Soccer-Specific Strength and Fitness Training and the Off Season

First, is there ever really an off season for top flight soccer players? At any level? Male or female?

The answer is no!

Should there be?

Well, that’s a topic for another article or series of articles and is part of an ongoing and intense debate!

For the purposes of this article, let’s assume there is something of an off season, even if it is simply a period when a soccer player plays less often. Once established, then the next issue to be addressed is:

What sort of training will provide the greatest edge when the next season begins, in this case, the Fall 2010 season. The answer is complex but, in addition to continuing to keep your foot on the ball, and yourself on the pitch, at least a couple of times a week minimum, it is time to hit the gym.

I receive interesting comments from time to time here on the Ultimate Soccer Training blog. I also receive articles and comments via my other websites, blogs, and social media memberships. The information I receive generally falls into three categories:

1. The old soccer training school: “All you have to do is play soccer!”
2. The conservative soccer training school (usually voiced by parents): “My child is already doing too much, he (or she) doesn’t need any more training!”
3. The informed soccer training school: “I realize the players are bigger, stronger, and faster than ever before and if I want to compete at the highest levels, I need an edge!”

It shouldn’t take a genius to guess which position I take on this subject?

Yup! #3

The most misinformed comment I have received to date came from a “coach” who was critiquing an article I wrote on leg training. He maintained that because soccer players do not use movements, or the muscles to prompt such movements, on the pitch, there is no need for leg extensions and leg curls!

WRONG!

That’s like saying football players don’t need to bench press because there isn’t a bench on the fifty yard line or goalkeepers don’t need to be aerobically fit because they almost never leave the box! I could go on for days on this one but you get the message…I hope? It is old school and misinformed. Not only does it neglect to take into account synergy between muscle groups and their actions, it fails to take into account that muscle movement is complex and not only involves other muscles, other than the ones you are working, but it impacts the connective tissue as well.

And where do most profound and career ending soccer injuries occur?

The knees!

And what portion of the knees are most profoundly affected?

The connective tissue!

And how do we strengthen the connective tissue?

By engaging in strength training directed at strengthening the muscles and the connective tissue associated with those muscles and the adjacent, synergistic musculature!

OK! I went off on a bit of a rant. But the fact is, if you do not strengthen the overall musculature and the associated connective tissue, you are more susceptible to injury and, and this is the biggy for this article, the soccer players who are engaging in strength training are going to be what?

Yup!

Bigger!

Stronger!

Faster!

And, if not faster…certainly more powerful!

So, hit the gym but do it right. Find a knowledgeable strength and fitness coach, someone familiar with sport-specific, and, in particular, soccer-specific strength and fitness training and start hitting the weights and the machines (there are benefits to both).

Ultimately, it depends on how far you want to take it but competition is intense and to play at the highest levels, you need an edge. Just go to any soccer complex in almost any city or town across the US and certainly abroad on a Saturday morning and ask yourself these questions:

What makes me so special?

How am I going to stand out against all of this competition?

What do I have to do to gain an edge?

The answer is quite simple really and is two-fold: 1) Play often and at the highest level possible; 2) Find a competitive advantage and then work at it until it separates you from the pack! The combination of the two will pay dividends you can only hope for at present but from one who has coached soccer athletes at every level…you have to remember that one question: “What makes me special?” Answer that and you will be among the top 1% and will have an opportunity to play when everyone else is sitting on the bench or in the stands.

Coach Z

I have built many sport-specific strength and fitness training programs for top-caliber athletes over the years…I hope this works for you.

Remember, you need to vary your workouts to match the intensity of your other training. Cross-training is difficult but vital to your success. The main issue with sport-specific strength and fitness training at any level, but particularly when first starting to train, is overtraining. Overtraining can derail the whole effort. You can run into problems with connective tissue, illness, excess weight loss, and malaise…all related back to overtraining, simply doing too much, too soon, and not in the right balance.

That being said, your goal must amazing, it must excite you…the hurdles are immense but not insurmountable, you simply must have a plan.

The first part of any sport-specific strength and fitness program is the evaluation. You must have an honest, heart-to-heart with yourself and with your team to access where you are now and where you want to end up, relative to fitness. You also need to establish incremental goals along the way, as well as the ultimate goal. In other words, you need to know where you are and where you are going…where you want to end up! That being said, you must do it the proper manner, progressing in just the right way, and timing it all just so…so you peak at just the right moment.

You are about to embark upon the journey of a lifetime and the program, the timing, and the overall coaching is crucial. One component ignored or mishandled will result in a less-that-desired effect. As in business and in life, planning and timing are everything. You are basically embarking upon a launch, a product launch, and you are the product…or will be!

So, here’s what you do:

1) Physical assessment. Know exactly where you stand on a variety of tests, all sport-specific. Test and measure everything, just as in business!

