An adequate warm-up program is an important part of any stretching and flexibility regime. The right balance of warm-up and stretching an integral part of any soccer-specific strength and fitness training program. Injury prevention is a crucial consideration and and important reason for an individualized warm up, stretching, and flexibility program. Prior to initiating a workout program, a routine soccer practice or a match, the soccer athlete must be warmed up and have stretched for a period of between 15 and 30 minutes, not only to reduce the risk of injury, but to improve training results and match performance.

The proper warm-up routine has several important elements. The elements of a properly structured warm-up and stretching regimen must be integrated into a holistic strategy designed to properly engage all of the various muscles of the body in such a way as to be ready for peak performance prior to the workout, practice or competition. Every muscle and muscle group must be working together and fully warmed up in order to reduce the chance of injury, regardless of whether it is due to stress, strain or trauma.

Why is warming up so vital to the overall success of a training program?

Proper warm-up before training is important for a number of reasons and is responsible for a myriad of benefits. The properly designed warm-up routine prepares the athlete, physically and mentally, for peak performance and for strenuous, physical and mental exertion. While there are many reasons for this, the most important may be the fact that warm-up increases the body’s metabolism and core temperature. As a consequence of an overall increase in temperature, there is accordingly an increase in the temperature of the various muscles involved in training and competition. Increased muscle temperature, and the associated increase in blood flow, allows for muscles that are ready for strenuous activity, being oxygenated, fully fueled, and supple. Additionally, the warm-up will also have a positive, overall cardiovascular effect, increasing both heart and lung function and allowing for more complete delivery of oxygen and energy-providing nutrients to the musculature during periods of peak demand. Once again, this has a ripple effect and the connective tissue, so at risk during periods of strenuous activity, to be warmed up and prepared for activity prior to the workout or competition. The latter is vitally important, as many sports-related injuries are connective tissue based, as in ACL injuries!

How to Develop a Warm-up Program for a Soccer-Related Strength and Fitness Training Program

There are several factors and considerations that come into play when designing a soccer-related strength and fitness training program. Along with diet and nutrition, warm-up, stretching, and flexibility are crucial to the overall success of the program. For that reason, we will spend quite a bit of time on the proper warm-up design and integration in this article.
It goes without saying, or should anyway, that it is very important to begin with the simplest and gentlest movements and tasks first. The idea is to move from one motion and movement to the next, an overall build taking place, and once again a ripple effect leading to a fully engorged and oxygenated musculature prior to strenuous activity. The process of easy to difficult, slow to faster motions and activities, each building and compounding upon the other, fully engaging the athlete’s body and optimizing performance regardless of the task involved.

The body, if properly engaged and warmed up, will be at its mental and physical peak prior to strenuous activity and the demands of soccer-related performance, whether for strength and fitness training, practice or match play. With the body at peak readiness, optimally engaged mentally and physically, the likelihood of soccer-specific, sports-related injuries will have been minimized and the soccer athlete can continue into the training or the competitive area fully prepared. The next step, now that we understand why…is how!

The Four Components of an Effective Soccer-Specific Strength and Fitness Training Warm-up

The first stage is a general, overall warm-up program. The second stage is static stretching and differs from the third stage, that of soccer-specific stretching and warm-up. The fourth stage is dynamic stretching, stretching used to engage and involve the entire musculature, synergistically. The four components are equally crucial to the overall success of the program, one building upon the other, all equally vital. The components come together, in very much the same way as muscles do, synergistically, all four working in unison to prepare the body, physically and mentally; and, also preparing the soccer-athlete for whatever is to come. Once again, this process is designed to ensure the soccer-athlete has minimal exposure and consequently risk of sports-related injuries.

Stage One: Overall and General Strength and Fitness Training Warm-up

The overall, general warm-up consists of mild, minimally demanding physical activity. I recommend jogging, no faster that a brisk walk, generally for 400 meters or one-quarter of a mile. We then jump on the stationary bike, increasing the intensity and duration from a low tension setting and a duration 2 minutes, to a high of medium range tension for up to 20 minutes; and, in winter we start off with the stationary bike. The level of difficulty and the length of time on the bike is usually determined during testing and is determined by the soccer-athlete’s overall level of fitness. A good indicator that the athlete is starting to warm-up is a moderate sweat and perhaps an elevated heart rate and respiration. The heart rate and respiration are usually tracked by chart at the onset of the program and then weekly; this will help in establishing overall training results, and also will aid in watching for signs of overtraining.

