It's often quoted that soccer players have to run at least 7 miles per game. And some players even train by running marathons on the side.
I'm here to tell you that training long distance running is bad for soccer fitness. Here's why and what to do instead:
In an average game, a soccer player will:
* Stand: 3-4 minutes
* Walk: 40 minutes
* Jog: 35 minutes
* Sprint: 7-16 minutes depending on the position
I'm not sure who figured that out but I've seen those stats a few times.
Long distance running only helps with jogging. Not only would you be hurting when it came to sprinting, but that kind of training reduces your sprinting ability.
Arthur De Vany wrote an article on the top 10 reasons marathons are bad for you. Among the reasons are various permanent heart, liver, kidney, brain and muscle damage. They even raise the risk of cancer. I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that. Soccer players can't afford that kind of risk to our health.
What should you do instead? Interval training. That's high intensity bursts followed by rest. Try running hills, fartleks or even circuit training routines if it's too bad to get outside. Or just do sprints. The rest of your jogging endurance will be filled out fine in the running you do in practice.
An additional clue should be the physical difference between elite sprinters and marathon runners. Clearly sprinters look more like pro soccer players. If you're always the last one to get to the play, being able to run forever doesn't do you any good in soccer.
How far should you run? I wouldn't make it a practice of running more than 3 miles at a time. Even then, you'd be better served to skip the distance and run some more sprints, do polymetrics, kettlebells or lift weights. - 16887
I'm here to tell you that training long distance running is bad for soccer fitness. Here's why and what to do instead:
In an average game, a soccer player will:
* Stand: 3-4 minutes
* Walk: 40 minutes
* Jog: 35 minutes
* Sprint: 7-16 minutes depending on the position
I'm not sure who figured that out but I've seen those stats a few times.
Long distance running only helps with jogging. Not only would you be hurting when it came to sprinting, but that kind of training reduces your sprinting ability.
Arthur De Vany wrote an article on the top 10 reasons marathons are bad for you. Among the reasons are various permanent heart, liver, kidney, brain and muscle damage. They even raise the risk of cancer. I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that. Soccer players can't afford that kind of risk to our health.
What should you do instead? Interval training. That's high intensity bursts followed by rest. Try running hills, fartleks or even circuit training routines if it's too bad to get outside. Or just do sprints. The rest of your jogging endurance will be filled out fine in the running you do in practice.
An additional clue should be the physical difference between elite sprinters and marathon runners. Clearly sprinters look more like pro soccer players. If you're always the last one to get to the play, being able to run forever doesn't do you any good in soccer.
How far should you run? I wouldn't make it a practice of running more than 3 miles at a time. Even then, you'd be better served to skip the distance and run some more sprints, do polymetrics, kettlebells or lift weights. - 16887
No comments:
Post a Comment