How does gaining strength help me as a soccer player?

As we get older (U13 and up), adding strength to a player will make them a faster, more powerful player. Here is why: There is a proven coorelation between strength and speed. Developing a players "posterior chain" of muscles has several positive effects. Before we get to that, let's describe the muscles we are referring to here. Basically these are the muscles you don't see should you be looking at yourself in the mirror. The Posterior chain of muscles are your back, your glutes, your hamstrings and your calf.

Getting them stronger, will absolutley make a player faster. These are the muscles that are used to propel an athlete forward. They allow the athlete to become very explosive and quick in their movements.

Now saying all of this, the athlete must be smart in how they train this set of muscles. An athlete should be training to gain functional strength. There are many ways to achieve functional strength. Functional strength combines resistance and movement. This powerful combination allows an athlete to become stronger by training in multiple planes.

Many athletes want to "bench press" as an example to get stronger. For movement athletes, benching is not as productive as say "tire flipping" in generating functional strength as a bench press only incorporates one level of plane, while flipping a tire builds several levels in!

Getting a soccer player stronger helps with creating more speed for the soccer player but also they become more powerful too!

Have a great day!

Gary
www.soccerandspeedcoach.com

Winning 50-50 balls

As a player, you have heard this from your coach (we have to win more 50-50 balls!) many times, right? Well, let's discuss this for a moment. Why is that important to win 50-50 balls? Well obviously if you win more of those balls, you and your team will possess the ball more, which often results in winning soccer. But while winning a 50-50 ball in the midfield is important, how about winning a 50-50 ball when you are 8 yards away from the goal...or winning a 50-50 ball when the other team is 8 yards away from the goal. Now we are talking crucial, right?

Well, in order to win 50-50 balls, we must be able to accelerate quickly to the ball. The better you become at accelerating, the better your chances are of winning the ball. Proper acceleration can make 50-50 balls become 90-10 balls in your favor!

Here are the three things that you can do on the field to help you accelerate faster.

Forward lean: When you accelerate, if you can have a forward lean from your very first step, you will have an edge over others.

First 4-6 steps: The first 4-6 steps are all acceleration steps. When you accelerate, you must land on the front part of your foot and push off explosively.

Arm drive: There are two ways to get faster, stride frequency is one way. That means how quickly can you turn your legs over (like the roadrunner cartoon character). The faster you pump your arms, the faster your feet will go (increasing stride frequency).

So to recap, in order to win more 50-50 balls, work on accelerating to the ball by a quick forward lean, driving off the front part of your foot and move those arms quickly!

So, focus on these tips and let's go win some soccer games!

Have a great day!

Gary

How old should you start to speed train?

Now that is an interesting question! As an athletic performance coach, I have the opportunity to talk to many parents about this subject. Just yesterday I had a parent say to me that he heard that speed training for a 10 year old is a waste of time.

That couldn't be further from the truth! As a matter of fact, I would say it is very important for a young child to start to work on their speed and here is why:

• at a younger age, they haven't developed as many bad habits as they possibly will when they are 14 or even 17/18 years of age
• at that age, they are like sponges and readily absorb this information
• it is easier for them to learn at that age

Teaching them linear and lateral movement skills early on, will not only help them learn those movement skills easier, but in the long run it will help them in other ways too. They will get faster by learning proper mechanics, they will lessen the likelihood of an injury down the road and most importantly at that age is they will gain confidence in themselves and feel good about themselves as well.

Those benefits are so important for their development. Speed is a skill, so is change of direction. Helping them learn these skills early on is a good thing for them not a bad thing. With regards to many sports, I believe that learning these movement skills at an early age is more important to the development of a player as they get older then it is to learn sport specific skills at a young age.

Thanks and have a great day!

Gary