Full Season Soccer Conditioning 1 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Full Season Conditioning Program A complete season of conditioning sessions for high school and college age teams. WORLD CLASS COACHING 3404 W 122 nd Terrace, Leawood, KS 66209 ISBN 0-9773419-7-6 Copyright WORLD CLASS COACHING 2007 All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Author Scott Moody Edited by Tom Mura Cover Brian Fox Published by WORLD CLASS COACHING Full Season Soccer Conditioning 2 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Table of Contents Chapter 1 page 4 Week One Chapter 2 page 7 Week Two Chapter 3 page 10 Week Three Chapter 4 page 13 Week Four Chapter 5 page 16 Week Five Chapter 6 page 19 Week Six Chapter 7 page 22 Week Seven Chapter 8 page 25 Week Eight Chapter 9 page 30 Week Nine Chapter 10 page 33 Week Ten Chapter 11 page 36 Week Eleven Chapter 12 page 39 Week Twelve Full Season Soccer Conditioning 3 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions Week One Full Season Soccer Conditioning 4 WORLD CLASS COACHING
We will start off this season with a week s worth of introduction to the various exercises and test that will carry us through the Fall Season. This is purely to establish a baseline so that we can measure the improvements we made during the course of the season. The following is the indoor workout for Week 1 (August 21 st ): Please refer to the articles on Warm Up, Strength, Conditioning and Cool Down for a broad explanation of what we are expecting to get out of each of these exercises. As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 1. This is a week that we want to gather as much baseline data as possible. We will use the on-field workout (usually for speed and agility), for testing and technique work. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 5 WORLD CLASS COACHING
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Training Sessions Week Two Full Season Soccer Conditioning 7 WORLD CLASS COACHING
After working on technique last week, we want to establish a good working max for the athletes this week. If the players are still a little shaky on technique, don t allow them to go heavier than they can control or push a load that causes them pain. Stick with reps that look good and still push them this week. Continue to focus on the technical component and make sure that they understand how quickly we want them reacting during the plyometric work (lateral balance hops, jump squats and split squats). We want to have good quality reps, not heavy and sluggish. During the summer we should have pushed them to increase their strength and now in the fall we should be fine tuning their power and confidence in these drills. The following is the indoor workout for Week 2 (August 28 th ): Please refer to the articles on Warm Up, Strength, Conditioning and Cool Down for a broad explanation of what we are expecting to get out of each of these exercises. As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 2. This week we want to put in our quick foot drills and ball based transition to practice. Ask the players how they feel as they transition into practice. They should feel really warmed up and ready to go. You should notice that they look a little sharper and react a little quicker than normal as you start your practice session. The conditioning should still be based around building an aerobic base. The broader the base the faster they will recover during the practice (rep to rep and drill to drill). Without this base, they will have a steady drop off in quality as the practice goes on. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 8 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Full Season Soccer Conditioning 9 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions Week Three Full Season Soccer Conditioning 10 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This week we will start to increase the demand of the workout from education to repetition of good form. We want to continue to improve the quality of the plyometric work and rhythm of the movements. We have added bands to the warm up movement stabilization period this week. By adding the bands you are not only challenging the muscle groups of the hip area, but also challenging the conditioning level of the athletes. This type of training is in the beginning of the workout so it is not supposed to be conditioning based. You can challenge them for brief periods of time, but don t trash them for the rest of the workout. In the strength section, you want to project maxes for the 3 strength exercises. For instance, if the player lifted 100 lbs in the squat, you would want to start them at about 70% of that max (70 lbs) for a warm up set and then do 3 sets at weights between 80 and 90% of their max for the 3 sets of 3. This should be fairly easy and you should see them coming up explosively with the weight on each rep. If the form is shaky or if they are having pain, lighten the weight. Remember that we are not trying to make them stronger; we are just trying to keep them strong during the course of the season. We also don t want them to be sore at practice or during the weekend games. This low volume workout should keep them strong, but allow them to put in the effort on the field (not be sore and sluggish). The following is the indoor workout for Week 3 (September 4 th ): Please refer to the articles on Med Ball Training, Band Based Movement Stabilization and Conditioning for a broad explanation of what we are expecting to get out of each of these exercises. As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 3. We are putting in our Ball Agility Training this week to prepare the players for the multi-directional phases. We are also still conditioning the linear speed movements in intervals this week. It is important that they pace them selves (still trying to build a Full Season Soccer Conditioning 11 WORLD CLASS COACHING