2) Have an honest discussion with your trainers after the testing to assess weakness and strengths.

3) Develop a plan of attack, and here is the most important aspect, trust your coaches with your development…completely! Even Michael Jordan has a coach. You must turn yourself over to your coach and if he says “S*#t bagels in the parking lot!” You say, “How many and how big!” He’ll tell you for how long…until he says stop!

4) Get started!

5) Assess often but not too often, as that may be counter-productive. Some gains will come fast and others will need constant attention and prodding for you to get ultimate results.

OK!

Now, how do you work out?

Based on the tests, the assessment, the discussion, and keeping the ultimate goal in mind, the training should be varied and should follow an adaptable and forward-thinking plan.

1) You need to vary eccentric and concentric (negative-based and positive-based) activities. The negative will allow you to get to muscle fibers and to a degree impossible with a concentric only or a concentric-based routine. But you must vary the attack, one day concentric, two days later eccentric. And so on! Too much of one or the other will lead to minimal gains, no gains or, worse possible scenario…you will go backwards and lose strength and muscle, finally getting sick.

Balance in sport-specific training is everything!

2) You must have a cross-training, anaerobic/aerobic fitness approach…always pushing the boundaries of what is anaerobic and what is aerobic. As your fitness level increases and improves you will find what was once anaerobic is not aerobic…then you push again!

Always push the boundaries!

3) The balance between circuit training and conventional weight training is crucial. You need to push the aerobic/anaerobic envelope by increasing the intensity of the circuit, while balancing weights and machines.

Once again, the proper balance is everything!

Penn State, many years ago (late 70s and early 80s) had an awesome football program, in large measure because of Papa Joe Paterno…but also because of their strength and fitness program. However, as with human beings everywhere, they were looking for ‘something better!” Enter Nautilus! Penn State changed over their entire system to accommodate this new fitness machine, all the rage at the time. They almost completely eliminated the free-weight, power aspect of their training in favor of Arthur Jones’s new claims that a 30 minute workout was all anyone needed…that…

“To do more was like tenderizing hamburger!”

Well, Penn State and Papa Joe bit and changed their program. In one year their program tanked! Joe Paterno is no dumby, and he certainly didn’t have to be hit over the head to know he’d been wrong, the next year the reintegrated the weights and two years late they were national champions!

Enough said!

The balance was everything, that and working out in a sport-specific manner.

You see, it is not just “muscle-heads” in the gym pumping up for a Friday night date, what I used to call the PPP or pre-party pump. You can’t train like a bodybuilder preparing for a bodybuilding contest or powerlifter preparing for a powerlifting competition.

The workouts I use for my clients, the ones Penn State uses, and used back them, are sport-specific…in this case football-specific in nature.

The right ratio of machine to free weight workout is essential. Significantly, it is also very important which machines are used and which free weight exercises are applied to your sport-specific strength and fitness program.

I tell my students, particularly the football athletes I train, because they all thought you just “had” to bench, just like you may believe a certain nutritional supplement is the best, that the first time they put a bench on the 50-yard line I would let them bench. Of course, I used the same analogy for every athlete, in every sport I trained.

The message is the same, sport-specific exercises, integrating the proper motions and/or movements is of greater significance than how much one can bench.

Interestingly, we have all been taught that you exercise in a certain way, and that certain exercises should be integrated into any workout program. That sort of thinking is, quite simply, wrong!

Additionally, machines in and of themselves are just as bad. Again, there must be a balance between machines and free weights in any exercise program.

Now, make sure that at least one day a week your exercise program, at least the sport-specific weight training portion is a negative or eccentric workout. The eccentric or negative workout should be a high intensity, heavy, free weight workout.

Additionally, one workout should be what I refer to as a “coning” workout, meaning that you work from the heavy to light and finally to complete failure.

A third workout, and each one of these workouts should be a same body part workout, should be a “pyramid” workout, and should go from light to heavy.

The same body part or combination of body parts are worked 3 times a week.

As in:

Monday morning: Upper body “coning to failure” (chest, shoulders, triceps, abs, calves, forearms)
Monday late afternoon: Upper body “coning to failure” (back and biceps, abs, calves, forearms)

Tuesday morning: Legs “coning to failure” (Quads, glutes, abductors and adductors, calves, abs, forearms)
Tuesday late afternoon: Legs “coning to failure” (Hamstrings*, calves, abs, forearms)

Wednesday morning: Monday morning body parts “pyramiding to failure”
Wednesday late afternoon: Monday late afternoon body parts “pyramiding to failure”

Thursday morning: Tuesday morning body parts “pyramiding to failure”
Thursday later afternoon: Tuesday late afternoon body parts “pyramiding to failure”

Friday morning: Monday morning body parts “negative”
Friday late afternoon: Monday late afternoon body parts “negative”

Saturday morning: Total leg blowout! “negative”

Sunday: The Day of Rest from all things!

