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Monthly Soccer Conditioning Tip

Adjustments in Resistance Training Variables for the Year Round Club Player

Players, who are members of a youth club team, are usually active in games and practices during most of the year(10-12 months). For these players, there is not a regular extended off-season, which would enable them to focus solely on a resistance training program to improve strength. Players, who are active playing with their club most of the year, need to implement a resistance training program that will improve strength(especially lower body) while not leaving their legs too fatigued to practice and play well in scheduled games.

One of the training variables to consider in the program design is rest intervals between sets of resistance training exercises. Shorter rest periods(1 minute) that are typically used early in an off-season training cycle, are more likely to leave the muscles feeling fatigued. A higher number of repetitions are commonly used with shorter rest periods, so this higher volume of training is also a factor(when combined with short rest intervals) could leave the body feeling greater fatigue from resistance training.

Therefore, year round club players should strongly consider utilizing short rest intervals (1 minute) between resistance training sets for the 1-2 months that they have off during their club season. Otherwise, for most of the year when there is an active club season (practices & games), it is better to utilize rest intervals of 2-3 minutes between resistance training sets. Year round club team players, can make various adjustments in their number of repetitions as a strategy to change the program design in order to make increasing strength gains during the year. This would include utilizing higher repetitions during times of the year where club activity mainly consists of practices only. There can be a shift to moderate-low repetitions during weeks/months of the year which include games/tournaments.

Keep in mind, that players who have not reached full physical maturity(completed full bone growth), should never go below 6 repetitions in a set, as lifting extremely heavy weights with low repetitions can cause damage to proper bone growth. It is also a good idea to make changes in the resistance training exercises actually utilized during different times of the year to help stay fresh and work the muscles in different ways. For example use a step up during one training cycle and switch to a lunge for the next training cycle.

Michael Rose, MS, CSCS, offers an on-line, soccer specific strength & conditioning program with videos at www.newwavesoccer.com

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