Have you ever wanted to know how much body fat has a professional player? How much Endurance he has? How fast he is?
Take a look below where you will find the profile of Slovenian Top-level players:
Body Fat: Skinfold measurements
Muscle: Anthropometric measurements
Endurance: Indirect measurement (Beep Test)
I like Science in general, and I enjoy the fact that it has found a place in the professional soccer world. The era of omnipotent coaches is way over and there is not one single coach at the top level that doesn’t use the objective data that sport science provides.
So I went through a review article published a few years ago in the Journal of Sports Medicine and I would like to share with you some quotes that I find rather interesting. All the informations that you can collect from scientific articles is often very useful when planning a training program and you should use them, but only if you are able to implement them in a soccer specific program. You should always keep in mind the nature of Soccer and the fact that physical demands are only one part of the training process.
”During a 90-minute game, elite-level players run about 10-12km at an average intensity close to the anaerobic threshold (80-90% of maximal heart rate)”
”Midflied players run the longest distances” – ” fullbacks sprint more than twice as much as the central defender”
”5-10% less dsitance covered in second half”
”… superior technical and individual (and team) tactical ability can only be demonstrated by players with high endurance capacity and strength”
” Vo2max ranges from 60 to 75 mL/kg/min for elite players”
” Energy expenditure during a game: 1500 to 1800 kcal”
”An exercice intensity of about 70% of HRmax removes blood lactate most-efficiently”
”…a combination of maximum strength training with emphasis on high velocity and high mobilisation of power, and training the fast movement in the same period of time, gave a substantially higher increase in movement velocity”
”It would be reasonable to expect, for a 75kg male soccer player, squat-values>200kg”
”…vertical jump height values close to 60cm”
”Interval training at an exercice intensity corresponding to 90-95% of HRmax, lasting 3-8 minutes, separated by 2-3 minutes of active recovery at about 70% of HRmax, is an extremely effective training for increased stroke volume and VO2max”
”4×4 minutes at 90-95% HRmax separated by 3 minutes active recovery at 60-70% of HRmax increased VO2max about 0,5% each training session”
”…running with the ball increased the energy cost 8% compared to purely runing”
”…players with VO2max>60mL/kg/min require one interval training per week to maintain VO2, whilst players with VO2max>70 mL/kg/min require two interval trainings for maintenance”
”We suggest that soccer teams with high ambitions should perform one or two short periods of VO2 cures in the preparation for the season, and one in between the two halves of the season”
”Thus, it may be necessary to differentiate the training plan between the regular non-starters and starters during the soccer season”
”For many soccer players, increased bodyweight as a result of hypertrophy in not desirable because the player will have to transport a higher mass”
”Maximal strength and rate of force development are important factors…both should therefore be systematically worked on within a weekly schedule using few repetitions with high loads and high velocity of contraction”
”…fastest players are on average 1m ahead of the slowest ones after only 10m of sprint”
”…correaltion exists between maximal strength, sprinting and jumping performance in elite soccer…also correaltions between maximal strength and the 30m sprint test”
”Several well controlled studies suggest that power enhancement might improve work economy in the order of 5-15%”
”96% of sprint busts are shorter than 30m, 49% shorter than 10m”
You will find the complete article here.
If you have a question about anything, feel free to contact me at prosoccerway@gmx.com !
