Its off-season again and Im am looking at the options for my offseason programming.
My goals for the offseason is build some strength, improve flexibility and maintain a decent level of conditioning. As I am getting older I would also like to work on my explosive side of things. I have also recently acquired some gymnastic rings and paralettes and would like to learn some basic gymnastic moves.
Im a semi-pro soccer player, so i am not looking to add a massive amount of weight. I have a history of lower back issues which is aggravated by squatting and deadlifting, so I will be avoiding those 2 lifts although I am keen to get back into squatting again.
Anyone have any recommendations for a suitable program??
pull ups, 3 sets of AMAP (leave a few in the tank - make the last rep look pretty)
work up to a heavy 5 on any push exercise - flat bench, incline, military press. Then do AMAP with 90% of that a minute later.
3a. 3x8-12 dumbbell pressing in some way
3b. 3x8-12 some sort of rowing
4a. 2x8-15 bicep exercise
4b. 2x8-15 triceps exercise
Lower - ME
3x3 box jumps
pistol squats or front squats, work up to one really good set in the ~5 range (hold weights in front of you for the PS if you have to add weight).
3x6-8, ramped, for rack pulls - or do GHRs.
split squats, 2x10-20/leg
hanging leg raises with perfect form, 3x AMAP
Full Body - calisthenics
dumbbell snatch, 3x5-8
handstand against the wall practice
Skin the cat drill, 3 sets
4a. front lever practice, 4 attempts (watch some youtube tutorials)
4b. full ROM ring dips, 4 sets
5a. cossack squats, 3x8/side
5b. false grip row to chest, 3x15
add one or two days of conditioning.
The number of sets, reps etc. can be debated - the volume may be considered low for the off season, I don’t know - but this is basically what I would do. Use two ME days and then use a third one to practise ring skills and do active mobility stuff.
if i were you i would not ask these folks on here and consult you soccer (football) coach… fist off bird, if you’re a semi pro player, you should by now know what to do for training in and out of season…
What exactly is the back problem? Olympic lifting might be good depending on the back but then if you’re ok on the pitch you can probably find a way in the gym? It won’t make you big/immobile, it will increase power and strength eg 1-5 reps, several working sets, the usual suspect being power clean. A great book on programme design is Optimizing Strength Training which deals with on/off season amongst other issues.
It’s important to work on maintaining/improving hip, knee and ankle mobility/stability in the off season. When doing conditioning drills make sure to focus primarily on movement patterns that are involved in soccer. You want everything you do to add to your performance in sport. Triple extension exercises are killer for any explosive athlete also, but too many weighted speed movements can aggravate your back issue.
Incorporate plyometric training as well to reinforce explosion but also to give the back ample time to recover from heavy loads.Lower back issues often lead to compensatory movement patterns that could be detrimental to your training and athletic performance. It would be a good idea to have a movement screening done by a fitness professional to correct any inefficient movement.
Also, don’t neglect the lateral plane of motion in your training. The off-season is a perfect time to find any weak links in your kinetic chain and bring them up to speed. Best of luck!
[quote]spk wrote:
if i were you i would not ask these folks on here and consult you soccer (football) coach… fist off bird, if you’re a semi pro player, you should by now know what to do for training in and out of season…[/quote]
Listen mate, I like you, but I am getting sick of the old “why don’t you ask the coach” line.
If I was a professional playing in the top leagues of Europe I probably would not bother asking for advice on T-Nation. But I am not. Im just a weekend warrior who is interested and involved in “keeping fit” and enjoy playing football at the level I can now.
I enjoy seeking information and experimenting with different training methods/ideologies. I know that you were once involved with pro bike riding and I believe you still to be a decent rider, so if you have any opinions/advice on my training methodologies from your point of view, please feel free to share. if not, zip it.
