all posts post new thread

Other/Mixed How would you design a program for soccer?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

apa

Level 5 Valued Member
Anyone here following soccer wc18 here?

I thought it would be a fun read if people chimed in with a hypothetical program for playing soccer.

Not world class level, more recreationally.

Besides the obvious running, sprinting, speed and skill work. Or how would you structure sprints with squats etc.
 
Great question! I'm interested in this topic as well, and following the world cup.
 
I don't think you'd need to do much energy systems work - they get that within their sport already. Unless you do sprint/multi-directional speed/agility work in the offseason.

Soccer needs power endurance, so a basic programming scheme of max strength - power - power endurance sounds right. I wonder if some StrongEndurance protocols might benefit here

I'd probably incorporate alot of single leg work, supported and unsupported. Extra stability work as necessary. 70-80%, doubles and triples. Overall low volume Soccer has a terribly long season, so choosing exercises that minimize the eccentric. Maybe Step-Up's over RFESS single leg squats.

Upper body strength would be important for strikers/defenders who do a ton of tussling for balls in the air. I bet you could make an argument for cleans...KB or barbell to assist with decelerating/accepting force.


Great question!
 
North Coast Miller said:
Lots of interval training. I have to think a bit more about how I'd put it together, but intervals would feature prominently.
Click to expand...

Combined with lots of aerobic base building!
It’s 90mins of intervals, you’d need a very strong aerobic base to continue to recover from the anaerobic bouts

Combined with base max strength, topped off with strength endurance, sounds like a periodized year plan! Something like max strength over the winter, followed by a period of strength and aerobic endurance, then strength and running anaerobic intervals shortly before the season?
During the season the matches themselves should bring enough of that, so focus on maintainance and mobility/not getting injured?
 
There's no time for periodization.
The season lasts from August until the mid of May, with just a 3-4 week break in the winter. In England there's not even a break in the winter.
In the summer a lot of players play every 2 years (world cup every 4 years + continental cups every 4 years), too.
So out of the 52 weeks per year you have at best 8 weeks that you can consider off-season.

Aerobic base is the most important non-soccer specific thing for a soccer player. Professional soccer players cover a distance of ~11Km on average per game and have to do that almost twice a week.
Like @wespom9 said they get their energy system work through the games and during regular practice. You don't need to program specific interval work.
Aerobic base is covered by multiple long runs per week. All of them basically MAF, because you can see the players joking and talking during those.

As a former goalkeeper I can say that S&S is very good supportive training for that position. Goalkeepers need to be explosive and able to get of the ground quick. Swings and TGUs really help with that.
 
I agree re the periodization not being feasible except in off season. At least for block periodizing, I'd still do some daily.
Keeping in mind this is for the recreational athlete who just wants to be better than they are.

For intervals I'd consider medicine ball or sandbag with jogging for recovery - short sessions. Footwork ladders in circuits with chinups and pushups. Duckwalking with light jumprope. Again, I wouldn't do more than 30 minutes or so per day.
 
Recreational player here off and on, mostly as a kid. Been wondering myself about their training while watching the WC matches.

Since soccer has such high demands for skill, playing, whether practice or a match is most important. Anything done outside of that needs to be carefully thought out. I wouldn't do anything interval related unless play was very limited. I would focus on basic strength and aerobic fitness done in such a way as to never take away from the game. Something Easy Strength like, always staying fresh, and MAF style running, never building significant fatigue. The less time on the ball, the more I would consider other stuff.

A lot of it depends on how serious you are, and how much you play. A friendly match once a week as a prelude to a trip to the pub, vs highly competitive league and tournament play.
 
You're going to have to narrow that down quite a bit, I think....

age, level, pro, recreational.

You could design a perfect program for each and they'd look totally different. For a once a week knock about with your mates down the 5 a-side pitch for an hour and beer and analysis afterwards....a couple of runs during the week, a couple of strength sessions or interval training covers it. Needn't be complicated but that is different if 45 v 21 and different too if an athletic 45 year old to an out of shape one. Many people play football into their autumn years and either play at an intensity of a 17 year old they still think they are (me) or approach it as a light walk about for a laugh and do nothing at all the rest of the week. Both groups end up injured.
Or do you train like a professional player? Do you have the time to commit? Do you have a physio, nutritionist, masseuse handy for support and recovery......it would really depend on the demographic....
For a competitive amateur or semi-pro level in your mid 20s with a job and time pressured with a season from late summer to early summer......easy aerobic base and strength, pre season: skill and team practice, shuttle sprints and agility. Season, game once a week, team practice twice a week with some combined S&C, rest and recovery on other days. And that is dependent on skill and level......plenty of very powerful athletes at a pro and amateur level who can't pass properly nor kick accurately with their other foot. Bugs me to bits.

Additional acting classes are compulsory.
 
double clean, double squat, swing. that's all i recommend, base on my exprience
 
ali said:
Both groups end up injured.
Click to expand...
Yes, probably no other sports demoraphic has the injury rate of 30+ years old recreational soccer players...
I think that's because most of them just show up on gameday and go all out then without any other form of strength training.

ali said:
shuttle sprints and agility
Click to expand...
This!
I'm only 30 now, but whenever I play soccer, basketball or tennis these days I take a lot of time properly warming up with lateral moves, because I started to feel how all that cutting and hard stopping after not doing it for a couple of years started to aggrevate my knees if not taking care of.
IMO single leg strength work and lateral work is a must if you aim to stay injury free.

ali said:
Additional acting classes are compulsory.
Click to expand...
Soccer is and will always be my favorite sport, but this is really sad.
I just had a talk with my father about this. Look at players like Neymar. The guy is covered in tattoos, including spots like neck, ribs, wrist and fingers (places that hurt a lot while tattooing), but if someone just braces him he acts like he's in so much pain as if someone ripped his leg off...
I'm really glad that there are players like Sebastian Rudy from our German team who got kicked in the face, broke his nose, didn't do any acting and then had to be stopped by the doctors, because he wanted to continue the game nonetheless.
 
Pepe of Portugal leads the way! They should use VAR for dodgy acting too. I don't know how some of these guys don't get embarrassed.
On the football side, an open competition so far, up for grabs.
@Kettlebelephant, I had Germany down to retain the title but not so sure now.
 
While watching the end of group play, I got to thinking about this topic again. While skill and conditioning are paramount, there is so much heavy contact, and so many injuries, that I think strength training could be help. What give the most bang for your buck to help win balls and stay healthy?
 
vegpedlr said:
While watching the end of group play, I got to thinking about this topic again. While skill and conditioning are paramount, there is so much heavy contact, and so many injuries, that I think strength training could be help. What give the most bang for your buck to help win balls and stay healthy?
Click to expand...

This is smart thinking. Injury prevention work and LOTS of soccer practice. Specificity trumps everything.
 
Make a program that doesn't interfere with the soccer practice, generally basic strength training.

Ofcourse there are some things you don't know, like how many times they play in a week, injury's, job's, etc.

Let's assume they do two easy soccer practices and 1 competition each week.

What I would do would be something like this:
- first day: Squats (3 x 5), bench (3 x 5) and power clean (5 x 3),
- second day: Squats (3 x 5), shoulder press (3 x 5) and deadlift (1 x 5)
- third day: S&S

Recent research has indicated that sport specific training would only counter benefit the trainees, because when you mimic the movements with different objects or weights, you're interfering with the coordination and timing they need in the sport.

So the most practical strength training should be basic (IMHO) not to interfere and the sports specific adaptation are trained with the practices and the competition in the week.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom