Recently we’ve been discussing Weight training and soccer conditioning.

Without a shadow of a doubt weight training also known as Resistance training is very important and a crucial ingredient in search for that elusive contract.

The problem is this, many soccer players and coaches have not identified the importance of resistance training.

Is it a shame or a disgrace? You can decide.

Any coach or player that suggests you don’t need resistance training is pulling your leg.

Science, testing and trials clearly prove that resistance training significantly improves soccer performance.

So how does resistance training help?

Resistance training improves sprinting and your jumping ability while strengthening muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. Lets break down the benefits.

Sprinting-

• Increases your top speed to some extent.
• The ability to sprint over a greater distance without fading.
• The ability to sprint in the final minutes of a match.
• Increased acceleration and sharpness.

Jumping-

• Increased vertical leap.
• The ability to jump over players to head the ball defensively and/or offensively.
• Key figure in set plays, free kicks and corners.
• The ability to score goals even as a defender.

Conditioned Muscles-

• Gives you strength and can help keep the body in proper alignment, prevent injuries and provide support and good posture.
• The ability to perform repetitive contractions over a period of time.
• Gives you endurance and power.

A significant benefit of resistance training that gets overlooked is the prevention of injuries. So why are so many soccer players and coaches avoiding resistance training?

Testing and research proves that resistance training should be a part of the overall training program for any player.

So what’s going on?

Could it be urban legends, gossip or even regurgitation of false information?

Could it be Chinese whispers, innuendo or mismanaged imaginations?

You better believe it!

Important- The information provided here is based on facts, science and my experience.

When a theory or a hypothesis gets proven using science and testing, the results are published in medical journals and sporting literature. Remember these are not opinions these are facts.

Does everyone agree?

Obviously not!

There are many coaches who still believe prepubescent (age 6-13) players should not participate in a resistance-training program.

Excuse me while I stop laughing.

These naïve coaches still believe that resistance training for children of this age is dangerous.

Please are we living in the millennium?

Unless you’ve been living on the moon, science has come a long way in the last 5 years, not to mention the last 5 decades.

For all those coaches resisting change or the facts, wake up. This is proven! Numerous studies have found that prepubescent’s can safely and effectively participate in structured, well-supervised resistance programs.

Strength gains occur in youngsters because of adaptations in the neuromuscular system. (Refer to Soccer Conditioning- Keep an eye on the GAS)

Does resistance training work?

I’ll let you decide.

Ajax Amsterdam FC has a very successful youth academy. They have produced superstars for decades now. This academy back in the 80’s was supplying the world of soccer with some of the biggest names. It wasn’t too long before the big clubs came knocking.

The big clubs were intrigued by the success and investigated their training methods. What they discovered was 6-13 year olds undertaking resistance training as part of their youth development program. What a surprise!

Do you know which players were the guinea pigs for this program? Lets see if any of these names ring a bell.

Patrick Kluivert

Marc Overmars

The De Boer brothers

Kanu

Ed Van der Saar

Edgar Davids

Winstone Bograde

Michael Reizinger

Clarence Seedorf

Finid George

Jari Litmanan

Dennis Bergcamp

So we can safely assume it works.

So what are the guidelines?

For starters the training program must be safe, effective and structured. Supervision must be provided and emphasis placed on correct form and technique. It’s important to remember that young players are not little adults and should never be trained as adults.

• Weight training programs designed for adults should never be used on young players.
• Young children should not lift, push or pull more than 15 reps per minute. Exercises should be specifically designed for the individual player, not for the whole team.
• Weights and exercises are chosen depending on the child’s strength and technique.
• When using exercise equipment, ensure that the machines are suitable for the shorter body of the child. If not, do not use them.

Since we live in the new millennium, here’s a thought for all the pre-historic coaches that are still coaching in the stone ages.

Wait for it!

“Resistance training can be performed without weights.”

For those of you that are confused or don’t believe me, hang around for a simple resistance program.

The following program is designed to be performed on the training grounds with no equipment, so there’s no excuse.