The primary goal of stage one is to increase the pulse and respiration, an indication that blood and oxygen are being moved at a faster rate through the body. As stated, increased heart rate and respiration will thus increase blood flow to the muscles and provide for oxygenation and energy supply to the muscles during strenuous physical training. The increased blood flow and nutrients to the muscles also helps elevate the overall body and muscle temperature; and, this in turn will provide for a better static stretching stage.

Stage Two: Stepping it Up and Static Stretching

Stage two is the static stretching phase and is really the basis for overall flexibility. Given the importance of the static stretch, and of flexibility in general, it is always interesting how few soccer-athletes engage in it…or any other stretching routine for that matter. Static stretching is slow, easy, and constant stretching of the various muscles groups and is usually quite safe; and, it is a very efficient and effective means of achieving overall flexibility. The biggest issue with stretching is in the form and the carry out, how the stretches are actually carried out. The proper way is in a long, ballistic-free motion, one of constant and applied pressure to a specific muscle or group of muscles. If done properly, the static stretch is very safe and quite beneficial. During the second stage of the warm-up and stretching program, the static stretch must include the various major muscle groups, working from largest to smallest muscles groups and then back again. The entire regimen will generally last from five to fifteen minutes, at first; and, taking somewhat less time as training progresses.

In order to properly stretch the muscles during the static phase of stretching, the athlete’s body must be in a position in which the muscle or muscle group is under constant, applied tension. To begin with, the muscle or muscle group to be statically stretched is relaxed. Additionally, the opposing muscles are also relaxed. The opposing muscles consist of those muscles “in front of” and “behind” the target muscle or muscle group. Then, carefully and with deliberation, the athlete slowly and carefully places the body under pressure, with emphasis on the area to be stretched, increasing overall tension to the muscle, or muscle group. At the point of greatest tension, the stretch is held in place, allowing the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to stretch and, when possible, to lengthen. This stage of the soccer-related, strength and fitness training program is extremely effective in advancing flexibility. Stage two assists in lengthening muscles and tendons, and in a synergistic fashion impacts ligaments too. The static stretching allows for a greater degree of movement and range of motion. This stage is crucial in sports-related injury prevention, as it, once again allows for a strengthening, as well as the aforementioned lengthening of muscles and tendons.

Stage one and stage two form the foundation for what will follow. The first through fourth stages form an overall and effective soccer-specific warm-up and stretching program. The overall warm-up and stretching program thus laying the basis for the training to follow. It is crucial that the first two stages be completed completely and in the proper fashion before increasing the intensity and moving into stages three and four. The correct implementation of stages one and two will provide for safe and effective exercise in stages three and four.

Stage Three: Soccer-Specific Stretch and Warm-up

Generally, if the focus of the warm-up and stretching was on practice and match play, we would now move to paired stretches and various warm-ups designed to be competition-specific. However, because this is primarily focused on strength and fitness training for soccer-athletes, we usually up the level of the stretching to include another round of static stretching, followed by a number of isotonic-related stretches. The primary focus in stage three must be inside out, largest to smallest and back in. That is, for the upper body a series of stretches including the back, chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps, forearms, wrists, and hands. The neck is very important and great care must be taken when stretching the neck for obvious, and not so obvious reasons. The neck has a number of very small muscles and muscles groups but, as Woody Hayes once pointed out to me, “as the neck goes, so goes the body.” While Coach Hayes is obviously a legendary football coach, but his lesson was not lost on his student (your’s truly). The neck should always get special attention and, as a soccer player, the neck plays so many roles, its importance cannot be overstated. After the upper body and the neck, the lower body is next. Included in the lower body are stretches for the gluteus maximus and minimus, the hips, quadraceps, hamstrings, calves, ankles, and feet. Finally, the abdominals must be focused on, and they get special attention because, like the neck, they are a determining factor in the overall performance of the body.

Obviously, the stretching program can and often does take up an entire workout session, particularly at first and until the routine is set. There are myriad stretches available and any number of them will suffice. However, if you would like to have a personalized program, one effective and designed just for you, you must engage the services of an experienced, and knowledgeable (they are not always the same), strength and fitness coach, one experienced in dealing with soccer-athletes, in particular.

By the time the athlete has completed stage three, he or she should be perspiring and their heart rate and respiration should be significantly elevated. The idea is to integrate the warm-up and stretching into the overall conditioning program is such a way that it has a number of cascading affects and effects on the body of the athlete, all with one thing in mind, optimizing overall development and match performance gains. In other words, it is my desire to see them be able to put it on the pitch!

