Resistance training in football
(サッカーのためのウェイトトレーニング)
http://www.scientific-football.com/page7.htm
Despite the importance of strength and power in football, a surprisingly small amount of literature exists concerning the training programmes or testing results of football players performing resistance exercises.
Whether the lack of scientific literature is due to confidentiality issues, a stigma that remains from views about youth resistance training (see our section on youth resistance training), and/or a view that already overcrowded playing seasons limit the time for adaptations to resistance training (for more information see blog by Marco Cardinale); scientific evidence exists to suggest that there is a role for resistance training in football (1,2,3). The lack of systematic resistance training in footballers is highlighted by a study that reported that a team of elite players who had played in the Champions League had a limited squat training history (1); this is somewhat surprising considering the improvements that resistance training protocols that include squatting have in improving the rate of force development and sprint performances over a variety of distances (2,3).
Here at scientific-football.com we incorporate a weight training programme that focuses primarily on anatomical adaptation and strength and power development in the pre-season break - click here for sample programme. Although we appreciate that the higher the competitive level that a team is, the greater the demands on time are, we have used a protocol that develops strength and power during the pre-season and focuses on maintenance sessions once every week or two weeks when the season starts. In addition, the scientific design of these protocols enables the selective use of interval training (see the fitness training section for more information) during the pre-season period to maintain and even develop performance related improvements in variables associated with aerobic fitness.
Football training: improve your speed, power and strength
(スピードアップ、押し合い圧し合いの力、MAXの筋出力アップ)
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/football-training-improve-your-speed-power-and-strength-40861
(パワーアップの部分を抜粋)
Developing power for football
Footballers are athletes in every sense of the word. All will resistance train. Their training plans will involve body weight, weights and plyometric (jumping) exercises. Weight training will provide foundation strength for more specific football condition, such as speed, to be built on.
Key weight-training exercises for football include:
Squats, lunges, leg extensions and leg curls – with the latter, concentrate on the lowering (eccentric) phase of the movement to reduce potential hamstring strain. Lift a medium to heavy weight (70-80% of 1RM) using 6-10 reps, over two to four sets. Everything else being equal, a larger muscle will be more powerful and enduring.
Can weight training make you a net buster?
Research has indicated that improving kicking power directly through weight training or other means is unlikely to produce positive results when it comes to greater kicking power. You will get greater returns by working on your technique. However, greater muscle power can significantly improve other aspects of play, such as your leap, sprinting and injury resilience.
Bodyweight exercises
The dreaded ‘burpie’ (squat thrust with jump at the end) still has a place in football conditioning, as do other body weight moves, such as press-ups and sit-ups. Put them into a circuit that lasts (with recoveries) 20-plus minutes and also contains ball skills and you are onto a winner.
Incorporating ‘keepy uppy’ and short distance passes between players in a circuit will condition specific power and skill endurance – the ability to perform a precision skill under conditions of fatigue is crucial for football players.
Strength Training for Football Players
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/football/strength.htm
The benefit of strength and strength training for footballers is well supported by research. For example, De Proft and colleagues had one group of Belgian professionals perform extra weight training during the season. Compared to a control group of colleagues who did no extra training, the players improved their kicking power and leg strength. In addition, British researcher Thomas Reilly showed that the stronger players outlasted the weaker players in terms of a regular place in the team, and had reduced injury risks. He recommends that leg strength in particular is developed, especially in the quadriceps and hamstrings, to help stabilise the knee joint, which is the most frequently injured joint in football. Peter Apor, a Hungarian researcher who has been involved in long-term studies of Hungarian professionals, agrees, saying that knee-extension torque has been associated with success in the game and that strong hamstring muscles in relation to quadriceps are crucial to knee injury prevention. Another common football injury is hernia, for which the best protection is developing strong abdominal muscles.
Strength Training
From this brief review of the research, we can conclude that strength and strength training, especially in the legs and trunk, are important for footballers who want to improve kick performance and reduce the risk of injury. To increase general strength, a workout consisting of leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, bench press, lat pull downs, abdominal and lower back exercises, would be ideal. This can be done with multi-gym equipment, which is also safe and easy to use. In my experience, some professional players use the club's gym equipment to perform this kind of workout after their official training session. Reilly found that players who voluntarily performed extra strength training were the ones who suffered the fewest muscle injuries. Therefore, since maintaining a fully fit squad can be a big problem, it makes sense for clubs to encourage or schedule general strength training for all players.
And sprint times, too
Another piece of research - by Taiana and colleagues in France - showed that a 10-week leg-strength training program for footballers improved their 10m and 30m sprint times and their vertical jump performance.
