Most soccer players can be taught and trained how to run fast!
Again, in case you forgot, actual speed work is defined as 2-8 seconds of max speed, max intensity running with full recovery (minimum 3 minutes).
If your ‘soccer speed workouts’ don’t fall into that category, then you’re not training your soccer players to improve their ability to accelerate effectively or develop faster top speeds.
Because running fast is undoubtedly a skill. And there are certain race elements that need to be developed to get consistent results.
And those results come from a focus on the following five areas, in no particular order.
Fundamental Speed #1: TEACH PROPER ARM ACTION
Ultimately, the role of the arms is to stabilize the torso.
In doing so, it allows for greater power transfer and force application, critical factors for speed.
All arm action should take place through the shoulders. Instruct athletes to keep elbows locked at approximately 90 degrees. In front, the hands should not cross the midline of the body.
Hands should reach cheek height in front and hip width in back. Also, focus on bringing your elbow or hand down and back, keeping your elbows close to your body throughout the entire range of motion.
You will be surprised how difficult this is for many athletes.
Fundamental Speed #2: TRAIN FAST, RUN FAST
I don’t care what sport you coach. If all of your training is at submaximal pace, then you’re not going to develop faster athletes. It’s that easy.
This principle is not just for track sprinters. From soccer to football to lacrosse and everything in between, athletes need to train fast if they want to be fast.
I’m not saying a football player shouldn’t do aerobic work, but they do spend a lot of time accelerating towards a ball and to/from a defensive player.
To get where they want to go faster, they must have a higher acceleration rate. And this comes from doing full throttle acceleration work with full recovery as I mentioned earlier.
For some people this is difficult to understand. 4 second sprints with 3 minute rest seem like a waste of time.
Trust me, it’s not.
But if you’re training true speed/power athletes like sprinters and soccer players, high intensity sprints with full recovery *should* be the *baseline* of training.
Aerobic work serves as a recovery from speed work, it does not get them in specific “shape” for the demands of soccer.
This is not even a debatable concept.
Fundamental Speed #3: BE PATIENT
I don’t mean simply being patient with your athletes as you break them down to build them up.
I’m talking about being patient through each repetition of speed work.
The speed cannot be forced. Athletes must learn to override the voice in their head that tells them to “try harder, run harder, push, push, hurry up.”
Instead, they have to let the speed come to them.
During acceleration, the ground contact time goes from long to short. But most athletes are in a hurry to get up and get into their “normal” running technique at full speed.
This is the equivalent of changing gears in a sports car as fast as possible. It will not maximize performance.
Athletes must be patient. Spend more time on the ground while overcoming inertia and accelerating. Stride length and frequency should increase naturally, as a result of efficient force application, force, and mechanics. They should not be forced.
Athletes should reach triple extension with each stride, fully completing the lowering (and back) action.
Instead, I see athletes who try to change gears too quickly. This results in reaching a slower top speed earlier in the race.
Since an athlete can only maintain top speed for 1-2 seconds before deceleration begins, impatience during acceleration will cost you speed and time with every step you take.
Fundamental Speed #4: GET STRONGER
If you work with athletes, particularly adolescent athletes, then time spent building strength in the weight room should be a critical part of your program.
Athletes who do not focus on strength development have a very low glass ceiling that will prevent them from making significant gains in speed.
It’s just common sense: the stronger you are, the faster you can propel your body forward.
But this doesn’t mean going to the weight room and lifting weights like a bodybuilder.
When I go to the weight room, I see athletes doing useless training.
Here are some examples of elevators that, for our purposes, are a waste of time:
– anything on a machine, such as hamstring curls, leg extensions
calf raises, Smith Machine squats, etc.
– single-joint movements, such as bicep curls
– chest flies, triceps extensions, etc.
While these are all great moves to look good on the beach, I cringe when I see athletes in season doing these lifts as part of their training. And I see it most of the time, unfortunately.
If you want to know exactly how to build strength in your football players (even your tween athletes) that will transfer to the football field or track, I highly recommend you visit any of my websites listed below and check out NFL Speed Workout DVD! by San Diego Chargers running back LT and Denver Broncos D-Back champion Bailey.
Speed Fundamental #5: GO OVER, DRIVE DOWN
The ability to apply force to the ground, and more specifically mass specific force, is the number one mechanical consideration you should spend your time during every speed session or workout.
Athletes have a variety of issues that negatively affect lower body mechanics.
But the vast majority of them are due to a lack of physical strength and an inability to bring the heel back under the hips, step over the opposite knee, and sink the foot into the ground so that it lands under the hips rather than on the ground. in front of the center of mass.
If there’s one topic of discussion that I get the most questions about, it’s the concept of ‘drive over, drive down’.
If there’s one topic of discussion that I receive the majority of emails from satisfied customers, it’s the positive results that come from teaching athletes how to ‘drive over, drive down’.
And this is the case at all levels of the sport.
I have written about this extensively in the past. So if you are interested in reading more, please visit my soccer websites and read the soccer coaching or soccer coaching articles.