How to make your soccer players faster

Most soccer players can be taught and coached how to run fast!

Again, in case you forgot, actual speed work is defined as 2-8 seconds of maximum speed, maximum intensity running with full recovery (minimum of 3 minutes).

If your ‘soccer speed workouts’ don’t fall into that category, then you are not training your soccer players to improve their ability to accelerate effectively or develop faster top speeds.

Because running fast is, without a doubt, a skill. And there are certain race elements that need to be developed for consistent results.

And those results come from a focus on the following five areas, in no particular order.

Fundamental Speed ​​#1: TEACH PROPER ARM ACTION

Ultimately, the role of the arms is to stabilize the torso.

Doing so allows for greater power transfer and force application, critical factors for speed.

All arm action should take place through the shoulders. Instruct athletes to keep elbows locked at approximately 90 degrees. In front, the hands should not cross the midline of the body.

Hands should reach cheek level in front and clear hips in back. Also, focus on bringing your elbow or hand down and back, keeping your elbows close to your body throughout the range of motion.

You will be surprised how difficult this is for many athletes.

Fundamental Speed ​​#2: TRAIN FAST, RUN FAST

I don’t care what sport you train. If all of your training is at a submaximal pace, then you’re not going to develop faster athletes. It’s that easy.

This principle is not just for track sprinters. From soccer to football to lacrosse and everything in between, athletes need to train fast if they want to be fast.

I’m not saying a soccer player shouldn’t do aerobic work, but they spend a lot of time sprinting toward a ball and to/from a defensive player.

To get where they want to go faster, they must have a higher acceleration rate. And this comes from doing a full throttle job with full recovery as I mentioned earlier.

For some people this is difficult to understand. 4 second sprints with 3 minutes rest seem like a waste of time.

Trust me, it’s not.

But if you’re training true speed/power athletes like sprinters and soccer players, high-intensity sprints with full recovery *should* be the *base* of training.

Aerobic work serves as recovery from speed work, it does not put them in specific “shape” for the demands of soccer.

This is not even a debatable concept.

Fundamental Speed ​​#3: BE PATIENT

I’m not just talking about being patient with your athletes while you break them down to develop them.

I’m talking about being patient on each repetition of speed work.

The speed cannot be forced. Athletes must learn to override the voice in their head that tells them to “work harder, run harder, push, work harder, hurry up.”

Instead, they have to let speed come to them.

During acceleration, the ground contact time goes from long to short. But most athletes are in a rush to get up and adopt their “normal” running technique at full speed.

This is the equivalent of shifting gears in a sports car as quickly as possible. It will not maximize performance.

Athletes must be patient. Spend more time on the ground as they overcome inertia and accelerate. Stride length and frequency should increase naturally, as a result of efficient application of force, strength, and mechanics. They must not be forced.

Athletes should reach triple extension with each stride, fully completing the lowering (and stepping back) action.

Instead, I see athletes trying to shift gears too quickly. This results in reaching a slower top speed earlier in the race.

Since an athlete can only maintain top speed for 1-2 seconds before deceleration begins, impatience during acceleration will cost them speed and time with every step they take.

Fundamental Speed ​​#4: GET STRONGER

If you work with athletes, particularly adolescent athletes, then time spent building physical strength in the weight room should be a critical part of your program.

Athletes who don’t focus on strength development have a very low glass ceiling that will prevent them from making significant gains in speed.

It’s just common sense: the stronger you are, the faster you can propel your body forward.

But this does not mean going to the weight room and lifting weights like a bodybuilder.

When I go to the weight room, I see the athletes doing a useless workout.

Here are some examples of elevators that, for our purposes, are a waste of time:

– anything on a machine, like hamstring curls, leg extensions
calf raises, Smith Machine squats, etc.

– single-joint movements, such as bicep curls

– chest flies, triceps extensions, etc.

While these are all great moves to look good on the beach, I cringe when I see in-season athletes doing these lifts as part of their training. And I see it most of the time, unfortunately.

If you want to know exactly how to build strength in your football players (even your pre-teen athletes) that will transfer to the football field or track, I recommend you visit any of my websites listed below and check out NFL Speed ​​​Training DVD! by San Diego Chargers LT running back and Denver Broncos D-Back champion Bailey.

Speed ​​Fundamental #5: GO OVER, DRIVE DOWN

The ability to apply force to the ground, and more specifically mass-specific force, is the primary mechanical consideration you should devote your time to during each speed session or workout.

Athletes have a variety of issues that negatively affect lower body mechanics.

But the vast majority of them are due to a lack of physical strength and the inability to get the heel back under the hips, go over the opposite knee and sink the foot into the ground so that it lands under the hips and not on the ground. in front of the center of mass.

If there’s one topic of discussion that I get the most questions about, it’s the concept of ‘going over, driving down’.

If there is one topic of discussion that I receive the most emails from satisfied customers about, it is the positive results that come from teaching athletes how to ‘drive over, drive down’.

And this is the case at all levels of the sport.

I have written about this extensively in the past. So if you are interested in reading more then visit my soccer websites and read soccer coaching or soccer coaching articles.