The Ajax Academy designed this program and utilise it 3 times per week for a period of 4 weeks. After the 4-week period they discontinue this program for 1 week and then return to it again and continue the cycle.

This program is specifically designed for young players and the resistance comes from their own body weight.

Ajax Academy Resistance Program

The program is performed in a circuit fashion, completing 2 circuits each workout. Also the number of repetitions completed is cycled, so that the intensity varies each week.

Week 1- 8 repetitions

Week 2- 12 repetitions

Week 3- 12 repetitions

Week 4- 10 repetitions

Rest periods are 60 minutes during the first cycle (4 weeks-1 week rest=Cycle)

After a period of several cycles the resting period reduces to 25 seconds.

The 2 workouts consist of the following exercises.

Day 1

Bodyweight Squats

Bodyweight Side Lunges

Heel Raises (Calf presses)

Crunches

Twisting Crunches

Back Extensions

Push Ups

Pull Ups

Day 2

Bodyweight Lunges

Bodyweight Step Ups

Calf Raises

Bicycles

Crunches

Back Extensions

Narrow Push Ups

Push Ups on Knees.

Lets be honest here, who has not admired the titans of Ajax.

What youth has not dreamed of becoming a soccer star?

A piece of that puzzle is staring you in the face.

“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”

Many soccer players these days spend hours in the gym. Are they trying to build muscles like a body builder or are they trying to condition and strengthen their muscles?

The reason your muscles get bigger and stronger is because the human body adapts to its environment and the stresses placed on it. Scientists have labeled this process GAS.

Do you know what GAS stands for?

Gas is a scientific abbreviation, which stands for General Adaptive Syndrome.

Without going into too much scientific jargon, the theory of GAS assumes your body works in cycles. A cycle begins when you’re body is placed under stress or introduced to a new stimulus such as weight training or a solid sprint session.

Lets illustrate with an example.

You’re at the gym ready to train your legs. You sit on the leg press and complete 3 sets of 80kg. What would happen if you tried to press 120 kg or a significant heavier weight? You might pump out 2 reps at best and quite possibly end up with no repetitions.

The increase in weight reduces your overall performance doesn’t it? The leg press motion of 30 repetitions (3*10@80Kg) has now been reduced to 0-2 repetitions (120kg).

Is this a good thing? Decreased performance can’t be good or can it?

When you tackle the heavier weight, your body and brain will make the required adjustments. What part of your body sends signals to the muscles to contract?

Anyone?

It’s called the nervous system. With the heavier load your nervous system becomes more efficient and can send a stronger signal to the required muscles. The increased load then causes micro tears in your muscles that eventually heal themselves and grow back stronger, thicker and bigger.

The secondary benefit of lifting weights is that your bones thicken and your joints become more stable as the supporting muscles and tendons become stronger. Anyone that’s had a knee or ankle operation knows how important this benefit is.

I know what you’re thinking. If I keep lifting heavier weights I will become the strongest soccer player in the world. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.

The body seems to plateau and the adaptation rate slows down and it seems no further benefits can be gained. Has anyone experience this?

You could spend 6 solid months in the gym and continue to see improvements. Then on the 7^th month it seems that what ever you do has no overall effect. This is called the plateau phase.

The plateau phase can also exist in your training sessions when you’re out on the pasture kicking the round ball.

If you want to become stronger and super conditioned this phase must be avoided.

So how do we avoid this? Chances are you’re already in this phase. Don’t stress, you can also overcome it.

The key to getting stronger and fitter is to stay in the adaption phase for as long as you can while avoiding exhaustion.

Stop scratching your head; it’s easier than it sounds.

When you feel like you’re in the plateau phase take a week’s rest from the gym. Give your muscles a rest or reduce the weight load significantly. This rest will allow your muscles to freshen up in preparation for the start of the cycle again.(Blue line in the graph)

Most literature papers recommend a time frame of 4-6 weeks of heavy lifting followed by a week of lighter or no lifting.