Stages Four: Soccer-Related Strength and Fitness Training, Warm-up and Dynamic Stretching

Ultimately, the proper warm-up must culminate in a series of exercises known as dynamic stretching exercises or simply as dynamic stretches. Significantly, dynamic stretches often result in injury. The main reason for the high incidence of injuries due to dynamic stretching has to do with athletes who are not trained properly by coaches who are experienced in working with soccer athletes, or athletes in general, or the athletes themselves simply do not adhere to training guidelines. For the reasons stated above, dynamic stretching should only be engaged in when training with a competent strength and fitness instructor; and, not just someone who likes to work out and thought it might be a great business to get into! Dynamic stretching has to do with what I refer to as neuro-muscular coordination and is about muscle conditioning, rather than simply flexibility, as the name would seem to imply. The dynamic stretch regimen is usually designed and best suited for top-level amateur and professional soccer-athletes, those individuals who are well-trained, and are highly-conditioned, competitive athletes. A dynamic stretch routine is usually implemented as a final, ultimate step in a flexibility program adhered to for quite some time and it is obvious to trainer and trainee that the “next-level” is appropriate.

Dynamic stretching usually involves controlled movement, a bouncing or pendulum motion, forcing the muscle beyond its normal range of motion. Gradually and over time the degree of bounce and the range of the swing is heightened and increased to achieve an exaggerated range of motion and enhanced flexibility. The best example of this done in an incorrect fashion may be when young athletes attempt to stretch their hamstrings, one foot crossed in front of the other, bouncing up and down to stretch the biceps femoris. Done in this fashion, the young athlete may cause a micro-tearing of the hamstring and risk serious injury. But they see others do it and they model the behavior. A recipe for disaster…or at the very least a blown hamstring! During stage four, it is crucial that the athlete integrate dynamic stretches that are soccer-specific. Stage four the culmination of the soccer-specific, warm-up, stretching and flexibility program and will result in the soccer-athlete achieving peak mental and physical preparation prior to training and/or match play. At this point in the training session, the trainee is prepared for the what will come next, the rigors of an intense soccer-specific, strength and fitness training program.

Finally, the most neglected aspect of any training regimen, the warm-up and stretching, must come first. Without adequate preparation, both physical and mental, the soccer-athlete cannot hope to achieve peak performance and optimal training gains. The four stage training program is a workout in and of itself and will generally take between twenty-five and forty-five minutes to work through. As the trainee becomes used to the routine, its system and its rigors, the amount of time it takes to get through it is lessened. Interestingly, as time lessens, intensity increases…but so does the fitness level of the athlete. So, when integrating and off-season, soccer-specific strength and fitness training program into your training routine, it is imperative you recognize the importance of diet and nutrition, combined with a proper warm-up and flexibility regimen. With the above two components in place, we are ready to move on to the next ingredient, the actual soccer-specific strength and fitness training program.

Should you desire more information or a consultation, please contact me via email, phone or Skype. Leave a detailed message and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

CoachZ
John Zajaros
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com

Brian Begins, Quits, and Begins Again: Soccer Strength and Fitness Training Begins!

The first thing I do, I’ve always done, with all of my clients, and Brian was no exception, is to sit down for an hour or so and just talk about soccer, his team, his coach, about school, about life, his goals, and about his family. There are a number of issues I wish to get clear during my initial conversation with a prospective client. And yes, at this point Brian was still a prospective client. First and foremost, I need to find out, one-on-one and without parents present, if the athlete really wants to be there, I mean in that situation and facing a training program that will be both demanding and time consuming. I can’t stress this point this enough during the first visit because it sets the template and establishes the tempo for everything that follows. The soccer-specific strength training and soccer fitness training I’ve developed is different from any other kind of progressive resistance exercise that I know of and, for that reason, the athlete, and his or her parents, must be on-board 110%! If any one person in that dynamic is not totally committed, the enterprise is almost certainly doomed to fail, regardless of how much I know or how hard the athlete trains.

I want to be clear about this, I am not a sports psychologist, although I have been able to get athletes to do things most coaches, teammates, and even parents just shake their heads in amazement over. I’ll tell you why that is in tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow! I am certainly not a priest, a reverend or a minister, although everything, and I mean everything, a client says to me stays with me! No exceptions, ever!

