Soccer Conditioning Drills Can Help Lean You Out!

Posted by Mark on September 26, 2011 in Blog, Fitness and Health with 8 Comments

Soccer Players are usually some of the leanest athletes out there.
That comes from playing the game, and from Soccer Conditioning Drills –specific drills targeting mainly the energy systems emphasized in soccer.
There’s no reason why you should not use these same drills when leaning out, even if you don’t happen to play football.

david beckham soccer 2643 Soccer Conditioning Drills Can Help Lean You Out!

Soccer can be fun ... and lean you right out!

I do a lot of work with football, or soccer for you guys overseas.

There will be a Soccer Conditioning drill at the bottom here, which like I said also works great for fat loss, even if you don’t play the game.

But first let me tell you about this year’s season, which just now finished up here in Iceland:

This season went extraordinarily well, a really good year all around.
I started work with a 1st division team, and thanks to great soccer coaching and good physical preparation as well, they made it up into the Champion’s League. So that’s awesome.

But there’s more: my main team, K.R., won both the Cup, and the National Title 2011, for the 25th time all together! Some achievement, yaaaay!

K.R. National Champions 2011

Of course I’m not saying this is all just thanks to my great physical coaching, there’s so much more goes into success in a team sport like football:

Coaches, caretakers, all the “back-office” stuff like management etc, the fan’s support, and of course 1st and foremost the players: they’re the ones who’re out there and make it all happen.

And then there’s the soccer conditioning training, too.

Here’s the note I wrote yesterday, 25.09.2011, the day of victory!

This year we did it:

My main Football Club, K.R. Reykjavík, is both Cup-Winner AND National Champion!

K.R.2011b Soccer Conditioning Drills Can Help Lean You Out!

These are my Boys: K.R., the best dang Football Club in Iceland!

I am the Physical Coach of the best dang Football Club in Iceland, and very proud of it! Whoohooo!!

Thanks goes to many places:

The Fans fort their relentless support, even in slow times

The Coaches: Rúnar Kristinsson and Pétur Pétursson, Gummi the Goaly Coach

The Board and all those behind the scenes, especially Baldur Stefánsson, the arguably biggest K.R.Supporter (got your Dream come True, Balli!)

Lulli, THE man behind the Team!

And most of all, credit goes of course to The Boys, they scored the goals, did the hard, hard training, and never ever quit. Áfram K.R.!

And, well, if I was able to contribute a little to the whole thing, then that’s also something to be grateful for.

Thank you K.R., for the Opportunity!

Alright, here are two Soccer Conditioning Drills, short and sweet and mega-effective!

A: 5s. Cluster-Sprints
2-3 Cluster Sets of between 60-70 seconds total, 10 x 5 second-sprints total, on the whistle, 120 seconds rest.

Explanation: the players run at a fast pace, not knowing when the signal (whistle) will come. On the signal, they break into an all-out 5 second sprint, going back to the fast paced run at the second whistle. Do a total of 3-5 sprints within a 60-70 second time-frame, for 2-3 such „Cluster-Sets“, totaling 10 sprints. Take 2 minutes rest in between cluster-sets.

B: Suicides/Cutting-Drills (Tabata-Style)
TUT (Time Under Tension/Distance) 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds.
Explanation: this is the classic Tabata set-up, and it works very well.
Cutting drills basically mean you don’t run in a straight line for 20 seconds, but you go for a set distance, stop, turn, and run back to another set mark.
Example: sprint to the 20 yard mark, turn, sprint back to zero, turn, sprint to 30, turn, back to the starting line.
Careful! Be sure to warm up real well before any speed (read: sprint) work!

OK I hope that makes sense, if not please let me know in the comments section and I try to explain it a little better.

Mark

P.S.
Here is my most recent post on HIIT Training for fat loss. It also uses soccer as an example.