To most of you this isn’t anything new.

The secret to manipulating this plateau phase depends on the routine you choose on returning to the gym from your spell. Start a new routine that’s similar to the initial routine prior to the spell.

You don’t want to over train.

Keep the movements the same but add little variations and get stuck into the heavier loads again.

Remember this, if you’re workout does not challenge you this could easily lead to overtraining where the muscles are starved of any new stimulus.

This will inevitable lead to burn out.

To dodge this, the two most important things for you to add to your routine are variety and rest.

“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”

Have you ever noticed or admired the legs of a soccer player?

Their function is to produce force and cause motion. There are 2 types of muscle fibers, slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch fibers contract for long periods of time but with little force while fast twitch fibers contract quickly and powerfully but fatigue very rapidly.

The story of muscles so to speak, can be traced back to the Olympics in Ancient Greece. An Olympic wrestler by the name of Milo was regarded as the strongest man of his time.

Milo wore the Olympia crown on six occasions and was undefeated and undisputed. He competed until the ripe age of 40 and became a legend in Ancient Greece.

Many Greeks at the time questioned where he got his strength from and the tale that still circulates today goes something like this.

Milo grew up on a farm and spent his early days helping his father. Milo’s father placed a new born bull in his care and told him to protect the bull at all cost.

After these initial instructions, Milo’s father asked him

“How big is the bull today?”

Milo not wanting to disappoint his father quickly ran out and picked the calf up and carried him inside to show his father.

Each day, Milo’s father asked him the same question and each day Milo carried the bull to his father. This continued every day for a number of years. As the bull grew, so did Milo’s strength and muscles. After several years of this Milo could carry a full grown bull on his shoulders.

The legend was born and the rest is history.

So what’s the point to this tale?

Firstly, Milo didn’t begin to try and lift a full-grown bull. He began slowly when the bull was young and small. Not only that, he carried the bull every single day for years.

Could the legend of Milo carry a full-grown bull from the start? I strongly doubt it.

What would have happened if Milo attempted to lift a full-grown bull from the start? Chances are he would’ve got injured and frustrated only to give up.

So today’s tips is this,

You should always begin slowly and gradually work your way up. Don’t tackle the impossible from the start. Instead, establish a reasonable goal and then keep progressing towards it at a pace that is suitable to you.

Also, Milo became progressively stronger because he lifted a heavier weight each day.

Could this be achieved if he lifted the same weight every day?

Had he lifted the same sized bull ever day, he would not have become stronger because there would have been no need for his muscles to adapt to make him stronger.

To effectively strengthen your muscles you need to gradually overload them with more weight over time. If you want to increase your soccer performance, you need to ask yourself if your muscles have received a new stimulus in the form of more repetitions, drills, sprints, weights or even exercises.

Don’t get impatient with your strength or your soccer training results. Remember the words of Milo’s father,

“How big is your bull?”

Is your training today hard enough to prepare yourself for tomorrows training?

Stop wasting your time and get the elbow grease out, roll the sleeves up, grit those teeth and work your arse off.

Before you know it you could be at the steps of Anfield or Old Trafford carrying your own bull.

“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars”.

Fitness is required at all levels of the world game. But if you want to succeed at the highest levels then fitness and the associated pain that comes with getting conditioned is a must. At a junior level, fitness will improve both their effectiveness and enjoyment. The objective of fitness in Soccer is to allow the players to cope with the physical demands of the game while allowing each player to harness and improve their technical and tactical abilities.

So how do we define fitness? What is soccer fitness? For starters, Physical fitness is a general state of being physically active on a regular basis to maintain good physical condition. If you look at fitness through the eyes of biologists, then fitness is defined as an individual’s ability to propagate its genes. Anyone remember Charles Darwin’s theory of Survival of the Fittest.

A generic and basic definition of Fitness is the functioning of the heart, blood vessels, lungs and muscles at optimum efficiency. Soccer fitness can also be broken down even further into 5 categories. The categories are aerobic fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition.