These motor tasks are obviously very valuable. However, this study used a training program that targeted maximum strength with heavy resistances. Although this type of training is a proven method for enhancing sprint speed and jumping power, it is also difficult to include in the regular training program of a football team, because the recovery required after heavy resistance training might interfere with the regular competitions during the season.
As with strength training the value of good sprinting speed for footballers is well supported by research. Ekblom found that the absolute maximum speed shown during play was one of the parameters that differentiated elite players from those of lesser standard. This is supported by a study with German division-one players by Kollath and Quade. They showed that professionals were significantly quicker than amateurs over 10m, 20m and 30m. The acceleration difference to 10m was especially significant. This suggests that better players need superior acceleration and maximum speed to play at a higher level. Interestingly, the 30m speed was similar for the German professionals regardless of position.
The training regimes of footballers must therefore reflect this need for good acceleration and maximum speed. Peter Apor suggests, in making fitness recommendations for footballers; that players need to develop the musculature of a sprinter. I have already mentioned the benefit of maximum leg-strength training with heavy resistances for developing acceleration and speed. Taiana says that the players he trained for maximum leg strength were able to play at the weekend without detriment if the strength workout was on Tuesday. This once-a-week routine was still found to be beneficial. However, this type of training should be used with caution. Two or three sessions a week during the off-season would bring about much greater gains in maximum strength. Taiana therefore recommends that this type of training should be used in the off-season and then maintained with one workout per week once the competitive season has started.
Step by step
Another point to remember is that maximum strength training should be a progression from general strength training with submaximal loads. Heavy maximal resistance exercise, while very effective, is for advanced strength trainees only. Zatsiorsky recommends that good abdominal and lower back strength are essential if heavy lifting exercises are to be used. Thus, the first step for improved sprint speed is ensuring a good basic level of strength. American trainers George Dintiman and Robert Ward recommend that an athlete should be able to perform one maximum leg press of at least 2.5 times body weight, and have a hamstring to quadriceps ratio of least 75-80%. Both these measures can be tested on the standard gym machines. Good abdominal and lower back strength are also essential for sprinting speed, as the trunk muscles are required to stabilise the sprinting movement.
Hop, bound and jump
Plyometric exercises are another proven training method that enhances leg power and sprinting speed. McNaughton cites soccer as one of the many games where short, explosive power is required, and that plyometric training is a useful complement or alternative to strength training to achieve this. Once the players are used to it, plyometrics may be more convenient than weights for speed development in terms of scheduling during the season.
Plyometric exercises are typified by hopping, bounding and jumping movements. These exercises demand a high force of contraction in response to a rapid loading of lengthening muscles. For this reason, they should be more accurately called reversible action or rebound exercises. The training effort increases the force production in the muscles, but the movements are performed at faster speeds than weight-training exercises. Thus rebound exercises are more specific to the sprinting and jumping movements in football. These exercises should be done in 3-5 sets of 8 repetitions for each leg, with at least one minute's rest between sets. The quality and speed of the movement is the priority. The other training element that is required for improving sprinting speed is sprinting itself. This should be done with maximum efforts over 30-60m. Again, at least one minute's rest between runs should be allowed so that quality can be maintained. Remember, with this kind of training the aim is to develop the maximum speed; endurance should not become a factor. Sprinting done uphill, with weighted jackets, or towing weights is also useful because it adds resistance to the sprint movement, placing greater load on the muscles in the most specific manner. Again, short distances with long rests are recommended.
Fitting it in I have discussed research that shows the importance of strength and speed for elite football performance. From this, I have suggested four types of training:
1.General strength training to help prevent injuries, improve kicking performance and provide the basis for good sprinting speed
2.Maximal leg-strength training, which is a progression from general strength training for advanced trainees only, but one that is extremely useful for developing speed and power
3.Plyometric training exercises, which complement strength training as an effective alternative
4.Maximum sprint running over short distances with or without added resistances
The main question that now needs answering is how can this training best be scheduled into an already full training and competing program?
Plyometrics and sprint training are usually performed when fresh. However, as it is a requirement of football to be able to sprint when fatigued, one could argue that sprint work should be done after a training session. One answer could be a short but high-quality hopping, jumping and sprints workout after a skills session. For example, 3x8 squat jumps, 3x8 skips for height, 3x8 hops for distance each leg, 3 x 30m towing runs and 5 x 40m sprints would be a short but useful workout if performed once or twice a week throughout the season. Scheduling strength-training workouts is more difficult. If the program is weekend matches only, then players could do a general strength-training workout on a Monday and Wednesday afternoon, leaving plenty of time to recover for the weekend match. However, if there are midweek fixtures, then strength training may have to be sacrificed or reduced to light workouts purely to maintain strength .
