Off-Season Training for Soccer

Brijesh Patel, MA, CSCS

Soccer is a game that is extremely demanding and is dependent upon many different athletic qualities.  Speed, agility, power, quickness, flexibility, strength, and aerobic and anaerobic capacity are all qualities that must be trained to perform at a high level in the sport.  The off-season is the primary time to train to improve physically and tactically for a given sport. 

Understanding the Demands of the Sport

As mentioned before, soccer is a very demanding sport.  In the modern game, soccer training and conditioning is necessary for success.  Soccer is played on a large field, over a ninety minute period and without regular rest periods.  Players can cover 8-12km (5-7.5 miles) during a game, consisting of 24% walking, 36% jogging, 20% coursing, 11% sprinting, 7% moving backwards and 2% moving while in possession of the ball (1).  Soccer athlete’s posses a large aerobic capacity with VO2max levels reported between 55 and 70 ml/kg/min in elite athletes (2, 3).  The game is played at an average intensity close to the lactate threshold – approximately 80-90% of maximum heart rate (4, 5).
These statistics show the importance of training both aerobic and anaerobic capacity in conditioning soccer athletes.

The American game is also becoming increasingly more physical due to the role of strength training in this country.  Strength training plays a huge role in increasing the ability to produce force and ultimately power but also in reducing the chance of injury. 

By improving an athletes’ ability to produce force and capacity to do work, there is an increased potential for the athlete to carry over the force produced to the actual game which can translate into moving faster and at a higher rate, becoming more explosive and making movement much more efficient.  Strength training should be balanced and focus on developing all areas of the body to reduce the chance of injury.  Nutritional education should also be incorporated into the off-season to ensure recovery between training sessions and improvements in body composition can be made. 
 

The other area of off-season training that is often overlooked but may be the most important is mental conditioning.  Every athlete would love to get stronger, or bigger or in better shape.  To make these gains requires a great amount of effort and physical and mental discomfort.  This requires athletes to challenge their comfort levels and also to push their levels of threshold.  Improving mental toughness builds confidence…the confidence to achieve success and never give up.
 

Training Considerations

Training soccer athletes at the collegiate level can be a difficult situation because there are many qualities that need to be trained within school, facility, practice and time constraints.  The NCAA allows 8 permissible hours per week devoted to sport related activities.  This includes practice time with their coach’s as well as training time.  The way we make it work at Holy Cross is to include conditioning sessions with practice sessions afterwards, which takes place three days a week. Strength training is performed in conjunction with practice sessions three other days of the week.  There are a few other considerations that must be taken into account while putting the off-season program together, namely school.  In my experience, performance severely decreases during mid-terms and finals.  These are times of the year where volume and intensity must be decreased so that the risk of injury is not increased.  Soccer, like other fall sports at the collegiate level, also has a spring season when strength training sessions may have to decrease to two times per week, because practice time will increase to five days a week, plus weekend competitions.
 

The Program
Any well designed program must contain the following components:
 

Not every sport will require all components, but for soccer all will be incorporated except grip strength/endurance exercises.  Not all components will deserve the same amount of attention as well; this is where individualization comes into play.  Some athletes may need more tissue quality work than others, while others may need more core work or more glute activation exercises.

 

The conditioning part of the program is geared towards improving both aerobic and anaerobic capacity to enhance soccer specific conditioning.  General means of conditioning are emphasized first to build a base and ensure that the body is prepared to handle more intensive conditioning later in the program.  Tempo runs done between 75-85% of max over a time between 15-45 seconds form the bulk of the general phase of conditioning.  The rest is typically two times the work interval (i.e work for 20 seconds, rest for 40 seconds).  Repetitions start at 10 and progress up to 20 over the course of 4 weeks.  This base phase then progresses to maximum intensity shuttles runs.  A shuttle is sprint that is done over an interval that requires a change in direction (i.e. 100 yd shuttle done at 25 yd intervals means to run back and forth over 25 yards two times).  The distances can be manipulated for each specific position or can be generalized amongst the entire team.  Repetitions will vary based upon the distance but a general recommendation is to start between 500-600 yards and progress up to performing close to 1000 total yards.

