Most ppl will say that soccer players should train like 100 m sprinters (ie working on short sprints, strength and power and leaving aerobic work to extensive tempos)…But i’ve noticed that most 400m and 800m runners that i know are also very good midfielders (in terms of there speed and endurance). 400m have great v02 maxes and lactate threshold and they are fast (obviosly not as fast as 100m sprinters, but still they’re pretty close) So i was wondering if it would be better for a soccer palyer yo use a 400m sprinter approach to training instead?
If you want to be a soccer player, train like a soccer player, and incidentally, soccer players are usually decent 400m runners so make what you want of that…
i played soccer and now i m a better 200m runner then a 100m runner. MAybe thats because of the endurance character of soccer…
Maybe i m just too slow for the 100m…
Maybe i m just a good 200m-runner…
Maybe i should train the 400m…
How are you playing soccer??? If you play seriously you wont be able to train like any athlete, because your soccer-training is just damaging your sprint-training. Believe me.
Obviously soccer has a high endurance component (at low intensity). But it also has a high speed component (though this is exercised much less during game time because most of the game is spent repositioning yourself within perhaps a 50m square block).
The thing that makes 400m special is the high lactic component. That doesn’t exist in football or the 100m. Therefore, why train for it if you arn’t going to ever use it.
Think of the demands of the game. Tonnes of short explosive sprints. So… what people are saying is to focus on shorter sprints <40 yards so that you will be training mostly acceleration.
As far as tempo goes, it is actually recommended that soccer players do tempo at around the same volumes as 400m runners(3000m worth). This will take care of all the aerobic training you need.
With weights, don’t wander too far towards max strength because this will conflict with endurance.
i though max strength was need to increase overall power and speed… i’m current doing a 2 day/week conjugate split with 1 ME uuper and 1 ME lower… is that ok in your opinion.
Strength might suffer from endurance, but why endurance from strength?
Anything works if you fit it into the overall programme. Its not what you do its how you do it. Give me any session and i can write an anual plan around it but i don’t promise it will be optimal.
The problem is that people choose things as the centre of thier programme (say ME lifting) which is not the most important element. Then they try and fit everything around it and so thier training is scewed in favour of things that arn’t important.
If you have 2 ME days then you are basically going to have to put sprints on those days and tempo on other days. But where does that leave your skill practice?
well i was thinking of doing skills on my tempo days ie skils first then tempos.
Why do you need ME lifts to work on strength? Strength is arguably more important to a sprinter, but other than Butch Reynolds, NO sprinter has done ME work in the past, including the four sub 9.8 guys.
well my understanding is that ME/conjugate routines are the most effective way to gain strength and they are the most ideal for athletes due tot he flexibility of the routine… am i mistaken?
If your only goal is to gain strength… fine. If your goal is to gain strength/speed/ability in sport/general and specific conditioning… then I’d say no.
hmm that goes against most of the stuff ive read… so what kind of approach to strength training do you suggest?
bump…
Have you done any searching around this board? There are a lot of examples from Charlie himself on the GPP dvd and in the books (along with his, Nik’s, TC’s, and MANY others’ posts). Search around. Westside is not the only way to improve athletic performance. As I stated before and you can verify yourself, no elite sprinters other than Butch Reynolds ever used Westside or anything like it.
It’s a 2-way street. Both are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Sorry, I need an explanation of this; I don’t get it… 
Daniel. The cross training aspect of soccer training is what you’ll probably get the most benefits from. You lift a bit different and do different repetitive drills in soccer thn you would in track so if you are in a good program you’ll find that you are working different muscles. Also most soccer coaches don’t necessarily think about peaking or loading and unloading so you will be running a general program. I most countries especially yours being Caribbean, you run your soccer program which could be your GPP1 in the summer and fall before you start your specific prep for track. As long as you keep two days of speedwork in there you’ll find most times that you come back for track a little bit stronger from a general strength perspective.
A bit of a delayed response but…
Why would strength suffer from endurance?
look at marathon runners and there 12 inch verticals. endurance for endurance’s sake will hurt strength.
strength is the base quality for almost everything imo. everything starts with strength and is divated off of it. speed, “power”, endurance, middle distance running, anything comes from a base level of strength.
an improvement in general strength will allow for increased capiblities across the board for people at the low end of the performance spectrum. why would cross country runners take strength and conditioning why would soccer teams hire strength and condtioning coaches, why would Hicam El-G lift weights.
^^^this is just my opinion, strength precedes and augments everything else.
as to the orginal question from 2 months ago. train like a soccer player, soccer should be the most important thing but beyond that short speed is more important because it would be used much more.