You often hear coaches say players need to improve their ‘soccer or game fitness’. What does that even mean? Is there any way to train this individually?
This month is more of an educative piece that will hopefully allow you to go away with a greater understanding of the energy systems used in soccer. It will also give you an idea of how to train them effectively and efficiently. This will also make it very clear why
cross-country is NOT an effective way to train for soccer.
According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Essentials of Personal Fitness Training, you have 3 energy supplies, systems, sources, or pathways (ATP-CP, Glycolysis, Oxidative) that are activated based on the duration and intensity of the activity.
The ATP-CP supply of energy is used for high-intensity activities anywhere from 1-10 seconds.
The Glycolysis supply is used for moderate to high-intensity activities from 30-50 seconds.
The Oxidative supply is used for lower-intensity activities lasting longer than 2 minutes.
Obviously, there is some overlap between the energy systems where both are used, but the above times are the windows when that is the primary energy supply being utilized.
NASM Essentials of Sports Performance Training states that the energy systems used for Soccer are: ATP-CP- 50%, Glycolysis- 20%, Oxidative- 30%
Soccer players are not middle or long-distance runners. They are sprinters that recover by jogging/walking at low to moderate intensity.
At the youth level, the ratio of time that players are sprinting to when they are jogging/ walking is around 1:5. That means for every 10 seconds a player sprints he/she typically has 50 seconds to recover. Usually, the time is much shorter, but I use those times because they work nicely as a soccer fitness regime.
Sprint for 10 seconds, moderate jog for 20 seconds, and walk/slow jog for 30 seconds. OR
Sprint for 5 seconds, moderate jog for 10 seconds, and walk/slow jog for 15 seconds.
For U14 & Younger Players, 10 reps of 1-2 sets, with 3-4 minutes rest between sets, are enough. Can be done 3 times a week, with at least one day rest between each workout.
U15 & Older can perform 2-4 sets. Make sure to take 2 days off between each workout.
Try alternating sets with and without a soccer ball.
Hope this gives you some understanding of what energy systems are used in soccer fitness actually means, and how you can increase soccer fitness individually.
Thanks, Ryan
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