Soccer specific aerobic endurance training
Tomasz C. Wilczak
PET4550 November 20, 2013
Introduction Game of soccer, called by many the “beautiful game,” is the most popular sport in the world at the moment. The beauty of it is embedded in the physiological, technical, and tactical demands that are essential in participating in the game - most importantly at the top level. The soccer match lasts 90 minutes, but it could last 120 minutes, when game is tied and winner must be announced. During that time players cover distance of about 10km, on average. Such numbers translate in to 110 meters per minute (about 2 meters per second), which demands high level of aerobic endurance, and anaerobic endurance as well. There have been a numerous training programs focusing specifically on aerobic endurance for soccer. For example: Yo-Yo test, Beep test, Nike Bootcamp, SPARQ, etc. But there has been lack of aerobic endurance training and testing protocols that would put the soccer player in his/her soccer specific environment. In the past, soccer coaches used to develop aerobic endurance in the same manner as you would do it with endurance athletes (marathon runners, long-distance sprinters, triathlonists, etc.), basically they made them run. Many coaches still believe that playing soccer in training does not improve VO2max because of not being able to achieve the same intensity as during the game. Although, the aerobic capacity is the main energy source for the duration of the soccer match it is not the only one that should be developed and tested. Therefore, coaches and researches have started to seek a methods and develop programs that could help assess soccer players by putting them through protocols that would mimic the soccer match as much as possible. There has been a trend in the area of soccer conditioning lead by Raymond Verheijen, the Dutch strength and conditioning coach who has worked with Dutch, Russian, Korean Men’s National Teams, as well as Barcelona. He has been an advocate of soccer-specific conditioning which he has proven to be very effective and successful. He wrote, “Conditioning for Soccer” and Periodization in Soccer”
which get into more details about how this concept should be implemented. We need to understand that during a match there are other very important factors that could influence players’ performance and raise heart rate, such as: anxiety caused by training or game, match situations, controlling the ball, and interaction with teammates and opponents.
At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering), Dr. J. Hoff has developed a soccer specific aerobic endurance training program. His objective was to determine whether ball dribbling and small-sided games are appropriate activities for interval training and if heart rate is a valid measure of actual work intensity.
Method For the purpose of this research, six Norwegian professional male soccer players were put through laboratory and field testing. The laboratory testing was performed first and it contained anthropometry measurements, VO2max, and maximum heart rate. Subjects
Lab testing
•6 professional players from Norwegian 1st division •22.2 avg. age •Consent form signed •Test protocol explained •Aim of the study not reviled
•VO2max •Anthropometry : •weight •height •MHR
72 hours
Small-sided game •2x4 minutes @ 90-95% MHR •3 minutes of te same exercise @ 70% MHR
Dribbling track same day
•Warm-up •2x4 minutes @ 90-95% MHR •3 minutes of te same exercise @ 70% MHR
The average age was 22.2 years, with weight 77.5kg, height 180.2, and maximum heart rate on average 198.3 beats/min. Three days after laboratory testing players did field testing on artificial curled nylon grass filled with sand, which included: special dribbling track (Figure 1) and 6v6 small-sided soccer games (Figure 2).
Figure 1
Figure 2
Warm up was conducted prior to all exercises that were carried out. The dribbling track had two four-minute intervals at 90-95% of maximum heart rate separated by three minutes of active rest exercise that maintained 70% of maximum heart rate; similarly, the same time and intensity constraints applied to small-sided games. To be able to control the right intensity, athletes used Polar heart rate monitors with data being transmitted and available to the researchers at the moment of exercise. This allowed researchers to step in, if the athletes were not performing at designated level, encourage and give appropriate feedback. The biggest challenge is to make sure that coaches, head coach and assistants, and staff are prepared to monitor the training and constantly maintain the right intensity of the exercises to stay within the desired parameters. Failure to do so will cause the training to be less efficient and produce very poor outcome when competing. In case of this research, the researchers were able to control the selected group of players which proved to be very important. Results The outcome of the research proves that performing soccer-specific aerobic training has a very valuable implication to the athlete as long as it is maintained above game level intensity. Although, it requires proper organization and frequent feedback from the coach, heart rate monitoring can provide instant values in terms of intensity of an athlete at the given moment to keep it at desired levels. The coach’s feedback is crucial for the success of the small-sided game of the test, it was mentioned in the article, and it could be a challenge with a bigger group of players. There was no explanation for the reason behind using artificial grass for the purpose of testing which does not reflect the actual surface of the game. Natural grass has totally different properties than artificial grass, which influence the ball and players’ behavior. Conclusion
Soccer is a very dynamic sport, where action can change from one second to another and the players’ movement in relation to the ball, an opponent, teammate, and the goal is of great importance to gain valuable advantage on the 100-130x50-100 (yds.) pitch. Therefore to be good at soccer you need to play soccer and mimic soccer movement, not wasting time on running laps around a pitch that don’t enforce all components of the game (tactical, technical, physical, and psychological). The Hoff’s soccer specific aerobic endurance training allows coaches to prepare their team for the season but most importantly maintain the level of endurance throughout while training in very soccer-specific environment. This could give a valuable advantage over an opponent especially when the team has a very limited time to prepare, like for example at the collegiate level.
Reference
Hoff, J., Wisloff U., Engen, L.C., Kemi, O.J. and Helgerud, J. Soccer specific aerobic endurance training. British Journal of Sport Medicine, 2002, 36, 218-221.
Verheijen, R., J. Conditioning for soccer. Reedswain, 1998.