Lacrosse/Soccer strength and speed work

Jay Ashman · 02-24-2010, 07:42 AM

not sure where to put this but I recently signed on two brothers as clients. One is a sought after soccer player who is looking at Duke for after HS and the other is still undecided where to continue playing lacrosse but he has an academic scholarship that will pay for the first two years of his schooling no matter where he goes (I forget the scholarship name, but I remember looking it up and its a good one)

The parents aren't concerned with me coaching the kids in skills, they have coaches for that, but want them to increase strength, speed and stamina.

Here is how the first day looks for them:

Warmups:
High Knees
Buttkickers
Skips
Walking Lunges with twist
Scapula Pushups
Shoulder Mobility

Explosive:
box jumps 3x20
quick feet 3 x 30 seconds (quick jumps with both feet together)
depth jumps 3x10

Strength:
box squats 7x3
trap bar deadlifts 5x5
GHD Raises 3xMAX
Upper Body is next session

Speed Drills:
acceleration cone drill 5x (5 cones set up, accelerate at each cone)
weave in/out 5x (run to cone, side step to the next, back to the next, etc.)

Cooldown/Abs:
Plank Holds 3xMAX time

Any suggestions, praise, criticism, advice would be appreciated.

Grissim Connery · 02-24-2010, 09:47 AM

OL?

Why separate upper body?

Grip strength for the Lax player. Sledge hammer rotations are probably most beneficial. I used to do those for lacrosse.

Harry Munro · 02-24-2010, 12:04 PM

Core and hamstring work for football/soccer!

Jay Ashman · 02-24-2010, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grissim Connery

OL?

Why separate upper body?

Grip strength for the Lax player. Sledge hammer rotations are probably most beneficial. I used to do those for lacrosse.

I separate because my sessions are one hour long and there isn't enough time to cram in everything I want to do in one session.

the lacrosse player bowed out anyway, the one kid doing it is a Soccer player who made all-county this year... his is a sophomore, he should make all-state next year.

OL? after I get him a base strength level. Right now getting him stronger and working on plyos will make him a better player already, down the road we'll add stuff to it.

Keep in mind that was only one session, todays. Not an overall template.

Harry, box squats do that my man.

plus my cooldowns always consist of some pretty intense direct core work.

Allen Yeh · 02-24-2010, 04:20 PM

Off season?

Blake McCarthy · 02-24-2010, 04:36 PM

Looks pretty solid for a first session. I think your focus on the posterior chain is key as knee injuries are very common in soccer. What position does the kid play?

Jay Ashman · 02-24-2010, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

Off season?

unfortunately the kid plays year round... between all star teams, travelling squads, tournaments and what not... I asked him how many weeks does he have off from practice/games.... he said 3 all year. So his offseason is almost non-existent. It makes training a lot harder because he plays year round and the periodization schedule I wanted to do is pretty much balled up and thrown out. I don't want to work the kid to the bone, but I do want to do stuff for him he will never do on his own.

Thanks, Blake. I recognize the value of a sick posterior chain. He's a forward.

Allen Yeh · 02-25-2010, 04:25 AM

Any glaring dysfunctions right off the bat?

Are you doing lower/upper/total or lower/upper/lower/upper...etc?

I'd think about the Bret Conteras glute stuff. Can try to nip any future hamstring problems in the bud. It'd be pretty easy to incorporate into the warmup for the first part and then adding 1-2 exercises for the rest of it. Something to think about.

Perhaps throw in a unilateral leg movement per session rather than box squats and trap bar DL's? Like box squats and single leg RDLS' one lower body day and then trap bar DL's and split squats the next time.

Being that this kid has no off-season and you want to work him without burying him I guess you will see how he responds to having the plyos, strenght stuff and speed drills all together.

BFS DOT drill? I'm a big fan of that just in general maybe a good addition when training a HS age kid?

Hope these help but if something seems like it's BS let me know. This is all conjecture on my part.

James Evans · 02-25-2010, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

Perhaps throw in a unilateral leg movement per session rather than box squats and trap bar DL's? Like box squats and single leg RDLS' one lower body day and then trap bar DL's and split squats the next time.

Allen, are you thinking DeFranco style? Off the top of my head:

1. ME Lower lift
2. Unilateral Lift - lunges/split squats/step ups/single leg RDLs etc
3. Hamstring/Posterior chain

I think the single leg stuff is fine if time permits, not sure if Jay really needs to worry though.

Allen Yeh · 02-25-2010, 07:10 AM

To be honest if that is what it's called sure! The only Defranco stuff I've read about is the simple six and elite 8 warmups. I guess great minds must think alike!

I thought it'd be a good idea rather than having 2 big bilateral lifts, have one big lift and one unilateral, and one PC (like from the glute article). since that is how I try to program my stuff nowadays and just seems like a good idea.