Soccer fitness as mentioned above is based on the attributes an individual has (genes) and the ones he has acquired through training (conditioning). Using the above definitions we can safely assume that soccer performance is influenced by inherited genetics and the quantity and magnitude of training. Don’t let this fool you; even the most naturally gifted player will still need adequate conditioning. Both components of soccer performance go hand in hand.

Never forget that different sports require different levels of fitness and various components of conditioning.

• Soccer players must be able to compete and perform for 90 minutes.
• They require prolonged strength that will last for the entire match and we refer to this as endurance.
• Must have explosive strength to have the ability to sprint and change direction.
• Must have strong and developed legs to produce force that will enable them to pass, shoot and tackle.
• Last but not least, good levels of agility and co-ordination which comes from having a lean body composition.

During a game, the intensity and the fitness requirements vary considerably. From sprinting down the wings chasing a through ball, to jogging back to your position and to standing waiting for the opposition to take a throw in or corner. So when we train for soccer fitness we must try and replicate the demands of a soccer match. Training should always involve the use of balls to develop and condition the muscles used during a match. This will condition the players and will also improve their technical and tactical skills while keeping them interested and entertained all at the same time.

So far we have defined fitness and all the components of conditioning needed for soccer. So how do we achieve soccer fitness? How do we become a soccer immortal?

Repetition- Most professional soccer players train twice a day, 5 times a week. In order to gain, improve or maintain soccer fitness you must train.

“Practice makes perfect”

To become a great soccer player you must train and condition your body more than your competitors or opponents. Simple as that. If you want immortality you need to train frequently and grace the training fields as if they were battlefields.

Intensity- Don’t go through the motions.

“No pain, no gain.”

Warning- too much high intensity training will lead to injury and fatigue. Train hard, but use common sense as well.

Resistance-Progressive Overload

“Learn to walk before you run”

Training sessions should be designed to stress the player’s physiological mechanisms enough to cause the body to adopt and improve. Gradually increase the workload of your training sessions to increase the player’s aerobic and anaerobic capacities.

Specific Training

Training sessions must be specific to your sport. Design training session for soccer not for marathons. During pre-season add balls to the training program. Also divide players into groups based on their playing position and train these groups separately. A Stopper or centre back doesn’t require the levels of fitness a wing back needs. A wing back doesn’t need the levels of strength a stopper does. Get the picture?

“He who runs in circles never gets far”.

Recovery

Training provides the platform and stimulus for increased performance but it’s during the recovery when the bodies’ physiological mechanisms for improvement are implemented and gained.

“It is a sublime thing to suffer and become stronger”.

Warning- A long break or too greater recovery periods will lead to the benefits being lost and too short periods of recovery will lead to overtraining, fatigue and injuries. Find the right balance.

To summarize this post,

1. Soccer performance can be improved by fitness training and conditioning.
2. Components of fitness can be divided up into aerobic, anaerobic and specific muscle training.
3. Genetic background plays a part in your overall performance but it requires training and conditioning.
4. Improvements in fitness depend on training methods and need to be specific.
5. Frequency, intensity, resistance-progressive overload and recovery all play a significant role in Soccer fitness and performance.

I’ll finish up with one more quote,

“I don’t believe in burnout. I believe in losing your appetite”.

If you’re a soccer player or soccer parent put your hand up. Keep your hand up if your coach provides the training required to develop soccer fitness and conditioning. If your hand is still up, congratulations. You have a solid coach that understands the basic requirements of soccer fitness. IF you’ve lowered your hand then you must reassess your position as a player and/or soccer parent. The choice is yours. You can stay with a coach that in my mind is completely useless, or you can change teams and coaches and give yourself or your child every chance to succeed. People will argue that the coach is not the best but he’s a lovely person. When I hear parents evaluate a coach this way it makes me sick.

“If he’s a lovely person invite him to your BBQ’s and let him socialize with you. The whole idea of going to soccer training is to learn the basic principles of soccer. You owe it to your kids. Just because someone has the title of soccer coach, doesn’t necessarily mean his a soccer coach.”