[quote]Charlietr wrote:
What exactly is the back problem? Olympic lifting might be good depending on the back but then if you’re ok on the pitch you can probably find a way in the gym? It won’t make you big/immobile, it will increase power and strength eg 1-5 reps, several working sets, the usual suspect being power clean. A great book on programme design is Optimizing Strength Training which deals with on/off season amongst other issues.[/quote]
Not sure what the exact cause of the back problems is. No professional could give me a definite diagnosis. From my understanding ti could be just a little SI joint irritation or maybe some facet arthritis in my lumbar region. Anyway, I have lately been keeping it all under control and I feel with some extra mobility and core work, squats and maybe even deadlifts could be an option for the off-season.
I like the idea of olympic lifts, however there is no reputable coach in the town that I live in. Would you recommend learning the power clean by myself?
[quote]Nprimofitness13 wrote:
It’s important to work on maintaining/improving hip, knee and ankle mobility/stability in the off season. When doing conditioning drills make sure to focus primarily on movement patterns that are involved in soccer. You want everything you do to add to your performance in sport. Triple extension exercises are killer for any explosive athlete also, but too many weighted speed movements can aggravate your back issue.
Incorporate plyometric training as well to reinforce explosion but also to give the back ample time to recover from heavy loads.Lower back issues often lead to compensatory movement patterns that could be detrimental to your training and athletic performance. It would be a good idea to have a movement screening done by a fitness professional to correct any inefficient movement.
Also, don’t neglect the lateral plane of motion in your training. The off-season is a perfect time to find any weak links in your kinetic chain and bring them up to speed. Best of luck![/quote]
Great first post!!
It sounds like you know your stuff. Care to expand?
Primo makes a number of good points. Personally I favour doing similar training on and off season, the difference being higher intensity in off season due to increased opportunities to train and/or recover. For example rapid cycling of reps/rep ranges and the emphasis of the session/exercises, the book I mentioned by Fleck and Kraemer expands on this.
Regarding self teaching power cleans etc, I think it’s reasonably feasible and worth the effort. Even one session with a decent coach can make a significant difference if you can find a way. There are some great resources on Sean Waxman’s site, Catalyst Athletics, Greenwood Weightlifting, Iron Mind/Jim Schmitz, amongst others.
One very brief tip: start off with a wooden stick or similar and/or an empty bar, do plenty of volume/technique work, even with light weights the movements are beneficial, especially if you squat all the way down.
What position do you play? Strengths, weaknesses, injuries etc?
I’ve found osteopaths to be quite effective for a number of injuries/tweaks, especially backs. Maybe try to find one a knowledgeable friend recommends?
Alternatively/additionally you may want to try high pulls but I’d recommend just learning cleans and/or snatches for now.
I’ll expand at the risk of overdoing it, I get carried away sometimes but here’s my spiel…
As a soccer player you walk, jog and sprint, primarily forward toward the ball then turning as the ball changes directions and running forward towards it again. This involves quickness as well as sheer power for sprinting. The constant forward motion and hip flexion involved in soccer can lead to serious pattern overload causing tight hip flexors and other hypertonic muscles that lead to poor biomechanics when jogging, but more importantly when sprinting.
This tightness can rotate your pelvis to your anterior and seriously decrease your stride length when running as well as limit activation of your glutes. This kills your power for sprinting, leads to improper mechanics on deadlifts and squats and could be a cause of your back pain. Tight hip flexors and over hypertrophy of the piriformis due to gluteal amnesia will most definitely contribute to SI dysfunction.
You’ll feel that shit right in the SI and it sucks, trust me. It will also limit your ability to perform optimally in your triple extension and plyometric exercises by not allowing you to fully engage the powerful glutes.
Make sure you work in all planes of motion when doing conditioning and stuff, especially back peddling and other reverse movements that counterbalance the forward overload from your in season days.
Before worrying about training however, a good amount of myofascial release should be done to make sure your hips are functioning correctly. Foam roll your hip flexors and piriformis religiously and hit static stretches for the hip flexors too. This combined with hip mobility work should make you a beast! This could be the difference between an offseason full of strength and performance gains, or one limited by dysfunction.
[quote]spk wrote:
bird… are you a semi pro player or a weekend warrior. 2 completely different athletes…[/quote]
I get payed to play, but it hardly covers the expenses.
