In sports and soccer included, cross training is defined as any other sports training other than the sport that the athlete specialize in. The function of cross training is to keep the athlete conditioned during the off season and during the season, to provide variation in the training regime. Popular sports used in soccer cross training are biking, swimming and running.
Swimming in soccer training is very effective as it is a low impact sport. Being a high impact sport, the chances of joint injury and joint degeneration in soccer is high if proper care and balance is not provided. The soccer trainers and coaches as well as managers know this very well and try to incorporate low impact training into the hectic training schedule. This enables the soccer players to rest their joints but at the same time maintain their fitness level and conditioning.
Swimming is very popular in soccer training as it exercises almost every part of the body and is very good for overall aerobic and anaerobic fitness but at the same time as mentioned above, is low impact and gentle to the joints. Swimming is also often used in early training for injured soccer players who have just recovered. It is used to bring up a soccer player’s fitness while lessening the chances of injury recurrence before subjecting him or her to more strenuous higher impact proper soccer training.
Water resistance training is also used very often in this and also in normal soccer training to reduce the strains on the joints. In water resistance training, the soccer player will carry out activities such as running in water which also helps to improve running form.
The list of cross training sports in soccer is exhaustive and any sports can be used. Sometimes a bit of creativity goes a long way in upping the fun level and maintain the enthusiasm level during training. This is essential as day in day out training over a long season can sap the energy and reduce the player’s motivational level which in turn may affect training results.

Nutrition in soccer