*Hamstrings, leg biceps or biceps femoris, are the muscles at the back of the leg. Significantly, as you may already be aware, it is one of the most neglected muscles in the body. The proper strength ratio, quadraceps to hamstrings, can make a huge difference in your success as an athlete and also may play a big role in whether or not you have a hamstring injury at some point in your training. The hamstrings are also a key component in power and quickness…and well as in explosiveness (related to power) and speed!

Every workout, you need to do abdominal work, lower back exercises, obliques, calves, and forearms (alternating exercises and intensity)

Every morning your need to be doing very specific neck exercises, most being exercises your trainer can with you with a towel and their hands! Nothing is ever needed beyond that, at least in the early stages, as your neck just isn’t that strong…but needs to be!

As Woody Hayes once told me, “As the neck goes, so goes the body! Work the neck constantly!”

There are a number of exercises I use with my clients that would help but the key is to use the right balance! Additionally, dumbbells OVER barbells, and machines in concert with free weights is key. The free weights offer real world, synergistic benefits machines alone cannot. Dumbbells and single-side exercises are more effective than barbell exercises for sport-specific training…and for competitive results.

I have a lot more I can go into, if you would like me to. I am going to post this generically on one of my blogs, minus your name and all, but if you would like me to expand on this, let me know.

I wish you all the best! I too am a wrestler, a very spiritual family man, as you seem to be, and a husband, father, and grandfather. And I am TuffGuy’s buddy! They say dogs are good judges of character….

Go Figure!

I have trained athletes at every level, I know what I am doing, I hope you will incorporate my ideas, they will help you achieve your goals. If not, I still wish you every good thing, and a place on the team to boot!

Coach Z

PS, Need help making the team? Just getting back into shape?
Contact me via the numbers above or at excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (my personal email address)

The first article in this series on off-season, soccer-specific strength and fitness training dealt with nutrition and diet. The focus was on just how important these two factors are, nutrition and diet. The two are inextricably linked to each other as well as to the overall success of the program. The second article in the series dealt with warm up, stretching, and flexibility. The proper soccer-specific warm up, followed by a comprehensive, individualized stretching program, can make or break not only a single workout but the overall effectiveness of the program and competitive match play, as well. Once the above-mentioned components are in place and their importance understood, it is time to begin the actual soccer-specific workout regimen.

The actual first workout series should begin with a holistic aerobic/anaerobic focus, the soccer-athlete attempting to push himself, and I am using himself in a generic sense, this applies to both male and female soccer-athletes, to the edge of aerobic efficiency and beyond. The goal of such a program is to extend endurance, along with overall fitness and muscle development. The first few workouts should be largest to smallest muscle group based, high intensity circuit training in practice. The entire workout should last no longer than 75 minutes, and that includes warm up and stretching which we have already established as taking no more than 35 minutes. In fact, the actual duration of the workout will be much shorter, particularly if the workout is done as prescribed below. As stated above, the first session on day one will be high intensity circuit training with almost no rest in between exercises. The idea is to push the soccer–athlete beyond his or her current capacity, while at the same time taxing the various muscles involved and forcing them to recover and rebuild.

Before we move on, the concentric and eccentric contractions must be fully understood. The success or failure of your soccer-specific strength and fitness training program is dependent on understanding and implementing the program in the proper manner; and, that means understanding the motions involved in the individual exercises. Proper form is crucial for good results and to avoid injuries. Heavier is not always better! I have watched more muscle-heads train themselves right into stress and trauma-related injuries because of what I call the “bigger, heavier, better syndrome.” Proper form, meaning an emphasis on using the correct technique, often makes or breaks a strength and fitness regimen. In order to implement proper form, seat positioning and the actual motion used during the exercises themselves must be understood. Concentric and eccentric motions are crucial and must be used properly to fully engage the musculature, as well as the associated connective tissue, in just the right way.

The concentric contraction occurs when a muscle shortens in length, thus developing tension. The concentric or positive accomplished when the leg is raised in a leg extension exercise or a bar is brought from mid-thigh to the upper chest in a barbell curl. The eccentric motion and contraction involves tension while the muscle is being lengthened during the downward motion of the leg extension or the downward motion of the bar during the barbell curl. There has been a lot of research done on concentric and eccentric motions, the benefits of each and precisely what muscle fibers are recruited during each motion. Recent research seems to suggest that the eccentric motion actually activates more fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Plyometric exercises are particularly useful eccentric exercises, particularly ones involving a maximum high-force eccentric motion like step jump or box jump exercises. However, jumping exercises, and stair climbing, should not be added to a training program until the soccer-athlete is in the advanced stages, as knee injuries are a reality for inexperienced or unprepared athletes.