work capacity and movement technique) in the conditioning drills so that they finish as strong as they start. Here is the workout for week 3: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 12 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions Week Four Full Season Soccer Conditioning 13 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This week we will continue to develop the aspects we have discussed in the previous weeks, but will start to become a little more focused in certain areas (particularly rotational power and upper body strength. We have cut some of the plyometric work down and added some more med ball training to increase power. Remember that on the med ball exercises (especially Rotational Throws) that the lower body needs to initiate the movement. Don t let the players cheat the movement and muscle the ball into the wall with their upper body. Make them drive off the rear leg and rotate the torso as they throw the ball into the wall. As for the strength exercises we will switch up the Squats and Incline to incorporate more total body movements (Squat to Press) and single leg movements (Box Step Up) which will reduce the soreness and improve coordination. Keep the reps quick and explosive, but heavy enough to challenge them and maintain some strength. The load you choose is primarily based on the quality of the movement. Sometimes it takes a few days for the athlete to understand how much they are able to do. During the season it is always better to error on the side of caution (progress light to heavy). The following is the indoor workout for Week 4 (September 11 th ): Please refer to the articles on Med Ball Drills, Strength and Conditioning for a broad explanation of what we are expecting to get out of each of these exercises. As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 4. Not much changes this week in the on-field workout other than just getting better at the movements and adding a bit of confidence to each exercise. Here is the week 4 workout: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 14 WORLD CLASS COACHING
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Training Sessions Week Five Full Season Soccer Conditioning 16 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This week we will start to use complexes to up the training volume. This is a strategy that we will use to get in more reps without spending more time in the weight room. We will throw in complex weeks throughout the season when we need to take a break from the heavy training, but still keep up some form of strength work. We will continue to use the total body lifts like we did last week to improve coordination and start to transition into the acceleration based training. The conditioning will consist of intervals of sprinting and running to continue to build our work capacity while transitioning in to more of an acceleration mode. The following is the indoor workout for Week 5 (September 18 th ): Please refer to the articles on Strength and Conditioning for a broad explanation of what we are expecting to get out of each of these exercises. As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 5. This week in the outdoor speed and agility session we will transition into movement to and from the ball in our Ball Agility Drills, and start to prepare for our multi-directional drills with some change of pace movements. Here is the week 5 workout: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 17 WORLD CLASS COACHING
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Training Sessions Week Six Full Season Soccer Conditioning 19 WORLD CLASS COACHING
The focus of this weeks training session is Deceleration. We have spent some time strengthening the core and the coordination and now we will put it to use. By using the movements we have been doing on the field and the Band Based Movement Stability work, we will start to focus on half and ¾ speed movement into and out of a cut. It is important to have good feet and not necessarily fast feet in these drills. Only let the players go as fast as they can do it perfectly. We have also strengthened the movements of explosive hip extension and now we will add a speed component to that movement to produce more power. The Med Ball Complexes and Explosive Box Jump Ups and Jump Squats will be just the stimulus that the players are looking for to unlock some speed potential. The following is the indoor workout for Week 6 (September 25 th ): As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 6. Instead of using the bands in the warm up, we will now use them in the conditioning section of the workout. After practice you can use the bands to push the players legs and heart rate to new heights. As they get used to driving (accelerating) out of certain movements we will be developing quick (more powerful) first steps and hopefully get them covering more ground in fewer steps. Here is the week 6 workout: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 20 WORLD CLASS COACHING
