Our Fitness Progression for the Off-Season is as follows:
- Aerobic Capacity / Body Weight Strength Endurance
- Short to Intermediate Strong Run Intervals / HR Recovery
- Long Sprints / Based for Speed / HR Recovery
- Soccer Specific Intervals / Gaining Distance with Intermittent Sprints
- Yo-Yo and RAST based Anaerobic Fatigue Testing
We are currently finishing up the first phase 1) Aerobic Capacity and your homework this week will be as follows…
Day 1…
3 minutes on 1 minute off – 8 times for a total of 24 minutes of work
Goal: to cover as much distance as possible in each of the runs…then let your HR recover as much as possible in the 1 minute rest interval. We have cut the rest interval in half this week from 2 minutes to 1 minute and we have cut the distance in half as well. You should cover more total distance this week than you did last week in the same amount of total time (24 minutes) as your pace should be faster. If you are having trouble with this workout please go back and revisit the workouts from last week (6 minutes on 2 minutes off 4 times) or Week 1′s workouts (8 minutes on 2 minutes off 3 times) on Days 2 and 3 of your homework.
Day 2…
Arc Trainer Strong Runs of 3 minutes on 1 minute off starting at 35 resistance and an incline of 5 or 6. Your strides per minute should stay above 140 and you should increase resistance each set (example: 35, 45, 55, 60)…
Goal: To strengthen your stride by increasing the load and keeping the Strides Per Minute (SPM) above 140. This pace is fairly vigorous, and if you are having trouble go back and revisit the workouts from last week, where we were at 6 minutes on 2 minutes off or from week 1 where we were at 8 minutes on and 2 minutes off.
We feel that the Arc Trainers ability to enhance both strength, speed and HR recovery is essential to the total development of the soccer player. Here is some more info on the Cybex Arc Trainer…
Functional Outcomes Study 2008
