The powerful quadriceps muscles at the front of the leg are largely responsible for the kicking action in a number of sports, including soccer, Rugby Union and Australian Football. So it would seem sensible to strengthen these muscles as much as possible in those players required to kick for both distance and speed. Not so, according to a study conducted by Dr. Michael Trolle and his colleagues from the August Krogh Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. During the players' off-season, they persuaded 24 male National league soccer players to undertake a 12-week strength training program. Players were split into one of four groups and undertook 36 training sessions in total. One group performed hydraulic strength training exercises at high resistance (low velocity). Another group undertook the same exercises at low resistance (high velocity). The third training group trained 'functionally' in a loaded kicking, movement, but without the ball, while the last group acted as controls and did no training at all.