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Training Sessions Week Seven Full Season Soccer Conditioning 22 WORLD CLASS COACHING
We will continue with the Deceleration theme this week in the indoor session and use the conditioning block to gage our progress thus far. We will use the same Sport Specific Conditioning Test that we used in the first 2 weeks to measure improvements. They should be covering more total distance as well as sprinting at a faster velocity. We will also get back into the strength loads of 80-90% of maximum to give them a boost of strength for the next few weeks. The following is the indoor workout for Week 7 (October 2 nd ): As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 7. This week we progress our Ball Agility Drills once again to get the players moving the ball. This should give you a good idea of how far they have come, and how far they have left to go. This also becomes a week where you can start to get creative with your Ball Based Transition to Practice Drills. If you got great results with the 60 second Sport Specific Interval you did in the indoor session, you can choose to skip the 90 second Interval conditioning run scheduled for the outdoor session. Here is the outdoor session for week 7: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 23 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Full Season Soccer Conditioning 24 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions Week Eight Full Season Soccer Conditioning 25 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This week we will jump full force into the multi-directional training attacking it during the Neuromuscular Plyometric Speed/Agility Block as well as in the Conditioning Block. The focus should be on transitional speed (the point between the deceleration into the cut and the acceleration out of the cut). Try to make the transition as quickly as possible with no wasted steps. I have attached a short article about transitional speed after the outdoor session workout. The following is the indoor workout for Week 8 (October 9 th ): As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 8. As we get into this week of transitional speed, we also want to progress the Ball Agility work into moving with the ball and controlling it during changes of direction. Here is the out door workout for week 8: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 26 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Transitional Speed (from The 10 Types of Speed Journal) Getting into a cut efficiently as discussed in the Deceleration portion of this journal is just half of the process. To be seen as quick or agile you must also be able to coordinate the deceleration, reaction, and acceleration phases simultaneously...or Transition. This type of speed starts with having control of your body, understanding what the desired outcome of this movement needs to be, and pre-positioning yourself for success. For instance, if you wish to head a ball, you must track the ball s trajectory, anticipate where it is going to be, adjust your path, speed, and angle of approach, survey your surroundings and then TRANSITION from linear movement to vertical movement with absolute precision. How quickly you can assess the situation and reposition your body will help set you up for a smooth, efficient transition from one movement or direction to another. Here is a perfect example, as the player in white (in the pictures below) begins her deceleration (notice the dorsiflexed ankle) she starts to lean back out of the cut into the direction she wishes to go, while the other player uses her outside leg to control the momentum. Now without a delay the athlete in white transitions out of the cut and a noticeable separation is about to occur. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 27 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Two things to notice in the pictures above: Notice the inside leg as the primary decelerator and notice how the athlete in white drops into almost a lunge like position as she transitions out of the deceleration and begins the acceleration (separation) process. There is much less stress on the joints of the athlete in white as compared to the athlete in red. Instead the strength and positioning of the athlete in white allows for a successful change of direction. Plyometric drills combined with the technical precision described above will enhance the precision of the transition. We suggest rapid response and short response plyos for their quick impact and low learning