8 Weeks Soccer Pre-Season Plan [Part 3]
Previous parts:
Physical preparation sub-components
For each physical sub-component it could be written a whole book, thus I will try to keep it short and direct the readers toward more info with links. I also suggest checking my Physical Preparation for Soccer manual since it covers some of this in greater detail. Physical preparation sub-components are listed in the table below (this is the table from the part two of this series)
| Sub-component | Goal | Exercise/Methods Used |
|---|---|---|
| Speed work | Improvement in the acceleration, speed and agility | GPE, SPE |
| Explosive strength | Improvement in the explosive strength and reactive-strength | GPE, SPE |
| Strength | Improvement in the relative strength and functional hypertrophy | GPE (upper body & core), SPE (lower body) |
| Aerobic capacity/power |
Improvement in vLT and vVO2max | GPE, SPE, SDE |
| Glycolytic capacity/power | Improvement in RSA (repeat sprint ability) and special endurance | GPE, SPE, SDE |
Speed work
In the Physical Preparation for Soccer I’ve spent a lot of pages writing about speed development, especially the difference between speed and agility. Thus you can refer to that one for more examples. My final paper “Training and testing agility in sports” written in 2007 was dealing with agility and speed too and the transfer between them. In Planning and programming of training in sport games you can find more info about three types of movement patterns (off-the ball movements).
I guess that the discussion regarding agility and usage of closed drills goes into the form~substance dichotomy. Sometimes we need to isolate a certain “substance”, but we need to have the bigger picture in mind. From ecological standpoint (constraints-led approach to motor learning) one cannot split perception~movement, thus the best practice for agility is the soccer itself and other forms of small sided games and specific live drills (simplification, rather than part practice). Anyway, we sometimes need to isolate the “substance” (simplification) to create overload and improve learning. This might be called organic or holistic approach. It is both. This is why the site is called Complementary Training. Anyway, for this reason I have made two type of speed (agility) work – technique and power.
| Component | Specificity | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed Power Work | GPE | Linear | Sprints from various positions (0-30m acceleration, 30-60m max speed); Hills; Sled work; Ins & Outs… |
| Lateral | Cross-overs with sled; cross-overs; mirror drills; sprints from jumping… | ||
| SPE | Tag games; live soccer drills; merging technique with speed (conjugated exercises) | ||
| Speed Technical Work | GPE | Linear | Wall drills; Butt-kicks; A-Skip; B-Skip; Skips; Build-ups; Small hurdles, sled pushes (‘specific strength’)… |
| Lateral | Coordination ladder drills; shuffling; cross-over; deceleration techniques; lateral skips; COD polygons; quick-feet (repositioning); sled pushes (‘specific strength’)… | ||
For more info regarding speed work I suggest checking all Charlie Francis materials, especially GPP Essentials. Kelly Baggett’s No Bull Speed Development Manual is also worth checking.
Explosive strength
Similar to speed, a lot of explosive strength is covered in Physical Preparation for Soccer. In the table below is the classification I use:
| Component | Specificity | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low intensity (‘aerobic’) plyometrics | GPE | Linear | MB against wall (upper body & core); jumping rope; line drills; coordination ladder; low box drills; zig-zag hops, jumps and bounds; pogos… |
| Lateral | |||
| Deceleration | SPE | Linear | Jump and stick variations both double leg and single leg |
| Lateral | Bound and stick; lateral jump and stick; side lunge and stick | ||
| Explosive strength | SPE | Linear | MB throws; vertical jump; broad jump; triple jump; step-up jump; squat jump; lunge jump; scissors; |
| Lateral | Side-to-side jump; zig-zag bounds; side-lunges; lateral step-up jumps | ||
| Reactive strength | SPE | Linear | Depth jumps; hurdle jumps; bounding; power skipping; LL-RR bounds; Rim jumps; pre-run jumps.. |
| Lateral | Side-to-side hurdle jumps, cone jumps | ||
For more info I suggest checking Kelly Baggett’s Vertical Jump Bible along with 7 Modern Day Myths About Plyometrics. Actually, read everything he wrote.
Strength Work
I highly suggest checking my Planning The Strength Training articles along with Lyle McDonald’s Categories of Weight Training for more info regarding this very subject. Another article worth looking at is also Lyle’s Beginning Weight Training since most of the soccer players are beginners in this area.
Kelly’s The Myth of Non-Functional Hypertrophy and The Myth of Relative Strength are also great reads.
The exercises could be classified to the following groups:
| Category | Exercises |
|---|---|
| Upper body push horizontal | Bench press; Push-ups; DB bench press; dips |
| Upper body pull horizontal | Cable row; T-bar row; DB row; supine row; YTWL |
| Upper body push vertical | Press; Push Press; DB Press; DB Flys |
| Upper body pull vertical | Chin-ups; pulls-ups; lat-pull down; pull-over |
| Knee dominant | Squat; Front Squat; Split squat; lunge; lateral lunge; step-up |
| Hip dominant | Deadlift; RDL; Hip thrust; R. Hyper; Hyper; GHR; Nordic curl |
| Ankle | Standing and seated calf |
| Core | Roll-out; leg lifts; curls; side bridge; full-contact twist; pallof press; chops; MB throws; high-rep curls |
High repetition exercises could be considered GPE and low repetition exercises for lower body could be considered SPE. Prehab work (activations, thera band, etc) is GPE.
Programming of strength training involves a lot of “it depends” answers. Check the mentioned links along with How To Implement and Manage Set and Rep Schemes and please note that a lot of info out there is written with the strength athlete in mind.
Keep this simple. There is a huge trend in last decade that gives strength training too much of an emphasis. Yes, it is important, but the physical preparation is not only strength training.
Aerobic Capacity/Power
If you haven’t already, you should go and read Lyle’s Methods of Endurance Training. Make sure to check out my blog rant on endurance for team sports and for more soccer-specific stuff I suggest reading KNVB Conditioning aspect in developing a style of play along with Little’s Optimizing the Use of Soccer Drills for Physiological Development.
I am reposting the Energy System Continuum picture for the sake of reference:
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