How Athletes Get Stronger and Faster

Among the principles of training that I have written about in the past is the principle of specificity. When talking about the body, it is frequently referred to as the SAID principle- namely, Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. In simple terms, the adaptations you see are consistent with the load applied. Sounds a little Newtonian doesn't it, although the reaction in this case is not necessarily opposite.


Nevertheless, narrow-minded thinking has taken this principle to main that training for soccer means that players need to have a ball with them all the time. We need to consider that game is movement. It's a very specific movement, and the skills required of us is unlike any other sport, but it is a movement nonetheless. With this baseline, here are different considerations for coaches and players:

Because soccer is movement, one need only analyze the patterns involved in the execution of various skills. 

• Hip flexion and extension are involved in running. So too in the shoulder. 
• The fastest sprinters have a strong core from which the appendages can move freely, quickly, and powerfully. 
• Internal and external rotation are required for the in-step and outside of the foot passes respectively. 

These are just a few of the requirements for effective running, cutting, turning, jumping, passing and shooting. Exercises that emphasize these are therefore appropriate for soccer players. These include:

1. Kettlebell swings, cleans, snatches and presses
2. Deadlifts (using both legs and both arms; single-leg + both arms; single-arm + single leg)
3. Squats (I prefer front squats to back squats; single leg to double leg. Of the single leg squats, rear-foot elevated variations including body weight, weighted with arms on the side, or holding a kettlebell in the goblet squat position). Of course they are many others, but these form the back bone of my training programs.

Pavel performing the swing. Strongfirst.com

WHAT ABOUT 'CORE' TRAINING?

Exercises NOT movement specific:

 
Sit ups and crunches of any sort (they have no transfer to performance. The only thing you'll get is becoming really good at doing sit ups!)

Planks can be very useful but only the right context. Unless there is a new position where you have to be still for 4 minutes, a 4-minute plank doesn't mean anything. The science from Professor McGill's lab, and others tells us that beyond 7-8 SECONDS, those 'core' muscles will be starved of oxygen. Those players 'holding' their plank for extended periods are just really compensators.

So how is the plank movement specific? Learn this adage: proximal stability for distal mobility. 

It means the core (transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, multifidi, ) is the engine of the body. As long as it is good working order, the limbs will be able to move freely. Not only that, but since the core is the conduit for the transfer of power, the more 'solid' the core, the more power you can impart onto the ball. I use the word solid rather than strong to try to dissuade the thinking that you need a strong core. Once again, McGill and others have shown that the endurance of the muscles is more important that the strength. Remember that they run out of oxygen within seconds. So what we're after is what Prof. McGill calls superstiffness. It is a maximal contraction of the abdominals in the split second before kicking the ball.

Notice that the maximal contraction is time sensitive. It is in response to the timing demands of a powerful and accurate shot. Core training should be reactive in nature if it is to carry over to performance. The progressions of training start with the plank. (There are further breakdowns if we are rehabilitating a painful back.) The following exercises include and are built on a good plank:

1. Low (elbow) to high plank (push up position)
2. Mountain climbers (from high plank)
3. Shoulder tap
4. "Stir the Pot" (McGill)
5. Push ups
6. Clap push ups

"Stir the Pot" on a Swiss ball

These exercises follow a simple model of progression. There is a postural challenge and the athlete is to hold the position, resist attempts to throw him/her off (perturbation) as well as produce power from it. That is how the core works when we play and that's how it should be trained. 

The benefits of these cannot be maximized without this off-field training. It is a mistake for soccer players to think skill alone will get them, and keep them, at the highest levels of play.