Q & A

ANNOUNCEMENTS –Check our Mark's article in Fairgame Magazine, published in the U.S. and England, covering Women's Soccer. See the website: Fairgamemagazine.com

Sled Training for Soccer Players

This month's article concentrates on sled training for the soccer player. This type of exercise is great to perform during In-season training because it does not make the athlete sore. The reasoning behind sled dragging is that only concentric muscle activity occurs during the exercise, in other words there is no tearing of muscle fibers, the reason athletes get sore. Sled dragging also has the greatest carry over to acceleration mechanics. When an athlete performs forward sled drags in order to move the sled (if there is enough weight on it) they have to lean forward moving their center of gravity to their hips. This is the same position you should in when you accelerate! Please see the picture below for an example. You can do speed training until you are blue in the face but if you want to get fast results that will carry over on the field start pulling a sled today! Another variation on sled dragging is the backwards sled drag. This builds incredible strength in the quadriceps area, especially the Vastus Medialis muscle that is the prime stabilizer of the ACL. When performing this variation I like to use a lot of weight so the athlete not only gets the strengthening benefit but a conditioning one as well.

For forward and backward sled drags - perform 3 sets of 2 pulls over the distance of 15 to 20 yards.

Forward Sled Drag

Backward Sled Drag

 

Q & A

Hello Mark,

Ijust wanted to know if your latest Goalkeeping dvd is compatible with "dvd players" here in the U.K.? Also, a rather belated thank-you for your training manual, which I received a while ago, our team has begun to implement some of the training advice so we will have to see how it goes! Finally, is there any possibility of you releasing a training manual covering Speed, Agility, and Plyometric methods?

Regards,
David Walker, Thornbury Tigers Girls, England

ADavid,
Thank you for the kind words and yes, I have thought about putting a manual together for speed and agility training, and will do so eventually.  However, soccer season has just begun and I am already swamped with work.  Please keep an eye on the website for updates on that.  As for the DVD, it is compatible with DVD players overseas and people who have ordered it from outside the U.S. have had no issues. I hope the manual is benefiting your team and please let me know if you have any other questions. Thank you again and I look forward to hearing how your team does this season!

Mark

Question and Answer Section:

You can ask Mark any question dealing with Strength and Conditioning for Soccer players and he will address two or three questions each month.

Mark now has his strength training manual Williams Soccer Strength Method available on his website!