Conventional aerobic training is not performed during the school year, because I want to maximize time for improving basic movement skills as well as force production during that time.  I’ve found that performing a lot of aerobic work (2-3 mile runs multiple times a week) does not augment our concurrent strength training.  Instead we perform tempo work along with skill sessions during the spring off-season period.  The summer time is when more time can be devoted to developing some aerobic capacity as more time to train is permitted. 

The rest of the program will be incorporated into the strength training sessions. The strength training is based upon ground based movements, free weights, bodyweight, movements, multi-planar, varying speeds and loads, eliminating weak links, and increasing lean mass.  This is done by a program that is performed three days a week and broken down into a lower body day, upper body day and a total body day.  The lower body day isn’t completely lower body as upper body pulling and intrinsic shoulder work (scapulae stabilization and rotator cuff endurance) are incorporated into these days. 

Each training session always begins with foam rolling or using a lacrosse ball to decrease muscle tension in overactive areas.  On lower body days, the quadriceps, calves, IT band, hip flexors and groin are emphasized.  On upper body days, the pecs, thoracic spine, and lats are emphasized.  A stretch is then done for a common problem area; usually the calves or hip flexors on the lower body day, and pecs, lats or posterior shoulder on the upper body day.

The training session then progresses to performing a general warm-up that is geared towards increasing body temperature and incorporates dynamic flexibility for all areas of the body.  Core stabilization training is then done, which helps to increase the warm-up but also activate all the muscles that help to stabilize the lumbo-pelvic region.

Plyometric training is performed after core training and is paired with a remedial exercise or extra mobility.  This ensures that adequate rest is given between sets of explosive work and this is where to incorporate some of the other components that were previously mentioned.

Three different plyometric exercises are done each training session.  Lower body plyometrics are performed on lower body days and upper body plyometric days are performed on upper body days.  Lower body plyometrics are also performed on the total body day.  The lower body plyometrics on the lower body day are linear in nature and include 1 max effort exercise (double leg box jumps, vertical jumps, box jump offs, etc.), 1 single leg exercise (1 leg hurdle hops, 1 leg box jumps, etc.) and 1 low amplitude reactive exercise (line hops, foot fire).  The upper body plyometrics are broken down into a vertical throw (flexion or extension based), a horizontal throw (overhead or chest level) and a rotational throw (front, side or back).  The second day of lower body plyometrics are lateral in nature and include 1 max effort exercise (lateral bound, heiden, etc.) 1 single leg exercise (1 leg lateral hurdle hop, 1 leg rotational hop), and 1 low amplitude reactive exercise (lateral line hops, lateral foot fire).  Here again is a breakdown with a remedial exercise between:

 

This then progresses to the strength training portion of the session and everything within the session is paired to maximize efficiency.
Here is the basic template of our three day training split:
 

Here is an example with specifics:
 

Each training session is then completed with some type of team building activity such as squat holds, split squat holds, plate pushes, or a shoulder circuit.  Then some sort of recovery modality is implemented, either static stretching or foam rolling. 

This type of program has worked extremely well in terms of improving strength, power, speed, conditioning and reducing the chance of injury.  As more conditioning and practice is introduced, the volume of lower body work must be reduced.  I have noticed that if the lower body volume is consistent while increasing conditioning has a detrimental effect upon lower body strength expression and ultimately the ability to be fast and explosive.  Fatigue masks fitness and all factors must be considered when performance is decreasing.

 

These are the things that are important in a soccer off-season conditioning program and need to be considered before sitting down to write the actual training program.  Hopefully, I was able to stimulate some thought and guide other coaches as they train their soccer athletes.


 

References
1) Reilly T (ed) (1996) Science and Soccer. Chapman & Hall, London, 25–64
2) Bangsbo J. The physiology of soccer – with special reference to intense intermittent exercise. Acta Physiol Scand 1994; 150:615
3) Bangsbo J, Nørregaard L, Thorsøe F. Activity profile of competition soccer. Can J Sport Sci 1991; 16:110–6
4) Reilly T. Physiological profile of the player. In: Ekblom B, ed. Football (soccer). London: Blackwell, 1994:78–95.
5) Helgerud J, Engen LC, Wisloff U, et al. Aerobic endurance training improves soccer performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001; 11:1925–31.

 

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