The concentric movement is generally the first portion of the exercise and the eccentric the second. The count is usually concentric or positive in two seconds and the eccentric or negative down in four. Or in the case of a lat pulldown, down in two seconds and back out in four. The thing to remember is that the eccentric or negative portion of the exercise is the most effective overall. While the data is somewhat ambiguous, it has been shown in recent research, and anecdotally in over 30 years of training athletes, that the negative or eccentric motion is where the majority of the work is done and where most of the benefit is derived. Eccentric or negative-only exercise routines are very effective but can be very risky. However, if the concentric and eccentric movements are incorporated into an overall program, integrated into a balanced strength and fitness program, the results can be impressive in a short period of time.

Now that the proper movement is understood and the importance of warm up and stretching has been reviewed and is understood, it is time to begin the actual workout. After completing the warm-up and stretching routine, the soccer-athlete proceeds immediately to the leg extension machine. Leg extensions are important because they work the quadriceps, solid quad development is crucial for optimal performance, and also because leg extensions warm up and work the knee and the supporting muscles, tendons, and ligaments associated with the knee joint.

Proper seat positioning in the leg extension exercise is crucial. The seat should be snug against the buttocks and the back of the knees also snug at the front of the seat. Once the seating is correct, lean back, relax your upper body, loosely grasp the handles, and lift your legs. The concentric or positive motion should be up in 2 seconds and the eccentric or negative down in 4 seconds. The eccentric is the negative motion, down, and the concentric is the positive, up. The negative motion is the most important motion overall, and it is the portion of the exercise most people neglect. The exercise should be done to failure, to the point where the legs cannot perform another repetition, between 8 and 12. If 12 repetitions can be completed in good form, it is time to increase the weight. Conversely, if 6-8 repetitions cannot be completed in good form, the weight should be lessened until such time as 6-8 repetitions can be completed efficiently and correctly.

Once the leg extensions are completed, the athlete moves immediately to the leg biceps or hamstring curl, machines will either allow standing or lying on the stomach. The soccer-athlete lies face down on the machine with the buttocks remaining down (do not lift them!), the stomach flattened against the machine pad. Note: the tendency is for the buttocks to lift up which stresses the lower back.

• The legs curl up in 2 seconds, the pad touching the buttocks on the way up
• The weight down in 4 seconds. As soon as the weight almost touches the stack, the weight is lifted back up to the buttocks
• Repeat up in 2 seconds
• Down in 4 seconds

Always, always keep the stomach flush against the machine…and the buttocks down. Continue the exercise until you cannot do another one…or until you reach 12 repetitions. If you get to 12 reps, move the weight up the next session. Always shoot for between 8 and 12 reps, constantly pushing to increase the weight and the repetitions.

Next, move immediately to the leg press machine. Leg presses are a key component to an overall program of soccer-specific strength and fitness. While leg presses are a common exercise, most athletes use the leg press improperly…as do most trainers. The angle of the knee should never exceed 90°! Additionally, the exercise should be performed in a 2 second concentric and 4 second eccentric manner, meaning pushing out or pressing the weight out in 2 seconds and bringing the weight back so that the knees are at 90° in 4 seconds. Once again, this should be done for 8 to 12 repetitions, always pushing for 12 reps and then moving the weight up accordingly. It is advisable, particularly when first starting, to have a workout partner or spotter to ensure safety.

The leg extensions, leg bicep curls, and leg presses are the three most common, and most important exercises for the legs. The exercises should be done in rapid succession, one set for each exercise, particularly when first starting a soccer-specific strength and fitness program, and until failure (the athlete cannot do another rep safely). After a few weeks, additional exercises, sets, and even repetitions can be added to the program for increased intensity and variety. The upper body should always be left relaxed, there should be little to no tension in the upper body while working the legs. Additionally, breathing should be deep and controlled, at no time should the athlete hold his or her breath! Breathing should be out, exhaling during the concentric or positive motion and in, inhaling during the eccentric or negative phase.

Many believe soccer is played with the legs and feet alone. We have already discussed just how wrong that line of thinking is. The leg workout is just as important as the upper body work, perhaps even more so, but not for the reasons many believe. The additional attention the legs receive has as much to do with injury prevention and the development of power, particularly for kicking and for defensive stance, as they do for overall strength and quickness. In the next article we will discuss two more leg exercises, ones that can be added to the above program in time, and two variations of exercises for the calves. The calves are often neglected and must be worked hard and often. I will get into the reasons why. Once again, all leg exercises should be done at peak intensity, and in rapid succession…but with proper form. Once we discuss the additional exercises for the legs and the calves, we will move on the upper body, to include the core muscles…and even the forearms.

CoachZ
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com