curve. The focus of these exercises should be on reducing the amount of time spent in the drop down, or deceleration phase, then immediately come out of the movement at full speed with no delay at the bottom. For instance in a quick squat, the athlete should drop as quickly as they can into a ½ squat position (athletic stance), then burst up out of the drop using a little bounce at the bottom of the movement instead of a pause or delay. This will teach the body how to react faster when cutting, sprinting, jumping, etc. That bounce out of the deceleration phase is what we call the stretch shortening cycle and it is what is responsible for improved speed and power production. Don t believe me?...do this drill I got from Mark Verstegen while you read this article. Put your right hand flat, palm down, on your chest over your heart. Now raise your index finger and pound it down to your chest as hard as you can. Do this several times. Now take your left hand and pull your index finger back until you feel a stretch. Right now the finger is under stretch. Now increase the pressure against the stretch, and let go with the left hand and feel the finger snap down with much more force! That is what happens when you put the muscle under stretch and then release, or maximize use of the stretch shortening cycle. It is this process that allows you to drive out of a cut without the delay. As you decelerate a stretch goes through the muscles in that movement pattern. When you rotate and drive out of the cut (using the stretch reflex as a sort of rebound) you maximize your potential for a speedy transition. Here are some low level plyos that will get you started. I suggest you use them in your warm ups to fine tune the neuromuscular system. Quick Squats (quarter squats done as fast as possible) Jump Squats (quick jumps for maximum height after a quick quarter squat) Quick Lunges (quick quarter depth lunges leaning over the front leg) Split Squats (done for height, not depth) Athletic Stance 2 legged (quick feet rapid chopping with the feet coming off the ground 1 inch) 1 legged (quick side to side or forward and back movements over a line) Plyometric Jumps 2 legged plyo turns (quick max height jumps turning 90, 180 or 360 degrees) 1 legged plyo turns (quick max height jumps turning 90, 180 degrees in the air) 1 legged lateral (moving down a line, quick lateral jumps) Full Season Soccer Conditioning 28 WORLD CLASS COACHING
After these drills I suggest you get the athletes moving in some change of direction drills. You can use the same drills we used for change of direction as well as accelerating out of backpedals, shuffles, carioca s, and jumps. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 29 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions Week Nine Full Season Soccer Conditioning 30 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This week we bring the bands back to the indoor session during the conditioning block. We want to cut quite a bit of volume out of the workout and put more of an emphasis on explosiveness and getting the most out of every repetition. When we have low reps in core exercise the goal is always going to be power (or moving the weight as explosively as possible). Try and put as much effort into the concentric part of each lift. The following is the indoor workout for Week 9 (October 16 th ): As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 9. In the Speed and Agility Block this week we will focus on combining the Triangle type conditioning drills that we have been doing to condition multi-directional speed and the Ball Agility Drills. If things are looking good you can put another player into the drill and have them react to the movements made by the player with the ball. This is not a competition, but rather a chance for the player with the ball to actually get a game like sense to the drill. Here is the outdoor session for week 9: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 31 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Full Season Soccer Conditioning 32 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions Week Ten Full Season Soccer Conditioning 33 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This week we get back to the basics. As the season winds down we want to continue with the low volume theme, and put in some extra dynamic flexibility drills to loosen the hips after a hard tournament. The strength section will be low volume and we will keep the weights at or around the 80% range. As we finish the season with some larger tournaments we want to keep our volume low in the weight room and put our attention on conditioning and fine tuning technical ability. The following is the indoor workout for Week 10 (October 23): As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 10. This is the last speed and agility session (next week will be post season testing) so if you can progress to letting the players react to one another this would be the time to do it. This session will should be your high point of the speed and agility progression. Place most of your attention on fine tuning skill and quick deceleration, transition and acceleration movements. Here is the outdoor session for week 10: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 34 WORLD CLASS COACHING