I did have one borderline incident, not with Brian. A young lady I was training, a swimmer, had just lost her mother and there was a sense that her life might be in jeopardy. I had to step forward. Thank goodness nothing happened and she never knew I had spoken up to protect her! Even in such a situation, it is tough to regain a child’s trust after “telling on them.”

Anyway.

Brian and I spoke for almost two hours! We talked about almost everything. I say almost everything because every athlete I’ve ever trained has held something back, initially. The final barriers come down but they come down slowly with time, trust, and mutual respect. Kids, in particular, while easy to win over if you show you respect them and their space (literally and figuratively), are absolutely unforgiving if you violate that trust, ever!

So, after two hours Brian and I decided to give it a shot, there was something about this kid, I didn’t know what it was, but he seemed to have a fire inside, just out of sight and well guarded…but there. My challenge? Get Brian to believe in me, so I could help him to believe in himself! Once that seemingly simple task is accomplished, everything else falls into place. Strength and fitness training is the easy part, it’s the head game that takes time and effort.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy with Brian, not at all. Frankly, it never is!

After the initial consultation, I sat down with the family…even his sister who giggled and rolled her eyes a lot, she was all of 8 (and a future client!). The purpose of the final meeting was to clear up any last minute questions or concerns and to lay the groundwork for the first stage in the process of developing, what I always hope will be, a champion. Soccer, football (American), basketball, track and field, triathletes, marathon runners, male, female, young, not-so-young, amateur, semi-professional, and/or professional, they all begin the same way…with a written statement describing, in detail, their immediate (day, week, month, season), intermediate (1 to 3 year goals), and long-term (3 to 5 years) goals. I realize 5 years isn’t long-term in terms of life-events…but in terms of an athlete’s career, it’s definitely up there.

In the personal statement, I try to get the athlete to be as specific as possible and to really spell it all out, nothing is out of bounds and nothing is discouraged. I want them to think, to dream, and eventually to focus! The written statement was our first step, after getting to know each other during the interview phase, in building a plan that would take shape over the first 90 days and carry us for as long as Brian, or anyone else for that matter, stayed with me. Soccer training had always been about the ball and running for Brian. Over the next few months Brian was going to find out that in order to be a true champion he had to gain control of his body as well.

Brian’s personal statement was a real piece of work. I still have it around the house, all ten pages of it, somewhere. I don’t need it, though, I can see it in my head. Brian wanted to make his Bayview’s travel squad, he said he was tired of playing with a bunch of kids that really didn’t care about the game, he knew he wanted to be a great soccer player and the first step was to get off of that “little kids’ team.” “Then,” Brian continued, “I want to make my high school’s varsity team as a freshman!” This was quite a goal because up until that time, no player had ever played soccer on the Bayview varsity squad as a freshman…there was even an unwritten rule to that affect! Those were his short-term and intermediate goals, along with wanting to play with his friend Paul’s premier club team. Paul was two years older and played Under-11 for the Westside Cobras Premier Soccer Club. Brian wanted to be just like Paul, wear that cool black and red uniform with the cobra, and all! That’s how he described it, too. “I want to have a uniform just like Paul’s…cool.”

Finally, Brian stated for his long-term soccer goal, and it was a doozy! Brian wanted to play college soccer and go to school on a “full-ride,” so “my parents won’t have to spend their money to send me to college.” The final goal told me what kind of a young man Brian was, and, as I remember, it brought a tear to my eye at the time! Brian, it seemed, was a very thoughtful young man.

Well, we had Brian’s goals pretty much mapped out, and now it was time to get down to business. Soccer-specific strength and fitness testing…into the whirlwind! It was the night before the test and I was asleep, tomorrow would be the day. Out of a dead sleep I heard the phone ring, at first I thought I was dreaming. I remember it like it was yesterday. Heck, I remember most things about my experience with Brian that way. You’ll understand why as time goes on.

Soccer Strength and Fitness Training Begins…except….

Anyway, I thought, “Who the heck is calling me here at this hour!”

I was actually more than a bit aggravated and it must have come across in the tone of my voice because whoever it was hung up as soon as I said hello…more like yelled hello! Well, I hung up the receiver, tuned over, and put my head back on the pillow. No sooner had I gotten comfortable, and halfway back to sleep, the phone rang again! This time it was Brian, he sounded upset. I looked at the clock radio next to the bed, I was living at the training facility at the time, trying to put everything I could back into the business, and sleeping on a fold-out couch in the office.

It was 1982 and it was 1:00am! Of at least those two things I was sure. Oh yeah, I remembered my name, too!

