How to make your soccer players faster
Most soccer players can be taught and trained how to run fast.
Again, in case you’ve forgotten, actual speed work is defined as 2-8 seconds of running at full speed and full intensity with full recovery (3 minute minimum).
If your ‘soccer speed workouts’ don’t fall into that category, then you’re not training your soccer players to improve their ability to accelerate effectively or develop faster top speeds.
Because running fast is undoubtedly a skill. And there are certain elements of functioning that must be developed to obtain consistent results.
And those results come from a focus on the following five areas, in no particular order.
Fundamental velocity n. # 1: TEACH THE RIGHT ARM ACTION
Ultimately, the role of the arms is to stabilize the torso.
In doing so, it allows for greater power transfer and force application, critical factors for speed.
All arm action must take place through the shoulders. Instruct athletes to keep their elbows closed at approximately 90 degrees. In front, the hands should not cross the midline of the body.
The hands should reach the level of the cheeks in front and clear the hips back. Also, focus on driving your elbow or hand down and back, keeping your elbows close to your body throughout the range of motion.
You will be surprised how difficult this is for many athletes.
Fundamental Speed # 2: TRAIN FAST, RUN FAST
I don’t care what sport you train in. If all of your training is at a submaximal pace, then you are not going to develop faster athletes. It’s that easy.
This principle is not just for track sprinters. From soccer to soccer to lacrosse and everything in between, athletes need to train fast if they want to be fast.
I’m not saying that a soccer player shouldn’t do aerobic work, but he spends a lot of time accelerating to a ball and to / from a defensive player.
To get where they want to go faster, they must have a faster acceleration speed. And this comes from doing full speed acceleration work with full recovery as I mentioned earlier.
For some people, this is difficult to understand. 4-second sprints with 3-minute rest seems like a waste of time.
Believe me, it is not.
But if you’re training true speed / power athletes like sprinters and soccer players, high intensity sprints with full recovery * should * be the * foundation * of your training.
Aerobic work serves as recovery from sprinting work, not specifically fit for the demands of soccer.
This is not even a debatable concept.
Fundamental velocity n. 3: BE PATIENT
I don’t mean just be patient with your athletes while breaking them down to make them stronger.
I mean be patient with every rep of speed work.
Speed cannot be forced. Athletes must learn to nullify the voice in their head that says “push yourself harder, run harder, push, push yourself, hurry up.”
Instead, they have to let the speed get to them.
During acceleration, the contact time with the ground ranges from long to short. But most athletes are in a hurry to get going and adopt their “normal” running technique at full speed.
This is the equivalent of changing the speeds of a sports car as quickly as possible. It will not maximize performance.
Athletes must be patient. Spend more time on the ground as they overcome inertia and accelerate. Stride length and frequency should naturally increase as a result of efficient application of force, force, and mechanics. They should not be forced.
Athletes must reach triple extension with each step, fully completing the action of driving down (and back).
Instead, I see athletes trying to shift gears too fast. This results in reaching a slower top speed early in the race.
Since an athlete can only maintain top speed for 1-2 seconds before deceleration begins, impatience during acceleration will cost them speed and time with each step they take.
Speed fundamental n. 4: GET STRONGER
If you work with athletes, particularly adolescent athletes, then time spent building physical strength in the weight room should be a critical part of your program.
Athletes who do not focus on strength development have a very low glass ceiling that will prevent them from making significant gains in speed.
It’s just common sense – the stronger you are, the faster you can propel your body forward.
But this does not mean going to the weight room and lifting weights like a bodybuilder.
When I walk into the weight room, I see the athletes doing useless training.
Below are some examples of elevators that, for our purposes, are a waste of time:
– anything on a machine, such as hamstring curls, leg extensions
calf raises, Smith machine squats, etc.
– single-joint movements such as bicep curls
– chest flies, triceps extensions, etc.
While these are all great moves to look good on the beach, I cringe when I see athletes in season doing these lifts as part of their training. And I see it most of the time, sadly.
If you want to know exactly how to build strength in your soccer players (even your pre-teen athletes) transferring to the soccer field or track, I highly recommend that you visit any of my websites listed below and check out NFL Speed DVD of training! by San Diego Chargers running back LT and Denver Broncos D-Back champion Bailey.
Fundamental velocity n. 5: PASS, DRIVE DOWN
The ability to apply force to the ground, and more specifically the specific force of the mass, is the main mechanical consideration you should spend your time on during every sprint session or workout.
Athletes have a variety of problems that negatively affect lower body mechanics.
But the vast majority of them come from a lack of physical strength and the inability to get the heel back below the hips, to go over the opposite knee, and to push the foot toward the ground so that it lands below the hips and not in front of the center of mass.
If there is one topic of discussion that I get the most questions about, it is the concept of “step up, driving down.”
If there’s one topic of discussion that I get the most emails from from satisfied customers, it’s the positive results from teaching athletes how to ‘step up, get down’.
And this is the case at all sporting levels.
I have written a lot about this in the past. So if you are interested in reading more then visit my soccer websites and read the soccer training or soccer training articles.