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Training Sessions Week Eleven Full Season Soccer Conditioning 36 WORLD CLASS COACHING
This is the last week of the season and we will spend this indoor workout testing. The post season test is a critical part of the season, and without it you will have a hard time determining what could have been done better and how you will improve over the course of the spring. Most people will overshoot their peaks due to not backing off, or undershoot their peaks by backing off too soon. Monitoring your fall season is crucial to determining how you will adjust things for the spring. The following is the indoor workout for Week 11 (October 30 th ): As we go through each of these weekly workouts you may have to refer back to some of the articles to get a better picture of progression, technique or how to make necessary adjustments. Below is the on-field workout for week 11. This is a week that we want to gather as much data as possible. We will use the on-field workout (usually for speed and agility), for testing and technique work. Here is the post season test as a part of our last outdoor speed and agility session. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 37 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Full Season Soccer Conditioning 38 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Training Sessions - Week Twelve Testing and Results Full Season Soccer Conditioning 39 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Testing and Results: NHPI Testing: The groups were evaluated pre and post training using the National Human Performance Institute protocol for standardizing athleticism testing. The categories tested were: Standing Long Jump Standing Triple Jump Standing Vertical Jump 20 yd Dash 20 yd Shuttle Overhead Backwards Medicine Ball Throw These tests are plugged into the NHPI database at www.nhpi.org and the results are calculated and compared to thousands of athletes nationwide. Each athlete was ranked in each area based on sport, gender and age to project a point s total upon which we can measure improvements in overall athleticism. Here are some of the results. Long Jump Triple Jump Standing Vertical Approach Vertical Pre-Test 6.92 ft 21.24 ft 22.55 in 25.85 in Post-Test 7.03 ft 21.64 ft 22.65 in 26.50 in Improvement 1.32 in 4.80 in 0.10 in 0.65 in 20 yd Shuttle 4.80 sec 4.63 sec -0.17 sec 20 yd Dash 3.13 sec 3.11 sec -0.02 sec OHMB 25.21 ft 29.48 ft 4.27 ft These results were significant when compared to the results we have come to know (shown in figure 5 above). This study was not designed to peak any one of these tests. In fact it was simply designed to maintain the level of strength or speed levels that had been achieved in the off-season while increasing conditioning levels. What we found was unexpected. These athletes did not run, time or work any technical aspect of any of these tests during the season yet they improved in every area. The 20yd dash tests explosive starting power the ability to accelerate quickly. We did not do many sprints in this study due to the fact that all speed work was done on a Woodway Force Treadmill. The fact that the technical aspect of the start in this test usually determines the amount of improvement, and those improvements are measured in hundredths of a second; we feel that any improvement at all was a success due to the fact that we never trained this particular component of speed. Therefore we found the improvements in the 20 yd shuttle very impressive. We didn t work this change of direction technique in our training sessions yet they improved from a 4.80 to a 4.63 (increased quickness and agility). The athlete s improvement in lower body power during the course of the season was exactly what we had hoped to see. Increases in long jump and standing vertical were nice, but the improvement in the athletic jump tests like the triple jump and approach vertical where the ability to control and use speed and momentum were even better. This led me to believe that the plyometric and med ball training drills were a nice complement to this workout and actually increased the player athleticism throughout the season. One of the most shocking improvements was in the overhead med ball throw (total body power). An improvement in over 4 feet, is tremendous considering that we never practiced or this type of movement in our training sessions. Although med balls were used, the focus was primarily transverse plane, power development in the form of rotational scoops and shot tosses. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 40 WORLD CLASS COACHING
