Coaches Blog: Coach Andy
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“Become comfortable being uncomfortable” is something my players hear from me often. It’s a message I heard regularly when playing collegiately and it has stuck with me ever since. In the situation all of us are enduring, this message has never been more appropriate. COVID-19 has changed the way all of us approach life. Whether that be in the workplace, the kitchen, how we interact with our friends/families and for me, how one exercises.
We are all encountering unprecedented times. We interact on the internet, videoing ourselves either conducting a training session or being an active member in the session. It’s entirely different from what we are all accustomed to. Although the thought of getting back on the field feels closer today than it did yesterday, that doesn’t mean we have to go back to what we considered the “norm” when exercising. Gyms are closed, fields/parks are not what we are used to and it’s easy to tell yourself that exercising is harder to accomplish.
The conventional way we think about getting in shape is to go on a run. Whether that run be for distance, time, a combination of the two or other ways, running is the staple when determining how “fit” you are. As soccer players and soccer enthusiasts, breaking up how we run and combining it with soccer specific training is something we should be exploring. The best way to get the most out of a run and have it portrayed in a training session/soccer match is by incorporating interval training. Interval training is breaking up your workout into different sections; like you do in a gym when you have reps, sets and different exercises plugged into the overall workout.
Going on a run with a steady pace from start to finish is a great cardiovascular workout but isn’t easily transferred to the field. Based on many studies, a soccer player runs an average of 7 miles during a 90 minute match. If you break that down further, that’s averaging over a 12-minute mile during a game. Elite athletes run a mile in around 6-minutes, which we as coaches expect many of our players to be able to accomplish. Therefore, when doing a soccer specific workout, interval training is what we recommend.
Coach Andy as a teen
Here is a great way to combine soccer training, fitness and an overall great workout when training to get back on the field; specific to 11v11 players:
1.
5-minute warm-up jog
50 soccer toe-touches, 10 push-ups, 50-yard sprint, 50 juggles, 60 second rest and repeat 5 times
1-mile run with a 15-second sprint and 45-second slow jog incorporated in the run
5-minute cool down
2.
5-minute warm-up jog
Sprinting the curved part of the track, jogging the straightaway, repeat 8 laps
5-minute cool-down jog
3.
5-minute warm-up/stretch
25 push-ups, 25 squats, 10 burpees, 100 juggles, 2-minute speed work, 1-minute break, repeat 5 times
Hard mile (as fast as possible)
Static stretching as a cool down
4.
5-minute warm-up jog
One 300 (sprint 50 yards and back three times which equals 300 yards) under 70 seconds
Repeat this 6 times with a 70 second rest between each set
5-minute cool down
By accomplishing these workouts, you’re touching the ball while you maintain a good heart rate. This is something that our older athletes, those who are playing 11v11, can do to combine both a workout and a soccer specific training.
For our younger athletes, an interval training workout can be modified. An example of this would be:
5-minute warm-up jog
25 toe-tap's, 20 juggles, 20 sit-up's, 2-min run, 45 second rest and repeated 5 times
5 sets of 10 burpees with a 1-minute break in between
All of these workouts can be modified and changed. These workouts/exercises are just examples.
Regardless of why we play soccer or any other sport, interval training can be a great way to get the most out of your workout. For soccer, interval training replicates the demands of the game much more closely than going out on a long distance bike ride or run. Interval training also allows you to maximize your time to get an effective workout. In most cases you can get more from a 30 minute interval run then you can from going on a regular 60-75 minute run.
Be sure to vary workouts in order to bring a newness to each session as well as to challenge your body to adapt to the challenges placed upon it by different exercises. Doing the same workout over and over again not only gets boring but your body figures out the workout and muscles get used to a routine and thus do not get challenged to grow and improve. Just as we are all learning to adapt to these crazy times and will be better for what we have learned from them, your body adapts and improves when you place different challenges upon it.
Coach Andy Bolin
