Weight Training for Running/Soccer

[skunkworks]

tdarko, [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I was quicker to the punch because I didn't write it as goot as you.

[skunkworks]

Another thing to note when lifting and doing lots of miles is that the lifting will tire out your muscles and decrease their performance. It's one thing to not be able to run as fast or as far or as long because you're tired, but when your muscles are fatigued and compromised you'll start doing stupid things like adjusting your form to compensate. This is a [censored] disaster and is very, very likely to get your ass injured.

[cbloom]

I recommend the book "Explosive Power & Strength".

A simple way to train your sprinting/explosive power is to do squats with heavy weight just like you usually would. Do the negative (down) at a normal steady pace, but explode up as fast as you possibly can.

Also Olympic lifts like the clean & jerk are very good.

[mattnxtc]

Weight training when it comes to soccer is important but not all that necessary...I played up through college and rarely ever did squats or anything of that nature...

Also being in distance running shape and being in soccer shape are 2 different animals...Soccer shape doesnt necessarily mean running 5:30 miles...Soccer is about short bursts..so when doing exercises like leg press, leg extensions work on explosive movements upward/outward and so forth...

As always work on making sure ur core is solid as well

Really teh best "training" for soccer is to do a lot of various distances sprints on the soccer field working on foward, backwards, and sideways sprints

[theBruiser500]

thanks for the responses all. mattnxtc, what is leg presses and leg extensions? all i've been doing, and all that was recommended before you was Squats

[mattnxtc]

http://www.getreligion.org/wp-conten....Leg.Press.jpg

that should be an example of a leg press machine...

leg extensions are the machines where u sit down and have a cross pad near ur ankles that you extend out that works ur quads pretty good

The workout for the leg press is pretty simple...u move the weight down at a slow steady rate and then u push it up as fast as possible to work on that explosion step u want for soccer

[SmileyEH]

Danny, the olympic lifting I showed you is what you want to be doing.

[mrTEA]

Bruiser,
Playing competitive soccer requires a lot of core strength/balance exercises to deal with physical play. Try to incorporate stability balls into your weight lifting.

You also want to do exercises that help with the explosive power. I'm sure others can elaborate.

[MicroBob]

I don't know anything about the slow-twitch and fast-twitch stuff.
But I'm a little surprised that the training for soccer would be so different from distance running.

The amount of distance one runs in a 90-minute soccer match, especially for a midfielder, isn't exactly insignificant.

Yeah, you need the bursts of speed too.
But you spend a lot of the game just hustling up and down the field for defense/offense.

The field is longer than an American football field.
Usually 120 yards long or so.
Mid-fielders sometimes have to cover quite a good chunk of that.


I have a husband/wife duo on my coed team who have also been training for a half-marathon.

We have unlimited subs in our league so everyone gets to play and we rotate players in and out.
Our philosophy is to push yourself until you're exhausted and then get a sub.

But the two players who are training for the half-marathon are also the two players who pretty much never have to sub-out because they just don't get tired out there no matter how ridiculously hard they've been working.

[kyleb]

I guess I forgot this thread existed.

In HS and College soccer, an example of our preseason conditioning would be as follows:

Morning Practice (typically 5:30 AM):
-Stretching, walking around while we wait for everyone to show up
-2 mile run followed by rest
-10 Turkey runs (ball in your hands behind your back as you run sprints)
-10 50-yard Ladder runs
-20 20 yard wind sprints
-Plyometrics and overload training (box jumps, sprints with crazy medicine ball work)
-Sit-up / Push-up dynamos (typically 4x25 in blocks)
-1 mile jog

You never touch a ball with your feet in the morning.

Go home, die inside, come back...

Evening Practice (typically 6 PM):
-1 mile run
-Skills training:
--Strikers: Around the world goal shots, target shooting, form practice on ball reception, foot skills
--Midfielders: Around the world goal shots, pass training, foot skills, long distance passing/shooting, marking up, overlapping runs, a lot of work on changing tempo/speed of the game
--Defensemen: Line drills (using the line as another defender), controlling the middle third of the field, marking up, overlapping runs, 2v1 situations
--Keepers: Take 100-150 shots from varying distances from strikers/midfielders, work on side shuffle, positioning drills, core exercises
-Team scrimmages or team drills (give and go work, passing, changing speeds, counterattacking)
-Cone drills with a ball
-Corner kick work
-Wall ball game

Repeat for 5 days per week for 6 weeks.