Training Seasons for a Midfield Soccer Player
The goals of an off-season soccer training program for a midfielder soccer athlete are to build power and strength while increasing flexibility and agility as well. The beginning of an off-season training program will focus on improving core and large muscle strength. The ‘core’ consists of the abdominals, lower back and truck. It is important to build strength in your core as a soccer player because during the game you will be stopping, twisting and turning. Building strength in your core will allow your body to work in cohesion, minimizing shock and stress. In this season athletes will focus on building their maximal strength as well, lifting weights below their maximum, however this phase will use higher loads than all the other phases. The goal of this phase is to create the maximal amount of force so that it may be turned into soccer specific power which is accomplished by working out at 80% of your 1 rep max, one rep max should be re-evaluated every 2 weeks in this phase of training and weight should be adjusted accordingly. Plyometric exercises are also a useful to build power due to their explosive, compound nature, which is also reflected in soccer by changing directions, kicking the ball and weaving through players. Agility can be build through soccer specific exercises like weave in-weave out, follow the leader (following a partner that is running in random directions), box drill (placing four markers down and assigning them numbers and having team mates or coaches call out the numbers in a random order as you jump to the allotted number placing), shuttles and slalom (10 shuttles in a line, 5 yards apart-weave in and out as fast as possible). Cardio training should only be done twice a week tops with the most benefits coming from interval training due to the nature of the sport. Interval training will increase a player’s ability to recover between hard running a play when participating in the game.
In the late pre-season you have built a solid strength base and are now working on increasing muscular endurance and turning that increase in force into soccer specific power. Plyometric training should replace sessions in the weight room for this phase and will last approximately 4-6 weeks.
See excel worksheet for examples of both beginning and late pre-season workouts and the Word page to find in-season workouts.