The best way for a player to develop his strength would be to start a strength-training program in the off-season. Three strength workouts a week would result in improvements.
Once the pre-season training starts, the player can reduce to twice weekly and then fit in workouts when possible during the season. This way the player can maintain the strength gains made during the summer.
Maximum strength exercises should only be targeted during the off-season. Afterwards, they should be done only once a week to maintain strength during the season. Maximum strength can only be achieved if it is concentrated on, and training for it can interfere with other important activities.
With careful planning and careful selection of exercises, keeping sessions short but high quality, extra training should be practicable, although sensitivity to the training status of the players is important when prescribing extra sessions.
Football training: improve your speed, power and strength
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/football-training-improve-your-speed-power-and-strength-40861
What can you do to achieve optimum condition?
Conditioning for football has travelled light years in the last decade. Clubs are determined to get as much out of their multi-million pound investments as they can. Sports science therefore plays a big part and players are subject to rigorous physiological assessment and testing, As a weekend warrior, you won’t have quite the same back-up team to ensure your football fitness, but what can you do to achieve optimum condition?
Warming up for football
A recent survey indicated that hamstring strain rates were negatively linked to the amount of static stretching that Premiership footballers performed. Basically, the more ‘bend down and touch your toes and hold’ type of stretching exercises they did, the more they were likely to strain their hamstrings in practice and matches.
This may come as a surprise, but it shouldn’t, when you consider the physical requirements of football. Players have to make repeated dynamic movements, such as sprints, jumps and turns. Research from Finland discovered that in the course of a season, players could make 3,900 jumps and 7,000 turns. These movements all require dynamic muscular contractions; contractions that have little relevance to those involved in held stretches. Most top clubs now employ dynamic warm-ups, which place a much greater emphasis on active and football relevant dynamic mobility.
Professor Angel Spassov is a conditioning expert, originally from Bulgaria, who is now based in the USA. He is a football specialist and has worked with six World Cup squads. The professor has put together a specific football warm-up. You should use and adapt it to your purposes, if you want to avoid crying off with injuries that could be avoided.
Spassov’s warm-up involves both passive and active (dynamic) elements. For the passive part, he advises players to loosen their muscles 30-60 minutes before the game/training session, by rubbing their ankles, knees, all the leg muscles, lower back, neck and shoulders with a heating ointment, preferably one that is odourless and not too hot on the skin.
The active warm-up is divided into two parts:
1. General.
This begins with six to eight minutes of jogging, followed by neck, shoulder, lower back and abdominal stretches. There should be two to three different routines, with 10-12 repetitions of each.
Next, the legs (hamstrings, hip flexors, abductors, adductors, quads and calf muscles) are targeted, with passive (held) and dynamic stretches (two to three standard routines with 10-12 reps, with performance speed increased every set for the dynamic stretches, such as leg swings).
Next, varying-intensity sprints are performed in different directions. At the end of this general part of the warm-up, players’ pulse rates should have reached 160-170 beats per minute.
2. Specific.
This begins with various kicks of the ball with both legs, and various technical moves with the ball, such as dribbling and stopping the ball. These should progress to medium intensity and be performed with another player, then to high intensity, with players combining into groups to practise all the technical skills at the highest possible intensity and speed.
Spassov’s suggested warm-up makes great sense and should control players’ progression to match readiness. With the early parts of the warm-up performed individually, players should be able to focus on their own movements and progress and not be tempted to perform too-dynamic movements before their muscles are fully prepared.
Football speed
All players require speed. Everything else being equal, the faster you are, the better player you will be. However, football speed is different to the speed required of a sprinter.
1. Football speed is reactive and often unpredictable
2. The first step (linear or rotational) makes all the difference to getting past an opponent or close enough to make a winning tackle.
3. A skill will often be have to performed from the basis of speed – tackles, headers, passes, shots and so on.
4. Although elite players play on pitches that could support a game of bowls, many of us will not be so lucky. Muddy, undulating surfaces will impair speed generation.
5. A sprint may be needed when you’re ‘blowing hard’ (see Developing football endurance, on the next page).
Your training must reflect the above considerations. Use the following practices to improve your speed:
1. Turn and sprint drill
Players stand on the halfway line; at a command, they turn and sprint 10m. Repeat six times, taking 30 seconds’ recovery time between efforts, while varying the turn direction.