[quote]Charlietr wrote:
Primo makes a number of good points. Personally I favour doing similar training on and off season, the difference being higher intensity in off season due to increased opportunities to train and/or recover. For example rapid cycling of reps/rep ranges and the emphasis of the session/exercises, the book I mentioned by Fleck and Kraemer expands on this.
Regarding self teaching power cleans etc, I think it’s reasonably feasible and worth the effort. Even one session with a decent coach can make a significant difference if you can find a way. There are some great resources on Sean Waxman’s site, Catalyst Athletics, Greenwood Weightlifting, Iron Mind/Jim Schmitz, amongst others.
One very brief tip: start off with a wooden stick or similar and/or an empty bar, do plenty of volume/technique work, even with light weights the movements are beneficial, especially if you squat all the way down.
What position do you play? Strengths, weaknesses, injuries etc?
I’ve found osteopaths to be quite effective for a number of injuries/tweaks, especially backs. Maybe try to find one a knowledgeable friend recommends?
Alternatively/additionally you may want to try high pulls but I’d recommend just learning cleans and/or snatches for now.[/quote]
Thanks for the info. I do know of an osteo that I visit often and it makes a significant difference.
[quote]Nprimofitness13 wrote:
Before worrying about training however, a good amount of myofascial release should be done to make sure your hips are functioning correctly. Foam roll your hip flexors and piriformis religiously and hit static stretches for the hip flexors too. This combined with hip mobility work should make you a beast! This could be the difference between an offseason full of strength and performance gains, or one limited by dysfunction.
[/quote]
Thats great advice. Im planning to takes a few weeks off, although I was going to attend the gm with my gf and join in her with her as she starts her new gym program(Chris Colucci’s beginner program for teenagers). So I plan to really pick up with the mobility and foam rolling work for the next 2 weeks before I start my off-season program.
Do you have any advice on particular mobility drills that I should concentrate on to really get my hips/glutes in a good state. I was thinking just heaps of agile 8, foam rolling and maybe some barbell hip thrusts 3x/week.
When it comes to your hips, you want to focus on full circumduction. You want to achieve full mobility and move the ball and socket joint comfortably in all planes. A few hip mobility drills that I have helped me loosen up and successfully train my glutes
-quadruped hip rotations
-Spiderman Lunges with Rotation
Glute Bridges with abduction with an elastic band
-Glute hyperextensions with a real tight peak contraction
Start your deadlifts from scratch when you reintroduce them. Work in single leg dead lifts to support ankle knee and hip stability. also, Incorporating rack pulls will allow you to handle heavy weights without loading up the lower back until you get your hips primed to go from the floor, and if done properly, rack pulls support thoracic extension. They’ll jack up your nervous system too so that when you eventually pull heavy from the floor you’ll maintain proper mechanics easily.
Pulls from a deficit will support hip mobility as you work on it and will increase explosion from the floor while not allowing you to use heavy weights easing up the load on your sacrum. It’s my experience that through the hip mobility work and smart deadlifting you can fix a ton of postural imbalances and improve relative strength and motor coordination.
Thoracic Mobility is key when you are paying attention to the hips so much. full mobility of your thoracic spine supports efficient movement patterns throughout your whole kinetic chain. Mobility drills like quadruped thoracic rotations and thoracic extension on a foam roller will help counterbalance much of the bent over action that takes place in games. Get your mobility in check and by the time you get back into serious training your movement patterns will be so efficient that strength gains will be easy.
more good points from Primo/Nick the only thing I would say is to keep the programme simple. use compound movements as the core with a number of sport specific movements, as well as the more complex ones mentioned, bolted on ((hub and spoke as I sometimes think of it) and a specific warm up/cool down to accommodate your individual as well as sporting needs)
again depending on the back etc you could use barbell power cleans, squats, deadlifts, lunges, bench and rows as a generic core with some modifications such as switching from conventional to sumo deadlift/squat from session to session to open up the hips/groin etc. if you predominantly work in the 5 rep range with good form this should be highly beneficial and you can try fewer reps/heavier loads as you progress eg 5x5 with a medium load, resting for 2-3 minutes between sets (you can significantly vary the volumes and the rest periods depending on what your goals are)
overhead squats (OHS) with a narrow/shoulder width grip are another good movement for helping mobility/strength/stability.