Overall, this testing was a nice surprise, due to the expectation of nothing more than slight improvements or maintenance of lower body power and speed. CAP Testing: The athletes were also tested on some specific tests designed just for this study by the training staff and advisors to the study. They were tested in the following areas: 30 second Anaerobic Sprint Test on the Woodway Force Treadmill 90 sec Interval Test: Woodway Force Treadmill ü Speed-Power Endurance: speed decreases at each level ü Average Speed: distance traveled in 10 intervals Max Velocity: at 0 Load on a Force Treadmill Power for Speed: speed at each interval with increased load on the Force Treadmill All of these tests were performed on a Woodway Force treadmill which is what we consider an essential tool for the development of speed and power endurance for soccer players. Here are some results. 30 second Anaerobic Sprint Test: We used a modified Wingate protocol for the calculation of Anaerobic Fatigue and Anaerobic Capacity by putting a load of 20% of their body weight minus 16 lbs for the weight of the treadmills belt. This protocol gave us the environment we were looking for to test these conditioning factors in a sprint type movement rather than on a bike. After an adequate warm up of 3 minutes of walking, jogging and short sprints with full recovery we set the load and asked the athletes to sprint with maximum effort for 30 seconds. We measured the distance they covered in 5 second intervals for the full 30 seconds and from that were able to draw our plug in our formula for Anaerobic Fatigue and Anaerobic Capacity. Anaerobic Fatigue Anaerobic Capacity Pre-Test 37.7% 1459 Post-Test 29.2% 1378 Improvement 8.5% 81.8 (or 5.6%) The athletes were noticing the benefits to their conditioning levels by mid-spring. As they got into tournament play and games against better opponents they started telling me that they felt stronger at the end of each game, and by the end of the tournament they were tired but still felt they could play at an intense pace. According to the players this was a complete 180 from how they felt just a few weeks previous. This noticeable change was validated by the Post-Test Improvement. In this very taxing test, they had increased their ability to run farther in less time (Anaerobic Capacity). They also improved in their ability to stay at that higher pace for the full 30 seconds (Anaerobic Fatigue). In the first test they had a 37.7% drop off in speed, and by the post test it was down to 29.2 and take into consideration as well, the fact that their Max Velocity also increased. This means that they were able to run faster than before while not losing as much speed within the 30 seconds. 90 second Interval Test: They also did well in the 90 second interval test. This was a very sport specific conditioning test that took into consideration max velocity, in 90 second intervals of walking, jogging, running, strong runs and sprinting. It also measured total distance covered in 15 minutes, so the athletes not only had to run fast at each sprinting interval, but they also had to cover a lot of ground between sprints which makes for a game like environment. Total Min Speed-Power Max Velocity Distance Velocity Endurance Drop Pre-Test 1514.57 10.3 mph 9.1 mph 11.29% Full Season Soccer Conditioning 41 WORLD CLASS COACHING
yards Post-Test 1758.85 9.7 mph 8.85% 10.6 mph yards Improvement 244.28 yards 0.3 mph 0.6 mph 2.44% improvement In this test they were able to not only go farther (244.28 yards), but also faster! Most of their worst speeds at the end of the spring were still faster than some of their best speeds in the beginning. This 90 second interval test seemed to be a great indicator of what kind of soccer shape the players were in and how long they would last in the game. We noticed that most forwards covered about the same distance in both pre and post tests, but they got much faster. This seemed to be based on the demands of the position and the fact that they all claimed that they felt they could get up the field much better at the end of the game than ever before. They felt stronger and faster as well as feeling improvements in stamina and speed endurance late in games. Midfielders however had much different results from this test. They only had moderate improvements in Max Velocity but tremendous improvements in Total Distance. This too reflects the demands of the position. The midfielders seemed to increase their pace in the walking, jogging and running intervals between max speed sprints, much like a game situation. The comments from the players reflected this, saying that they felt they had stronger legs and more energy later in games. More studies need to be done on the effects of resisted running on endurance and oxygen uptake before we can make assumptions about what this type of training can do for soccer players, but the pilot studies we are doing now and the feedback we are getting from coaches seems to indicate that resistance has positive effects on endurance, strength, power, and speed in soccer players. Sprint Power: During the middle 3 weeks of the study we started to work more power runs on the Woodway Force Treadmill by starting with a load of 5% of their body weight and having them run a max speed sprint. Then every minute we would increase the load by 5% and they would perform another max speed sprint up to 30% (6 sprints). Then we took 2 minutes off and repeated the power sprint format again starting with 5% of the body weight and increasing that load every minute for 6 minutes (6 sprints). This