Next time you’re at training, have a hard look at the coach. Maybe it’s not your kids or you that aren’t good enough.

The activities involved in playing soccer depend on the nervous system. Do you believe me? Have you ever stopped and wondered how the muscles used in soccer actually contract and become part of the “human motor system”? When was the last time you read a soccer book that made these bold statements?

Lets make something clear from the start, it does not matter how strong or fast your muscles are, if they are not properly triggered by the nervous system. If your nervous system does not trigger your muscles then it is impossible to carry out soccer actions correctly.

The nervous system is a control system in which decisions are made. Muscles are under the direct command of the nervous system and every human movement depends on the nervous system. Muscles are just used as an aid once your nervous system establishes the soccer objectives. So what does playing soccer really mean? Here’s one definition I’ll give you that you probably never thought of before. “Playing soccer can be regarded as using the brain to solve soccer problems, with the muscles simply serving as a means of putting the solution into practice.”

Players, human beings or the human body is in a state of constant interaction with its environment, people perceive things and act according to their perceptions. Do you agree? Relating this to soccer, a player must recognise situations on the field and react accordingly. Have we got possession of the ball? Where is my direct opponent? Should i shoot or try and pass? These questions must be answered continuously during a soccer match. To understand how this process occurs, lets investigate the nervous system.

Before I get started, the information I’m providing is Scientific and is fact. I will try and keep this simplistic because I do not want to turn this into a science class.

The nervous system is made up of 2 parts, the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The PNS is made up of the nerve fibers that connect the sensory receptors and muscles with the CNS. The brain consists of all sorts of nerve centers, where stimuli acquire significance and can be translated into executive commands to the muscles.

The brain can send information back to the muscles through the spinal cord and the nerve fibers if an activity needs to be carried out in reaction to a certain situation(stimulus). When the signal from the brain reaches the muscle, the muscle contracts and the action is executed.

Thats was quite a mouthful I know. So lets talk about the role of the nervous system in Soccer. Soccer players are confronted with various situations during a game. Before a player can react to a situation he must first become aware of the situation which is also referred to as perception.

Perception is constructed through the use of the eyes. However, perception is more than just sight. A team mate that is out of sight can make it clear to you that he is unmarked. Hearing is therefore another great sense in acquiring information or perception. The sense of touch is also important and allows you to respond to bodily contact when a defender is trying to dispossess you of the ball. The muscles contain sensors that allow us to move and finally there is a sense of balance. Balance is crucial to a soccer player and these sensors provide information about the body’s center of gravity.

So how does the nervous system carry out soccer actions? Once the brain has created a picture of the game or perceived a certain situation, the player reacts by choosing the most suitable solution. The nervous system becomes active and tries to solve this problem.

The brain sends signals to the muscles that need to carry out the soccer action(s). The signals contain information about which muscles need to be contracted, for how long and at what force. It also informs other muscles to keep the body in balance during the execution of the action. The nervous system develops optimal control of the various muscles so that the efficiency of a movement increases. To put it simply

A soccer player is a complex control system, which continuously registers information and processes and uses it to execute soccer actions.

In conclusion to this post, a soccer player depends on his nervous system in everything that he does. The nervous system is the most important facilitating factor in the context of playing soccer. Remember these 2 key points

• Sensory processes enable soccer players to perceive soccer situations.
• Motoric processes enable them to carry out soccer actions.

Playing soccer, training hard and repetitive soccer movements can improve the efficiency of your nervous system. Improved coordination results in a steady increase in the amount of information that is unconsciously processed during the execution of a soccer action. This results in certain soccer actions becoming automatic which allows the player to pay more attention to what is happening around him on the pitch.

So when the books and magazines preach repetition and continuous training, you now know the reasons why. If you’ve just finished reading this, put on the boots and go practice some more. Learn to concentrate on everything you do and the results in the future will speak for themselves.