as regards the SI joint/facet arthritis issue it might be worth going for another assessment/second opinion? as well as a general movement screening
this is very common amongst soccer players. In particular their kicking side will be dominant in symptoms. This is due to the shear forces and repetitive nature of the kicking action and the fact that the opposite side of the SI will have greater stability by the action of it stabilizing the body through the kick movement. (I pinched this from comments against a great article by bret contreras called The Sacroiliac Joint Takes a Beating! - he is dead set against squat/deadlift ? but I assume that is mainly during a flare up; all the more reason to crack the root cause/rehab)
Charlietr- Im reading about tactical periodization right now. Looks interesting. Here in Australia, our coaches are generally under-educated but there is a movement now that seems to be changing that and encouraging smart training and tactical awareness. Football has changed lots in the past 2-3 years.
[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
If I were you, I’d do this:
Upper - ME
pull ups, 3 sets of AMAP (leave a few in the tank - make the last rep look pretty)
work up to a heavy 5 on any push exercise - flat bench, incline, military press. Then do AMAP with 90% of that a minute later.
3a. 3x8-12 dumbbell pressing in some way
3b. 3x8-12 some sort of rowing
4a. 2x8-15 bicep exercise
4b. 2x8-15 triceps exercise
Lower - ME
3x3 box jumps
pistol squats or front squats, work up to one really good set in the ~5 range (hold weights in front of you for the PS if you have to add weight).
3x6-8, ramped, for rack pulls - or do GHRs.
split squats, 2x10-20/leg
hanging leg raises with perfect form, 3x AMAP
Full Body - calisthenics
dumbbell snatch, 3x5-8
handstand against the wall practice
Skin the cat drill, 3 sets
4a. front lever practice, 4 attempts (watch some youtube tutorials)
4b. full ROM ring dips, 4 sets
5a. cossack squats, 3x8/side
5b. false grip row to chest, 3x15
add one or two days of conditioning.
The number of sets, reps etc. can be debated - the volume may be considered low for the off season, I don’t know - but this is basically what I would do. Use two ME days and then use a third one to practise ring skills and do active mobility stuff.[/quote]
Really dumb program. Read some books by the NSCA before talking with anybody. You need to learn proven basics so you develop your bullshit meter.
[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
If I were you, I’d do this:
Upper - ME
pull ups, 3 sets of AMAP (leave a few in the tank - make the last rep look pretty)
work up to a heavy 5 on any push exercise - flat bench, incline, military press. Then do AMAP with 90% of that a minute later.
3a. 3x8-12 dumbbell pressing in some way
3b. 3x8-12 some sort of rowing
4a. 2x8-15 bicep exercise
4b. 2x8-15 triceps exercise
Lower - ME
3x3 box jumps
pistol squats or front squats, work up to one really good set in the ~5 range (hold weights in front of you for the PS if you have to add weight).
3x6-8, ramped, for rack pulls - or do GHRs.
split squats, 2x10-20/leg
hanging leg raises with perfect form, 3x AMAP
Full Body - calisthenics
dumbbell snatch, 3x5-8
handstand against the wall practice
Skin the cat drill, 3 sets
4a. front lever practice, 4 attempts (watch some youtube tutorials)
4b. full ROM ring dips, 4 sets
5a. cossack squats, 3x8/side
5b. false grip row to chest, 3x15
add one or two days of conditioning.
The number of sets, reps etc. can be debated - the volume may be considered low for the off season, I don’t know - but this is basically what I would do. Use two ME days and then use a third one to practise ring skills and do active mobility stuff.[/quote]
Really dumb program. Read some books by the NSCA before talking with anybody. You need to learn proven basics so you develop your bullshit meter.[/quote]