process took about 13 minutes to complete and they ran 12 sprints. The sprints lasted anywhere from 5 to 6 seconds giving them about 55 seconds to recover before the next sprint. We recorded each sprint velocity on each sprint and here were the results: Average Max Velocity at 0 Load Velocity Week 1 10.11 11.1 Week 2 10.18 11.3 Week 3 10.26 11.6 Improvements.14 mph.5 mph When you take into consideration that this workout was only done 3x over a 3 week period, these results are impressive. By doing the power runs we were attempting to maintain some linear power from the work done in the winter. We were not expecting any improvements. The purpose of the power runs was to challenge the athletes to run with more power in the acceleration phase of each sprint. We hoped that this would translate to the field. What we found was that the players were commenting on how much better they felt, but the results did not reflect that in the post test 20 yd sprint (only improving by.02 seconds). In defense of this study format, the post test fell on a week after a major tournament where the players were a little fatigued, but that is to be expected this time of year and that is exactly what we were trying to achieve in this study. We wanted the players to be running stronger and longer even after major tournaments. So in this aspect, I think the runs worked well. Other noticeable changes: Full Season Soccer Conditioning 42 WORLD CLASS COACHING
There was a lifting component in the program that we have not commented on yet. The athlete trained 1x per week in a 15 minute power block and a 15 minute strength block. The exercises we based on maintaining or increasing by 5 lbs or 5% each week in the strength exercises. We gave each player a goal based on a weight in which they could move confidently and aggressively through the desired range of motion and asked that they maintain that or increase that by 5 lbs or 5% whatever was greater each week for 3 weeks. Then we had a back off week where we switched to lighter loads (20-50% less) and then went back to the heavier progressions for 3 weeks. All athletes were able to maintain these prescribed loads and we noticed considerable increases in form and confidence as the season went on. This proved to be a good progression as most of the players squat and incline maxes actually increased by the end of the season (on average +10%). We considered their max a weight that they could control and take through the required range of motion for 3 reps with no pain or form issues. As for the power block of the program, no weights were recorded. We just asked that the players push themselves with a weight and improve their form, speed of the bar or medicine ball, and/or power each week on the same 3 weeks on, 1 week off, 3 weeks on format. Practical Applications and Comparisons: When you compare the results from the table above to a team of athletes that trained all fall and winter but took the spring off as they went into their season, you will find the results are typical of what we have seen over the past 4 years as well as what the research is documenting (1,2). The graphs below depict the results of the percent change between pre and post test in these areas of athleticism. 3.00% 2.00% 2.23% Inseason Changes without Training 1.00% 0.00% 0.19% 0.16% -2.84% -0.69% -1.35% -4.88% -0.62% -0.91% -1.00% -2.00% Ht Wt Reach Long Jump Triple Jump Vertical Shuttle 10 Yd 20 Yd -3.00% -4.00% -5.00% -6.00% 4.00% Inseason Training with Training 1x Per Week 3.61% 3.50% 3.16% 3.00% 2.50% 2.00% 1.50% 1.58% 1.87% 1.00% 0.50% 0.16% 0.12% 0.44% 0.23% 0.64% 0.00% Ht Wt Reach Long Jump Triple Jump Standing Vertical 20 yd Shuttle 10 yd 20 yd A negative number represents a decrease in performance, while a positive number represents an increase in performance. As you can see both groups grew a little and gain weight, but the training group had even larger weight gains (probably due to muscle mass). Also one might conclude that a Full Season Soccer Conditioning 43 WORLD CLASS COACHING
major difference in these tests were associated with the maintaining of specific strength and/or power. The fact that straight ahead speed in a 20 yd dash didn t change by a significant amount, but 20 yd shuttle had significant change might lead you to believe that the 2 changes of direction in the shuttle require a factor of strength, not only to decelerate, but also to accelerate out. This loss of strength during the season could account for the changes in the jumps as well. This information has been proven over and over again by multiple sources, what we were trying to prove in this study was that it only takes 1 hour long session per week to improve (or at least maintain) speed, power, strength and conditioning. For the future we would recommend a program consisting of 1, hour long session per week that will provide adequate strength and power training, with an emphasis on soccer specific conditioning. Combine this with qualified coaches who understand the effects of rest and recovery during the season, and you will undoubtedly peak your potential during the season. Full Season Soccer Conditioning 44 WORLD CLASS COACHING