Resistance-Training Program Training for a Defensive Midfield Soccer Player Isaac Bahena - April 21, 2015 TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DEFENSIVE MID. 1
Introduction I have decided to project on my brother Nelson Bahena, who typically plays the role of a Defensive Midfield on the pitch. The role of a defensive midfield is to hold the ball on the opponents half. Depending on the style the team plays, the defensive midfielder can be one of the most important players on the team. Another role that a defensive midfielder can have is one on the pitch is being a middle man between the defense and either the attacking players or the other midfielders. Testing player performance The 3 tests that I have decided to use for my athlete were the 1RM Back Squat as well as the agility T-Test and the 12 minute run. The reason why I have decided to test his 1RM Back Squat is because in soccer, and especially in this position, you must be able to use your body to win the ball but not only that, you must stay on your feet and control the ball without losing it. The reason why I also chose the agility T-Test was because the movement that you make in this test is almost exactly the same movement you make when you play this position. As a defensive midfielder you are play above the defenders but you are the one that they have to get passed before they get to your defensive line. This means that you have to shift left and right or step up to with a 50/50 ball. The last test I performed was the 12 minute run test. Of course we all know that soccer is not just like any other kind of sport. There is no time outs and there is only about a 15-20 minute half time. Playing for 45 minutes straight with no time-outs, if you have bad conditioning, you will not perform very well. One of the most important things you have to learn how to do is pace yourself. That is why i chose the 12 minute run because if you try sprinting for longer than 30 seconds you will burn out very fast. TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DEFENSIVE MID. 2
Athlete s Performance Testing Test Type Result 1RM Back squat 300 T-Test 10.66 12 Minute Run 1.52 miles Comparing Results 1RM Back Squat According to the charts in our textbook, we find that that Nelson s 1RM Back sweat falls in between the 30 and 40 percentile for high school seniors. Nelson broke his leg 2 years ago and is a bit traumatized about pushing his leg to far. When he told me that he tried pushing it but his knee and leg were hurting for a couple of days which has made his scared. However, he has been progressing slowly and trying to increase that confidence in himself. T-Test Nelson falls just a little bit short from being a recreational college athlete. He actually did not do as bad as I expected. He did try being a little cautious and you could tell when he tried slowing down after that first straight away sprint, however he went pretty fast with the shuffling. Recreational athletes time was 10.5 and he was close but failed to reach the mark by just.16 seconds. 12 Minute Run In this final test I asked Nelson to of course stretch and drink water through out the day because he might get thirsty. I also told him he needed to pace himself and he did a pretty good job at it. He reached 1.52 miles putting him right between the 50 and 60 percentile markings for a 20-29 year old male. TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DEFENSIVE MID. 3
Off-Season During the off-season we know that we have to work on building muscle and conditioning. During the off-season is when the athletes go to the weight room more as well as work on cardio. Off-season is when you work on reaching muscular endurance strength and power as appose to skill with the ball. During off-season an athlete should test out their max for several different exercises about every 2 weeks or less. This will help you see how much stronger you have gotten since the last time you took your 1RM. For this program I want my athletes to start off their first set with 10 repetitions at about 75% of their 1RM. For their second set, I want them to do 8 repetitions at about 80% of their 1RM. For their third and final set, I would like them to do 5 repetitions at about 85% of their 1RM. I would like them to have about a 1 minute to a minute and a half of rest before beginning again to where they are somewhat rested but not cooled down. Exercises to perform during off-season Type of Exercise Power Clean Back Squat Bench Press Crunches Leg Curles Calf Raises Box Jumps Why it is important in Soccer. This is an all body workout and will help strengthen a lot of the major muscle groups that are used in soccer and will keep you strong as well as help with balance. This is important because it strengthens your legs and will help keep you grounded when someone tries pushing you off the ball Although some people say you do not use your arms in soccer, this is false. When guarding the ball one can extend their arms and make their body even bigger and make the opponent have to go a longer way to reach the ball. A tight core is important to soccer because it can help keep your body tight when it comes to someone trying to push you off the ball. It also helps shed that belly that might get in your way when you play and slows you down. When someone raises their leg to kick the amount of power used when they kick the ball, can cause an injury if the antagonist muscle is not strong enough to support the blow. This exercise helps you build muscle that supports your leg and can help prevent injuries. This plyometric exercise helps when it comes to heading a ball that s flying above heads and is coming strength to the middle of the pitch where our defensive midfielder is standing with an opponent and the only one that can get to it is the one who jumps higher and stronger. TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DEFENSIVE MID. 4
Pre-Season Pre-season is the time period where the team is getting ready to start playing some friendlies to prepare for the actual season. At this time the intensity in the weight room has lowered because more of the technical work with the ball has begun. During this period the exercise in the weight room are cut down to lighter loads and less types of exercises. The amount of time spent in the weight room at this point is split at 50/50 with the time spent practicing on the ball. Due to the limited amount of time that there is in the weight room we work, with my athlete on both upper and lower body still. Pre-Season Exercises. Types of Exercise Bicep Curls Bench Press Back Squat Leg Curls Why We still want to exercise upper body and try working on different muscle groups without risking the possibility of over using a muscle and causing injury. This is still one of the essential exercises that should be used in soccer to help build strength and let your presence be known. Because you want your presence to be felt in the middle of the pitch, and you want to be strong enough to withstand a standing tackle, you want to have good balance and a lot of that has to do with the amount of strength that you have on your legs, thighs, and gluts. Because we want to avoid injury in the hamstring area as well as the knee, doing leg curls can help prevent injuries from occurring to easily because it helps support those areas. TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DEFENSIVE MID. 5
In-Season During the season the amount of time spent in the weight room is very limited. The amount that you have when you are training with the team is no longer based indoors, but outdoors where you are working with more technical things. These things can include ball control, passing, shooting, awareness, and movement off the ball. During the in-season training, this is when the coach takes not of what the players have done during the previous matches and makes changes to the line-up, style of play, and many other things. Because we send less time inside and more time outside I believe that the resistance training exercises that are being performed during this time should be limited and based upon what is most important to the position of the player. Since my athlete is a Defensive mid, they must work on strength and balance. The reason why this is very important is because his job is to make sure that no one knocks him off the ball when he has it because if he loses the ball they are relatively close to their goal. Not only is it important for game play it is also important for injury prevention. That is why I believe that the training that should be done during this time should be, for a defensive midfielder, working on the middle portion of your body. This consist of the muscles from your abs to your knees. Important training exercises that can be performed are squats, lunges, crunches or situps, leg extensions and leg curls. All of these exercises should be performed regularly but not to much where it causes too much muscle fatigue. The reason behind this is because if you push to hard you can over train and increase the risk for injuries. According to the player, if he feels that he is more grown to injury in a certain part of the body like their lower back, the should work out their lower back so that the muscles around their bones can strengthen and support the back. TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DEFENSIVE MID. 6