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Hey guys. This is Matt from Epic Soccer Training. Thanks for checking this video out. I kind
of want to explain now some soccer conditioning for you. I think a lot of people really don't
know how to train for soccer which is kind of unbelievable. It's a lot of short sprints.
Most people think, if I run six miles, I'm going to be in peak soccer shape,” but it's
not really the case.
Anything like football or soccer in American football that is. I know most of you guys
are thinking European soccer but It's a lot of explosive sprints so you want to work a
lot with interval training. Now soccer conditioning, what most people don't realize is you can
run up to five or six miles a game if you are center-mid or if you are center wing backs
or half backs, whatever you want to call them. There are a lot of different names but I played
on the wing for a little bit. I was running about five miles a game and if you're running
on the wings, basically you have the longest sprints in the game because when It's a transition,
you're making 60, 70, 80-yard sprints down the field to get open, to get a crossed ball.
So again, you need to know what position you're going to be playing and then kind of train
according to that. Not necessarily like everybody trains the same and then just call it a day.
It has to be a little bit different for what specific position you're playing.
There are however common conditioning drills that you want to do. One of them I want to
show you is called the wheel drill which was taught to me by one of my professional coaches
and It's a way to get everybody a little bit of a rest. I usually don't like soccer drills
or anything that have lines but when It's conditioning, It's good for you because you
actually want to be able to catch your breath a little bit but not all the way before you
start getting into it.
So again, we have two, four, six and we have an octagon here and basically start at one
end and you have your center cone. So have a couple of guys here. Everybody can be starting
on the same cone or on a different cone if you want but basically you're sprinting and
you're hitting right in front of the cone and then you're going back.
So again, what you want to do is when you first start out, you go to the front and then
you work your way to your next cone. So you work your way back and then you go back in
and then work your way to the next cone and then back in and you're working your way all
the way around. So again, you would be going this way. You would be going all the way around.
You want to do that as fast as you can. Take a minute rest. A minute rest is generally
the rule of thumb with anything.
Obviously if you're doing full field suicides where you go six-yard box, 18, half field,
the other 18, the other 6, that's one of the best drills that you can do but again a minute
rest is not going to be enough for that. you're going to need a little bit longer.
So again, I just want to kind of explain that when you're a defender, you got t to think
about the type of sprints or the type or running you're going to be doing. Sure, It's going
to be a little bit conditioning but in soccer you're never going to need to run more than
two miles. So you don't need to go running four, five, six miles down the road. Really
two miles max is good but you really want to intersperse that with a lot of short sprints.
A lot of interval training is the best way you can do things. So whether you set cones
up all the way along the field and you do walk, jog, spring, walk, jog, sprint, anything
like that would be great because again if you're a center-mid, you're going to be doing
more all-around jogging at about 60, 70 percent and then take off in short sprints to kind
of get open.
Hopefully if you have a really good offense, there won't be a whole lot of running but
still you're going to want to always kind of be jogging, getting into place especially
if you're swinging the ball or you're having to cover and everybody is having to shift
over. It's going to be quick sprints and the same with forwards. If you play striker or
anything like that, you really want to work on doing your sprints that are anywhere from
goal line to 18 consistently.
You should be able to do 10 or 15 of those with hardly any break in between. So work
on that as well and I tell people all the time I wasn't always a great player. I was
a pretty average player and I found a systematic approach to how to train and how to maximize
my time on the field and how to maximize it when I got to a game because they always translate
over.
You want to practice like It's a game. That way you're always getting in the right mindset,
always getting in the right habits. So again, if you want to check out kind of how I did
that, I made a video below that you could check out the link right down here. Also don't
forget to subscribe and leave some comments. I will come by and answer any questions you
might have and I will see you guys again in the next video. Hope you enjoyed. Bye.