Leon Goretzka’s physical transformation has been all the rave lately. After Bayern Munich defeated Paris St. Germain (PSG) in the 2020 Champions League Final, naturally, everyone wants to analyze what happened. As they should, it is what makes the game of soccer the best theater in the world. At least the most popular where everyone thinks they are an expert. Was the increased muscle mass responsible for victory?
I don’t really think it had much to do with the result, but maybe a little for reasons I will get to. Either way it doesn’t look like Thomas Muller was on the same program as Goretzka.
Plus, Thilo Kehrer put on size too and he was getting smoked all day by the skinner Coman. More important than the bench press of the players on the pitch, from a tactical perspective, PSG was unable to move the ball out of tight pressure scenarios quick enough and held the ball for too long at the wrong moments. I think it had to do with Bayern’s organization and relentless press as well as the positioning and movement and decision-making from PSG lacking. Neymar had some brilliant moments but also tried too much at the wrong times. Then again, Mbappe finishes a chance or two and it might be a different game entirely. That is soccer.
To Bayern’s credit offensively, they kept the ball well and made great runs behind the defense constantly keeping PSG defenders on their heels. Service into the box was always dangerous with Lewandowski’s brilliance to get on the end of things. Lewandoski would also distract the PSG defense leaving Gnabry, Coman, and Muller space inside the box (i.e. Coman’s goal). Finally, and again, Coman was man of the match and too much for Kehrer with his slicing and dicing dribbling.
But lets shift focus back to the topic at hand - muscle mass. Many fans are focusing on Leon Gortetka’s physical transformation since it is the most dramatic.
Coutinho also put on some size during the covid-19 break.
While Goretzka looks like he packed on pure muscle, Coutinho looks (especially in the face) like he put on some muscle and some body fat.. Nonetheless, he still moved well and performed on the pitch in the games he came on. I doubt he put on more than 5-10lbs or 2-5kg and for a small guy with low center of gravity who is already explosive and has amazing command of the ball and his body, it is not much. I do wonder had he not come on as a substitute and played the full match how well he would have lasted since carrying around more weight is less efficient.
Does being bigger help?
I have written plenty about the importance of relative strength for athleticism and in the book coming out soon called The Ultimate Soccer Body, I go into great detail on that topic. But relative strength improvements generally lead to improved performance. Relative strength is how strong one is relative to how much they weigh.
Often times increasing muscle mass in the legs is an efficient way to improve strength and thus, speed and power. At a muscular level, there is only so much strength you can gain before new muscle must be added for increased strength gains. In the first 3-6 months of training you can gain strength without much increase in size due to improvements in intramuscular coordination, but often the strength gained will only be specific to the movement pattern being trained. It gets more even nuanced than that (which is why I am writing a book on it), but if done correctly, bigger and stronger legs, particularly the glutes, hip flexors, and hamstrings, usually improve soccer player’s ability to move on the pitch.
The question is then, does muscle mass in the upper body serve soccer players? My answer is yes, but only to a point and specific to body type, positional demands, and playing style.
Body type:
In the picture of Goretzka above, it looks to me like his legs did not gain the same increase in size as his upper body. A “top-heavy” look is not one we want to aim for as footballers. In Goretza’s case, he was SUPER skinny before which means he that although he gained mass, he is still relatively light and his legs can probably handle the increase in upper body size alright. I would still much prefer to add strength and mass to his legs as well.
Adding lean mass also increases hormones like testosterone which can increase aggressiveness. You can actually see structural changes in Goretzka’s jaw and forehead. In sports, added testosterone is a good thing. Winning a game is shown to increase one’s testosterone, so it makes sense that going into a game with higher testosterone to begin with would be beneficial as well.
Another aspect is players with a wide base (think slightly bow-legged) and lower center of mass handle increased upper body mass better than players with narrower hips and more knee valgus. This is mostly true from an injury risk perspective and in my opinion carries over to the ability to decelerate well and change directions. The reason they handle the mass better is probably due to the fact that they already tend to move better than people with normal alignment and especially valgus alignment. People with slight bow legs are usually slightly pigeon toed and contact the ground with less energy dissipation. The result is they can apply greater propulsive forces to the ground in a shorter period of time.
Finally, we must discuss gender. Due to hormonal differences, it will be a lot less likely that females gain the same amount of muscle mass as men. Females also have naturally less strength in their upper bodies. Therefore I definitely think females should strength train their upper bodies and they can worry less about getting “too big”. However, for both male and female players, weight training (upper and lower body) leads to an increase in hunger. Those muscle fibers get broken down and send signals to the brain to eat. It is common to overestimate the amount of calories needed to repair muscle damage, hence my words of caution. A small increase in protein is all that is needed to put on some strength and size and avoid the unwanted fat.
Positional demands and playing style:
Strength and mass serve all players well during duels with other players in tackles, headers, etc. Below you can also see how strength can help us preserve energy throughout a match after repeated battles. Central players from center-backs to center-midfielders to strikers typically engage in more physical duels where the added muscle mass might help. Of course central players must still sprint and change directions (especially midfielders), but in general they do not rely on speed as much as wide players. In the CL final for example, Mbappe, Neymar, Di Maria and Coman are more slender and elusive with their movements that serve them during 1v1s and repeatedly sprinting behind the defense. In contrast, center-mids rely more on positioning, reading the game, and quality passing.
Other Considerations
From a neurological perspective, training for a stronger upper body can increase total body strength. A nervous system that is used to recruiting fast-twitch muscle fibers quickly can carry over to all movements. In addition, dynamic arm action is important for sprinting and jumping, so strong shoulders , pecs, and lats are beneficial.
Despite those factors, I take a cautious approach about emphasizing upper body mass in most soccer players. Soccer is still a movement and skill-based sport. The best players in the history of the game were not overly muscular. Think Zidane, Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, and even Ronaldo isn’t very big he is just so lean he looks big. The original Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, two of the most fast powerful soccer players of all time, both have legs like a horse but a normal looking upper body.
Here are my takeaways when it comes to upper body size and training:
Yes, we want strength as strength helps improve performance and the hormonal and attitude boost from strength training is a good thing. Many times when we see someone who looks big, they are actually just carrying too much fat. Don’t overestimate calorie needs and just slightly increase protein intake.
Know your body and style of play. Some mass is worth it, but too much mass can hurt performance (harder to cut and makes moving with fluidity harder) especially without increase in leg strength and power too. I’ve seen examples where players actually decrease upper body mass and improve their performance. Although usually it is because they also lost fat.
There are ways to train for strength and without adding too much size such as high load, low rep training sets with long rests. 4 sets of 3-5 reps for example with longer rest periods.
I am a proponent of body weight exercises for the upper body whenever possible with external resistance. Examples include gymnastics exercise that tie in coordination with strength. Handstands, crawling, monkey bars, pull ups, inverted rows, dips, push up variations.
Use isolation training to improve the weak link in the chain. Bicep curls can actually improve your pull ups. Improving tricep strength can increase your bench press.
No amount of upper body mass can make up for soccer skills, tactics, and mentality. Ive seen some smaller players with tiny upper bodies destroy bigger guys in tackles with the right timing, attitude, and technique.
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