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Contents:

• Goal Setting
• Soccer-Specific Strength and Conditioning with Coach Jeremy Boone
  

Set Goals to Improve Training and Performance

A grrlAthlete is serious about getting results from her training, and as such, always sets their expectations high. But somehow, goal setting has become a lost art and the lack of goal setting is reflected in the training frustration that so many people experience.

Have you been training for years with the same program but without making any noticeable gains? Maybe you need to set some goals and structure your workouts into smaller blocks. For example, you could devote the next 8 weeks to improving the number of chin-ups you can do. All you need are some goals!

Setting short-term and long-term goals will help you focus on your training. A goal is defined as a "specific, written, personally meaningful, and challenging statement of intent, which has a measurable outcome and a completion date". Or, in other words, you promise yourself that you will perform a certain task in order to meet a specific deadline.

Having goals keeps people on track in all areas of life. Sit down for 15 minutes and work through 3 short-term and 3 long-term goals, but don't be afraid to do more. According to Charles Staley, a well-known strength coach, "accomplishment is almost always linked to goal-directed behavior". It sounds like you have a better chance for success if you start setting some goals.

Goal setting is not a behavior limited to fitness and working out. It is something that should be incorporated into almost every aspect of life, from financial planning to fitness. Just like when you set financial goals, you may also want to consider sitting down with a professional trainer or strength coach to outline strategies and behaviors that are directly in line with meeting your fitness and performance goals.

After you set some long-term goals, you will need to begin your planning your road to success. Once you set that big goal, you must be 100% committed to reaching it! Setting down smaller concrete steps will outline your path to success in such a detailed manner that there will be no room for failure. By knowing where you have to be at each specific date, you can make the necessary nutritional and training changes to the program.

For athletes, let goal setting take the place of informal questions. Don't just dream of being somewhere in 4 years! Put the steps down on paper and the deadlines as well (i.e. if you want to be a pro in 4 years, what level will you need to play at in 3 years from now? 2 years from now?). Determine the long-term goals first and then move down to the specific skill or physical attribute that you need to improve this year and next. Goal setting is the road map to reaching your dreams.

To sum up, here is the science of goal setting:
• Commit your goals to paper (this makes them real)
• Review your goals on a regular basis
• Be specific
• Be realistic
• Focus on the short-term goals, as short-term changes in behavior will help you reach long-term goals.

An Interview with Soccer Strength Coach Jeremy Boone

JB: Sure, I own the Carolina Athletic Development Institute (www.carolinaadi.com) in Charlotte, NC. We use a unique Sports Training System to help athletes of all levels and abilities improve their performance.

On the side I do a monthly performance tip for a local sports show with an accompanying e-zine that is in the works to be nationally syndicated here in the near future. In fact, it is free to sign-up by going to www.carolinaadi.com/fitbit.html.

Some of my current team clientele include the NFL Carolina Panthers, the Atlanta Beat (WUSA 2001 National Finalists), and the Charlotte Lady Eagles (W-League 2001 Women's National Soccer Champions and 2002 National Finalists).

Although Carolina ADI was created to be used as a catalyst to develop athletes of all sports both men and women, the majority of our clientele are female athletes, namely female soccer players. In fact, I work with female athletes from all over the USA and even from Canada as well. Over 90% of my athletes come to me with the desire to get faster and improve their ability to change direction. What makes our speed development program so unique is our ability to relate it to the actual game. We aren't preparing these players for a track meet but to play soccer!

JB: I have been with the Beat since the beginning of the league in 2001. Even since then the level of athleticism has risen tremendously in female sports. Today's players are faster, stronger, and more powerful than ever before. Their ability to change direction, stop on a dime, and then have an explosive first step is amazing! This year is Atlanta's fastest team yet and the scary thing is that some of these girls can get even faster with the right type of training.

Like most soccer players, many of these girls train by performing long distance runs or occasionally running 10 x 100's but don't understand why their speed isn't improving. So we focus on the technical aspects of speed, both straight-ahead and lateral, as well as strength work and flexibility. One of our philosophies is to develop speed before speed endurance. Therefore I tend to focus a lot on an athlete's ability to accelerate within the first 10-20yds.

JB: Really all the athletic qualities are important including speed, strength, stamina, and flexibility. An athlete should never solely focus on a single quality. I would say though that a lack of strength plays a large limiting factor in performance of female sports. I have many of my players who struggle to get 20 pushups when they first come to me. Simply improving their ability to handle their own body weight in movement will produce significant results in their level of play.

The best piece of advice I could give young female athletes is to just be consistent in your training. I have a 17 year old female soccer player who has been training with me for over a year 3 times per week and tested on the U-17 national team at a 23" vertical jump and over 47 pushups under a minute.

I have another 14 year old female soccer player who has been with me for almost two years. She has focused primarily on body weight exercises and has trained twice per week since we started. She bench pressed for the first time two weeks ago and is now performing 3 sets of 10 reps using 100 lbs on the bench press (although we will be using very little of this exercise).

JB: My female athletes will do some type of strength work three to four days a week, even during the season. Anything much less than this in my experience and strength levels will begin to decline.

One of the most common methods I use for strength development is through circuit training. Now I don't mean your traditional circuit training in a gym where an athlete goes from machine to machine. Instead, we perform much of our strength work right there on the field where the player actually performs. The circuit training can be created with an emphasis on the legs, the core, the upper body, or a combination of all three depending on that day. This is also a very economical form of training when working with large groups of athletes.

The results of strength training for my female athletes include for example injury prevention and enhanced performance. Many of my players are now getting first to the ball, breaking through their competition, fighting off two or three defenders, and still able to keep the ball!

JB: I work with a few female swimmers, basketball players, and volleyball players. Initially all female players go through a similar program that focuses on the areas of core strength, speed mechanics, the ability to handle one's own body weight in movement, and landing just to name a few. As the athlete becomes more advanced then the program is tailored to the demands of the sport and the individual player.

JB: Yes by all means. Female athletes tend do one or all of the following things when it comes to speed:

• bend at the waist upon taking their first step or changing direction
• use the arms incorrectly
• don't 'push the ground' very effectively

All of these in turn don't allow a player to efficiently apply force into the ground. Being aware of simple issues such as these can make dramatic improvements in speed and agility.

JB: Younger players will improve their conditioning simply by playing the game. However, older players should focus on other methods of physical conditioning. One of my favorite exercises for increasing work capacity is a 30/30 run. The player jogs for 30 seconds at a 50% effort pace followed by a run for 30 seconds at a 75% pace. We may start out at a 8 minute run and work our way up to an 18 minute run over a period of a few weeks.

Other ways to improve conditioning are through circuit training, a continuous run for time, and short repeat bursts within 3 minutes. However as I mentioned earlier, I focus on developing speed before speed endurance.

If any readers have any questions about any training issue, please feel free to contact me at jeremy@carolinaadi.com. I would be glad to help where I can.