concentrate in female athletes. Landing mechanics, deceleration and posterior-chain strength are built into every session rather than offered as a separate injury-prevention add-on.

A club week, roughly

Before anyone adds training to it

Club sessions4
Matches2
Aerobic loadSoccer players are the last athletes who need more runningAlready high
What's usually missingStrength
What we addAnd how many sessions — often fewer than you'd expectStrength, not miles

The awkward conversation

Most soccer players are already doing enough running

Parents often arrive wanting conditioning. Soccer players are usually the last athletes on earth who need more of it — four club sessions and two matches a week is an enormous aerobic load already.

What they are usually short of is strength. A player who can't produce force can't sprint, can't hold off a shoulder, and can't decelerate safely — and no amount of additional running fixes any of the three.

So this program is mostly strength, sprint mechanics and durability work, and comparatively little conditioning. If that sounds backwards for soccer, it's worth a conversation — bring your athlete to a free session and see what the hour actually contains.

Getting started

Which group to join

Grouped by grade. Pricing and full detail on the programs page.

Grades 2–5 · Speed & Movement

Sprint mechanics and body control. Most young soccer players have never been taught to run properly, because soccer practice quite reasonably spends its time on the ball.

Grades 6–8 · Performance

Where hamstring and adductor work begins properly, alongside teaching movement under light load. Three sessions a week maximum — for a club player, usually fewer.

Grade 9–12 · Elite

Full role tracks, the complete season arc above, and loading scheduled around a real fixture list.

Common questions

Before you call

Will lifting make her slow or bulky?

No. Strength and sprint speed move together — force into the ground is what makes an athlete fast. Meaningful size gain requires a deliberate calorie surplus that youth athletes on a club schedule essentially never have.

She keeps pulling her hamstring. Can you help?

It's one of the most trainable problems in the sport, and eccentric hamstring work is the best-evidenced answer to it. It needs consistency over months rather than a fix over weeks. If there's a current injury, see a physio first — we work alongside that, not instead of it.

He trains with his club four times a week already.

Then he probably needs one or two sessions here, not three, and they should be strength rather than running. Tell us the real schedule and we'll fit around it — including telling you if the answer is less.

Do you coach goalkeepers?

On the physical side, yes — there's a specific keeper track. For handling and positioning, keep your keeper coach.

What does the first session cost?

Nothing, and there's no commitment attached. Call with the grade, the position and the weekly schedule.

First session is free.

Tell us the grade, the position and what the club week already looks like. We'll be straight with you about how much more training is actually useful.

See the weekly schedule →