Building Peak Aerobic Fitness
You
could argue that endurance soccer training is the
most important element of your conditioning program.
And, just as strength training for soccer consists
of more than just lifting weights, soccer endurance
training involves more than just running
continuously.
Running - at any intensity - for 90 minutes,
requires a high level of stamina.
Couple that with the fact that much of that running
consists of high intensity sprints, jumps,
challenges and tackles, and you can see why
endurance soccer training becomes the foundation of
any fitness regime.
Here's a break down of how an outfield player might
spend his or her 90 minutes on the field of play:
We
can group the walking, jogging and running
activities under aerobic or cardio
respiratory
activities.
It's these types of activities that require high
levels of cardiovascular endurance. And you can see
form the diagram above just how predominant they are
in the game of soccer. But the importance of
endurance soccer training doesn't end there.
To
repeat short bouts of high-intensity
activities over 90 minutes - like sprinting, kicking
and jumping - also requires a good aerobic base.
The
ability of a soccer player to sprint as fast and as
often in the final 10 minutes of match as in the
first 10 minutes, is a reflection of his or her
aerobic endurance.
Endurance Soccer
Training Guideline
There are a few key principles (called the
principles of training) that are particularly
relevant to aerobic endurance conditioning...
-
Specific
The mode of training you perform should be
specific to your sport.
So, as an obvious example,
soccer players run. Cycling or swimming will
develop aerobic endurance but not in the same
precise manner that jogging will.
-
Overload
An endurance soccer training session must be
strenuous enough to overload the aerobic system.
By overload I simply enough intensity to take your
body out of its comfort zone. The caveat is that
you don't try and follow a "no pain - no gain"
mentality!
-
Progression
As your body adapts to vigorous training it will
soon fall into a comfort zone again. To continue
improving you must progress the intensity
(or
duration) to bring about more overload and so more
adaptation.
-
Recovery
Over-training is not a past time reserved only for
the elite. It is easy to do too much and try to
progress too quickly. Listen to your body. Be
flexible with your plan and take a day off if
needs be. Or lighten the intensity for a week to
boost your energy levels.
In
early pre-season, light endurance soccer training
might feature 5 or 6 days of the week for pros.
Three is ample. As
the season start draws closer, a program might
consist of 3 higher intensity interval sessions (see
below) per week.
Each endurance session should last between 20 and 45
minutes. After 45 minutes returns are diminished and
it begins to impact on other training modalities.
Continuous and
Interval
Endurance Soccer Training
Aerobic endurance sessions can be split into 2 broad
groups.
-
Continuous training
- running at a moderate intensity continuously,
without rest periods
-
Interval training
- higher intensity for shorter bouts separated by
rest periods
First question, which of these 2 types of aerobic endurance training
is more specific to soccer?
Yep... interval training. Soccer is played in
short bursts.
That doesn't make continuous training obsolete
though. It is the best from of conditioning for
early pre-season when players return form the
off-season break. It is also used for active
recovery sessions - maybe the day after a
particularly tough game.
Fartlek Training
offers a nice variation and is great for group
training.
It
consists of running, jogging and walking
intermittently. For example a player could cruise
for 30 seconds followed by a light jog for 60
seconds, followed by a three quarter sprint for 10
seconds.
This cycle is repeated for the duration of the
session - 20 to 30 minutes on average There is any
number of combinations for fartlek training. It's a
good introduction to the training season and adds
variety to the often monotonous, continuous
endurance training.
Interval Training becomes more important in the
latter stages of pre-season preparation. Here's an
example session...
Pam
knows she can run 2 miles continuously in
about 12 minutes.
Switching to interval training she breaks the
distance up into four, half-mile sections. Pam
knows she can run a quicker pace over just half a
mile. So, she sets herself a target time of 21/2
minutes for each half-mile run.
|
Interval Training Session |
|
Repetitions |
Distance |
Time |
|
4 X |
1/2 mile |
in 2.5 mins |
If
Pam completes this whole session she will have run a
total of 2 miles in 10 minutes, not
something she could do running continuously for 2
miles.
Interval endurance sessions, being more intense,
tend to be shorter in time than continuous runs.
During the in-season a competitive game acts as an
interval endurance session.
Usually that is enough to maintain the aerobic
conditioning built up during pre-season preparation.
One extra session per week is fine also.
Anaerobic Endurance
Soccer Training
Moving away from aerobic endurance there is
another type of endurance very important to
you, as a soccer player.
It's called anaerobic endurance. Your ability
to maintain short bursts of power or repeat
high-intensity movements in quick succession is a
measure of your anaerobic endurance.
If
you take time to train for improved speed endurance
it can have a dramatic effect on your game.
It's tough. In fact it's by far the toughest form of
training.
If
you've never enjoyed the effects of sudden and
significant amounts of lactic acid running through
your blood stream, you are in for a treat! But
in comparison it makes a competitive game feel easy.
It does wonders for your confidence. And your touch
and skill improves as a bonus.
There is nothing more difficult than trying to
control a difficult ball and make an accurate pass
when you are gasping for breath. With this type of
training you rarely struggling making the rest of
the game that much more enjoyable.
Course Contributor Phil Davies