2. Run and dribble intervals
Run at three-quarter pace to a ball placed 20m away. Dribble it and swerve around a cone, and pass after a further 15m. Jog back and repeat six times.
3. Speed dribble
‘Speed dribble’ over 30m (from standing: simply dribble as fast as you can, in a straight line). Repeat six times, with one minute’s recovery time between each effort.
4. Floor/speed ladder drills
You may have seen players performing various drills through floor/speed ladders on TV (you can also see these types of drills being performed on Peak Performance Premium – search: speed, agility). These exercises are designed to improve, speed, agility and reactive ability. They will positively affect your neuromuscular system if used over time, so that you will be able to get your legs moving that bit quicker. There are hundreds of permutations that can be used with one or more ladders. Here are some examples:
i) One foot in each rung (use a low knee lift and concentrate on foot speed, driving your arms backwards and forwards).
ii) Step sideways through the ladder. Keep low and light on the ground.
iii) Run backwards through the ladder one rung at a time – use your calf muscles and ankles to generate your speed and don’t forget to co-ordinate your arms with your legs.
iv) As i), above, but on exiting the floor ladder, take control of a ball, dribble 10m round a cone and speed-dribble back to the start.
Developing power for football
Footballers are athletes in every sense of the word. All will resistance train. Their training plans will involve body weight, weights and plyometric (jumping) exercises. Weight training will provide foundation strength for more specific football condition, such as speed, to be built on.
Key weight-training exercises for football include:
Squats, lunges, leg extensions and leg curls – with the latter, concentrate on the lowering (eccentric) phase of the movement to reduce potential hamstring strain. Lift a medium to heavy weight (70-80% of 1RM) using 6-10 reps, over two to four sets. Everything else being equal, a larger muscle will be more powerful and enduring.
Can weight training make you a net buster?
Research has indicated that improving kicking power directly through weight training or other means is unlikely to produce positive results when it comes to greater kicking power. You will get greater returns by working on your technique. However, greater muscle power can significantly improve other aspects of play, such as your leap, sprinting and injury resilience.
Bodyweight exercises
The dreaded ‘burpie’ (squat thrust with jump at the end) still has a place in football conditioning, as do other body weight moves, such as press-ups and sit-ups. Put them into a circuit that lasts (with recoveries) 20-plus minutes and also contains ball skills and you are onto a winner.
Incorporating ‘keepy uppy’ and short distance passes between players in a circuit will condition specific power and skill endurance – the ability to perform a precision skill under conditions of fatigue is crucial for football players.
The core
Pay particular attention to core strengthening exercises, such as crunches and ‘chinnies’ (alternate knee to elbow sit-ups), hyper (back) extensions and the plank. A strong and dynamic core is required to maintain player solidity on the ball and reduce injury.
Football-specific core strength exercise: sit-up with header
Sit on the floor with knees bent to a 90-degree angle as per normal sit-up. You’ll need a partner who should carefully toss a football toward you as you reach the top of your sit-up. At this point you head the ball back to him. You then control the descent of your body as it returns back to the floor. Complete 10 reps over 4 sets swapping positions with your partner.
Football-specific circuit
Perform on a ‘20 seconds on, 30 seconds’ off basis
Press-ups, squat jumps, crunch, keepy-uppy, simulated headers (alternating left, double, and right foot leaps from a static or one stride approach), the plank, wall passes over 10m, alternating left to right foot strikes, burpies, chinnies, single leg squats, sit-ups with header (see above)). 10m sprints (back and forwards), floor ladder drills.
Developing football endurance
Forget the 10-mile runs – football is an anaerobic (stop/start) activity. You’ll be much better off performing various pace running repetitions over distances from 10m to 100m, with short recoveries. Some workout examples:
1. Twenty minutes of jogging, sprinting, walking and half-speed and three-quarter paced runs. Coach (or fittest player taking part) determines the distance to be run and the recovery by calling out, for example: ‘20m sprint; walk 15m; 40m three- quarter pace run; jog back’ and so on. This drill should be contained within one half of the football pitch.
2. Pass and sprint drill. Two players stand 10m apart. They perform 20 alternate left to right leg passes and then turn in opposite directions to sprint 10m round a cone and back to the start position to perform another set of passes. Take 30 seconds’ recovery and repeat five times.
3. Players perform 20 press-ups and 20 squats on one goal line, jog to centre circle to collect the ball, sprint dribble toward the other goal and then shoot from just outside the penalty area (keeper optional). Repeat five times, with jog back recovery between efforts.
Use these practices and drills in your pre-season training and maintain your fitness with them in-season, and before long you’ll be challenging for the title – whatever your level.