Before an FC Cincinnati player ever touches a soccer ball in training, they begin their work in the gym. Mobility work, activation drills and strength exercises all serve a larger purpose beyond warming up.
For the club’s Athletic Development staff, every movement is part of a long-term process designed to prepare players not just physically, but mentally for the demands of a long season.
While that process involves several key figures and crosses multiple disciplines, Jair Lee, FC Cincinnati’s Director of Athletic Development, develops programming across all club levels and has an increasing involvement with parts of the academy. Lee described the strength training process as a long-term investment rather than a quick fix in terms of resolving injury recurrence or improving a player's physical abilities.
“We’re going to do some soft tissue, some mobility, some stability or a little bit of strength training disguised as part of the activation to warm up,” Lee said when asked about the specifics of his strength training.
That activation period serves as the beginning of every training session, having players begin their day by moving through a series of exercises focused on preparing the body for movement. That opening series also serves to set the tone mentally for the day.
“There’s a mindset component there that’s very important,” Lee said. “I always try to bring a lot of energy as much as possible to try to match a bit of the vibe, right? I think that's critical.”
The sessions themselves may only last 15-20 minutes, but the repetition over weeks and months is where the true value starts to appear.
Lee’s goal is not to simply prepare players for one practice, but to gradually improve movement patterns, flexibility, and strength throughout their entire time with FC Cincinnati.
“Let's say you're working on thoracic mobility or hip mobility, and you did 10 repetitions today, but you multiply that times three… three months, four months that accumulates and can actually produce a positive change, not in the short term, but in the long term,” said Lee.
One of the biggest signs of progress, Lee mentions, comes when players begin doing these exercises independently.
“That’s actually extremely rewarding for me.” Lee shared regarding seeing some of the players doing strength training outside of the training center. “Now, I see the guys doing it on their own, and I think that's super exciting. Because for me, they're learning and they're realizing, ‘Oh, this feels good, this kind of works for me’. And that's extremely important.”
While many may associate strength training with heavy lifting or bodybuilder style workouts, soccer specific training looks very different. The focus is less about aesthetics and more about developing qualities that directly impact a player’s performance on the pitch.
“Strength and power are what you're looking for to develop,” Lee explained. “Because that's what's going to allow you to be faster, and more aggressive on the movements.”
When working with professional athletes that are on tight deadlines not just throughout the day but throughout each week, training plans can shift dramatically depending on the schedule.
During congested periods of the season, like those where the FCC first team plays three matches in a week or five in two weeks, it forces traditional training sessions to be reduced or manipulated to better suit the players and their individual schedules.
To combat this, Lee implements smaller doses of strength work, referred to as “micro dosing”, which is the practice of converting your total weekly workout into a shorter, high rep session.
“We're not going to the weight room to lift weights at all. We do the activation, and I insert a couple of the movements as part of the activation, things that we do in the training session,” said Lee. “The intensity is going to be less, but we still do a little bit of that. And it's important to keep a little bit of stimulus, but we're not necessarily lifting the weights.”
This approach, especially during a long stretch, helps players maintain strength and physical readiness for gamedays without overloading or fatiguing their bodies to the point where their performance is inhibited.
This balancing act is incredibly important in soccer, where recovery and endurance play major roles throughout the long season.
“During the season, with all the running and all the stress, usually you kind of go and decline. So, my job as a strength coach is to actually reduce that slope,” said Lee. “So, it doesn't go very steep… ideally, it goes a little bit up, and then it starts diminishing.”
This philosophy reflects a broader cultural shift happening throughout soccer. For years, weight training has carried a negative stigma for some within the sport. Some players and coaches feared lifting weights would make athletes bulky or slow.
“Some of our guys say, ‘Oh, I don't want to get too heavy’, or ‘I don't want to get too big’, or even sometimes ‘I don't want to get slow’, which is the funniest thing because this is just education,” Lee said regarding players perception of strength training.
Unlike many older players who may not have grown up with structured strength training programs, younger academy players are now learning the system and developing good habits very early on.
With the development of these new training regimes becoming more apparent for athletes of all ages, FC Cincinnati is building up for the future as the young players inside the academy are becoming more educated on strength training than some of the current pros.
“So, when the time comes for them to move on, and they move on to our second team, and even the first team, right? They have those fundamentals, so that way we can actually progress even more, and they're already stronger than the regular soccer player that comes from a different academy that doesn't have that experience,” said Lee regarding younger academy players getting used to strength training early on.
As the system continues to evolve, the ultimate goal is to allow players to broaden their capabilities physically and mentally through proper strength training. Lee has only been with the club now for six months, so many of these adaptations and evolutions are still ongoing and being implemented.
That being said, regardless of how advanced the programming becomes, Lee believes the most important factor in all of this is trust – and that can only be built over time.
“I know that I can have three PhDs on my wall. That doesn't really matter at all. The athletes need to trust me, trust that I have their best interest and obviously that I care for them, and that I have their backs,” Lee said.
Inside FC Cincinnati’s training environment at Mercy Health Training Center, strength has no longer been viewed as optional. It has become part of the club’s identity, starting with academy players and continuing all the way to the first team.