After my mind cleared, I asked Brian what was up. He said he was sorry for calling so late, and I said not to worry about it. Then, and I’ll never forget this, he said “Coach Z, I found out how much money my parents are spending for this program and I can’t let them do it. I’m going to have to quit.” Then, he hung up before I could say a word.

While I was still trying to figure out what had just happened, trying to clear my head so I could think about what just happened, the phone rang again. Yup! It was Brian. The phone went dead for a moment and I thought he had hung up again. Then, faintly, I thought I could make out what sounded like sobs and sniffles. Yes, I could hear him clearly now, he was crying. I waited until he was ready and we started to talk. It took a while but he finally settled down a bit. I could tell he was holding something back but didn’t want to push it. Besides, this was a discussion beyond his years, one that should have been between his parents and me. But Brian wasn’t going to let this drop and I could tell he had more on his mind, that money wasn’t the whole story, so I pushed a bit.

I said, “Brian, your Mom and Dad only want the best for you and this is the best program available in this area right now. Besides Brian, they’ve already paid me.” He didn’t say anything for a moment, then a moment turned into a minute; and, finally, after what seemed like an eternity he said, “Well, you’ll have to refund their money because I am not going to do it! I can’t!” The receiver went dead again and this time Brian had hung up on me. He was finished talking..or at least I thought so.

By this time it was close to 3:00am and it was clear that sleep was out of the question, my mind was racing, going in a thousand different directions at once. So I got up, put the sofa bed back together, and headed for the showers. Oh well, we’d be opening in a couple of hours and I could get my work out in beforehand. I was just drying off after working out and showering, it was almost 5:00am, when the phone rang again. I knew who it was, so I wrapped a towel around me and ran for the office, getting there just as he was about to hang up (I found out later). I must have picked it up on ring fifteen or twenty! Clearly, Brian wanted to talk.

Once again, I waited for Brian to begin speaking. After what seemed an eternity, Brian told me he was afraid his father would be laid off and they wouldn’t be able to live there any more, the only home Brian had ever known. You see, Brian had listened in on his parent’s conversation about how they were going to make ends meet, put him through my program, and still keep the house if there were any more lay-offs at the steel mill. You see, between 1980 and 1984 almost everyone was laid off at one time or another at US Steel or the Ford plant where a lot of his soccer teammates’ dads worked. The same was true across the rust-belt but Bayview had been hit particularly hard.

A Child’s Solution.

Brian, hearing this and wise beyond his years, took it all in and decided, entirely on his own, that he would step in and fix things for his Mom and Dad. Brian was going to give up his soccer strength and fitness program and, to his way of thinking, his dream of playing soccer beyond his community recreation league team.

Of course Brian’s thinking wasn’t informed and it wasn’t based in fact, at least not all of them. It was, however, based on Brian’s love for his family and his tremendous sense of obligation, unless I could make him understand that things would be OK, he was lost to the program. Trying to think and open the business up for the early birds, I knew what I had to do. I told Brian things would be fine. After a moment to work things out in my head, sell a Gatorade and a PowerBar, and give someone a spot, I promised Brian I would work things out with his Mom and Dad so that if his Dad was ever laid off, and couldn’t afford the program for Brian, I would indeed refund all of his fees and continue to train him, as well.

At first, nothing. I mean not a sound! And then, he started to whoop and holler and cheer and yell! Now, keep in mind that it’s 5:00am on a Saturday morning and his parents have been asleep through this whole thing! I can only imagine, I now know, what Brian’s Mom and Dad thought as they jumped out of bed to see who or what was attacking their son.

Me? I couldn’t stop laughing! Out of joy? A sense of doing the right thing? Relief? Lack of sleep? All of the above? People all over the gym are looked at me like I had a screw loose or something. In the span of about 60 seconds, the tension broke, the problem evaporated, and I convinced a champion, because in every sense of the word he was one, that people do care for each other and he could achieve his goals, if he worked for them. It was all up to him.

Brian had, through his sense of responsibility and duty to his family, shown me, his coach for the next few years, what a true champion is made of long before his next match was ever played. The soccer specific strength and fitness training would contribute to his play, even to his confidence, but Brian’s championship character was cast in granite and formed long before we ever met. What happened next was amazing and….

Next: Brian’s Soccer-Specific Strength and Fitness Physical Test…and a new rule. No more eating before work outs!

See you on the pitch!

CoachZ
216-712-6526
coachz@ultimatesoccertraining.com