Here’s a very recent video showcasing Ellen White and Steph Houghton of the Arsenal Ladies.
This looks to be a nice, well-rounded program for these athletes. Although this is a sample size of one from their whole training program, there are some fantastic takeaways from this:
- There is a major focus on compound movements?(there looks to be a higher speed component in their lifts as well). Using heavy compound movements not only will develop an athlete’s overall strength levels the fastest, but will be very efficient on time as well. When a professional soccer player’s day is filled with field training, prehab, regeneration sessions, press conferences, etc. there isn’t much time to fit in, what some deem, “unnecessary” weight training. Compound movements will allow for a great training stimulus in a very short period of time in comparison to isolation exercises.
- The quality of movement is high. When exercises are performed in a sloppy manner, the desired training effect drops significantly (almost a waste of the athlete’s time). ?You also open the door for injury when quality of movement decreases. A very simple guideline to follow when training power, speed, and strength – quality over quantity.
- There are multiple planes of motion and movements being addressed: explosive movements, pushing, pulling, rotational, etc. ?While not all need to be addressed in a single session, there should be a balance between these as a program progresses to develop a well-rounded athlete.
The biggest takeaway of all is that an athlete’s program should be comprehensive. There should always be a central training philosophy in place, but the ability to plan and adapt throughout the process is of the utmost importance.
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John Grace
Coach at Athletic Lab
John Grace is a coach at Athletic Lab Sports Performance Training Center in Cary, NC - USA. John has his CSCS, USAW Level 1 certification, USATF Level 1 certification and has worked as an assistant fitness coach for the Vancouver Whitecaps of the MLS.
Latest posts by John Grace (see all)
- Overtraining – How Fatigue Can Lead to Increased Risk of Injury by Lauren Cowley - March 2, 2017
- Weightroom Strategies to Aid Conditioning in Soccer Players by Christopher Connelly - February 14, 2017
- The Role of Gender in Pre-Disposal to Injury by Lauren Cowley - February 10, 2017
What does doing deadlifts and squats have to do with being strong for soccer ?
(bilateral movements in an axial plane. all those movements where creating force in an axial plane :S (except for the bench press)
soccer is made up of almost 99% multi directional movements creating force in an anterior – posterior plane ….
Lets not talk about neural plasticity, reaction time and anticipation. ))
i cant see how these exercises can help you become better at soccer for so many reasons
Hi Robert. Welcome to the site. I think you bring up some great points and it’s tough to judge an entire training plan based on one video. I would, however, say that your comment that “99% of movements in soccer are multi-directional” is not true. In fact, research suggests that that is a huge misconception. Most of a players movement is straight ahead running and the overwhelming majority of ‘purposeful efforts’ (those that end in shots on goal, assists, or goals) are straight ahead sprints.
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