It was fantastic to see the sport science / fitness of the US women's national team getting good press during the world cup. It really did seem (from observation) that this was well deserved. Although the final result did not go their way, the team was able to press for the majority of the match with Japan which is very impressive. Credit where credit is due.
Science in the sport really has moved forward in leaps and bounds of late, especially in terms of on-field work and monitoring. The picture below, however, shows where sport scientists are "weak" in soccer. Weak being the operative word.
I am really not sure what is being trained here. Like athletes from other sports, soccer players need to be able to put more force through the ground (and opponents). This exercise will not achieve this goal. Possibly smoke and mirrors aimed at confusing the opposition? I hope so.
Thoughts?
A couple of recent responses/thoughts (not by me) to this post were posted on twitter:
ReplyDeleteI feel a more detailed response that 140 characters was needed so here it is:
"Do they not need to be strong in the upper body? "
"By balancing on stability ball & doing push ups on med balls? Point is it is not even remotely soccer-specific."
"What would be a soccer specific upper body exercise? "
Really this comes down to what is strength and what is true specificity.
Strength:
Strength is the ability to produce force, and this quality greatly impact power - which is a key physical component to success in virtually every sport (in one way or another).
Yes soccer players need to be strong in the upperbody, but exercises done on unstable surfaces typically involve very low forces and a lower rate of force development (RFD) that on stable surfaces. Therefore these low forces are not likely to be above the threshold needed to TRULY develop strength. Is the exercise challenging? No doubt. But will it help improve the athlete's ability to produce high levels of force quickly? No.
Specificity:
Unstable surface training is not more sport specific. Yes sport, especially soccer is unpredictable, but the surface is stable while the load may be off balanced. There is a difference.
TRUE specificity is about joint angles, the amount of force involved, RFD, energy systems, muscles used.
I would argue again that the forces involved and the RFD in the above exercise are FAR lower than the athlete will encounter in a game (such as pushing off an opponent). So in this regard it is NOT sport specific. There is also no overload (this relates to the points made above). From a joint angle and muscles used standpoint it may be ok, but I would suggest that a more traditional exercise such as a bench press or DB bench press would be more specific from a force standpoint.
A major goal of strength training is to develop the athlete's ability to produce force, and produce it quickly. There needs to be overload and TRUE specificity (not just "it looks like a specific movement", or "it is challenging or impressive") in order for this to occur. Then, with good training on the field, hopefully the athlete will be able to express these new abilities in the sport itself. There will be a lag time involved here between improvements in strength and improvements in performance. With this exercise above, I highly doubt either will occur.
Thoughts?
If you could make an educated guess why do you think they were doing that exercise? Would be nice if you could talk to their trainer.
ReplyDeleteHow applicable is bench/dbell press to soccer? How transferable is the strength gains to the sport? Would a Standing cable press be better?.
ReplyDeleteThis is something iv been thinking alot about recently, how much transfer to the sport do we get by improving the general physical qualities of the athlete?
Good answers to the questions raised on twitter, very interesting.
Howard,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post and comments. Spot on. My thoughts, as you could tell by my earlier tweet, is that this type of exercise is not soccer-specific. Clearly that is true since the game of soccer is not played in the prone position with a stability ball and medicine balls. However, it is a fair question to ask in what macrocycle phase this exercise was being done during. Phases farther away from the competitive phase might reasonably employ more general strength training exercises to good effect. No one is arguing that the exercise is not good for building strength while improving balance and the activation of stabilizer muscles. If this exercise is being done 6 months or even 3 months from the competitive phase then no problems. I think my bigger problem is the lack of context with the picture and what impressions it may leave with inexperienced coaches. A new soccer coach, S&C coach, or even athlete, may look at this exercise and come away with the impression that this is a satisfactory exercise to perform during the competitive season, or that it is an appropriate soccer-specific exercise because it is being performed by the US Women's National Team. This impression is entirely wrong and dangerous. It will lead to poorly prepared athletes, possibly injured (this is an exercise that clearly needs expert supervision), who are not able to play to their potential due to ill-timed use of advanced strength-training exercises. The whole question of whether this is an appropriate exercise during any phase of training is philosophical and does not, therefore, have a right or wrong answer (contrary to what RV may say!). The real problem, as I see it, is the lack of context and potential for misinterpretation by inexperienced coaches and athletes.
Thanks for the comments and discussion guys. Apologies for the typos in my initial comment (and likely this subsequent one). I may post this all later as a thread in a neater format if you all don't mind?
ReplyDeleteCG: Hard to tell. As soccertraining mentions - we do not know much about the context here. I would hazard a guess that some of the principles outlined above are not fully understood by many in the field. A "side" goal may be the concept of "core stabilization", but I personally feel this is a horrible term and there is little evidence behind it.
Ciaran: Possibly, although I would still argue that the forces and RFD of the exercise you mention may not be optimal. The position of the body may be beneficial, however, and so could find a place in a program (depending on all the other elements in the equation).
soccertraining: Some very good points, especially the potential impact that this kind of material can have in the popular press. I can imagine all of the globally-weak young female soccer players out there copying this right now.
I would also agree that without any other information we cannot be judge, jury, and executioner in this case. It just isn't fair. This is why I put in the disclaimer, and posted the blog in a way to create discussion rather than damn the professionals involved.
Regarding the context behind the what is going on in the picture, again I agree. This KIND of exercise MAY be more appropriate at some point in the periodization model more than others. However I will still stand by my original opinion that this particular exercise has little use no matter when it is applied.
You are right that earlier in the training year, more general strength exercises should be performed. However closer to the tournament (the WC) intensity is massively important, and this can come in the form of high loads or high speed movements. This exercise does not allow either. The extreme low intensity may have a "watering down effect" on other high intensity work being performed as part of the global plan (high intensity soccer and other field based work), negating the goal of the later phase of the plan (a quasi-peak for the WC). I will admit that this concept is more of a theory of my own rather than something that is well represented in the literature.
I will finish by acting as devil's advocate against myself and defend sport scientists working with national teams as they really are at the mercy of what is going on at the club teams. How much impact can they have in terms of long term development with these athletes? As we saw on the field from a freshness/fitness/endurance standpoint (whatever you want to call it!), this team looked pretty good, stability balls or no stability balls.
Great discussion, at the uksca conference Jeremy shepard spoke about how we need to develop the general physical qualities of our athletes and less time replicating the exact movements they perform in the sport.
ReplyDeleteI know Dr Craig Duncan spoke out before about the use of bench press in soccer conditioning and felt it should have no part as it was training muscles rather than movement, but what better way to develop great upper body strength?! Would be great to hear more of your opinion on this Howard.
Ciaran.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to hear that Jeremy covered this at the UKSCA. Unfortunately I could not make the trip there myself. I would agree with him. The vast majority of our athletes will respond well to more general training (at the right time in the training plan). How many of our players truly are advanced or elite ATHLETES from a physical development standpoint? Not many, not in soccer.
I would disagree with Dr. Duncan in this respect, at least with the athletes I have worked with. I happen to believe that gains in strength in movements such as the bench press will transfer to performance if it is part of a well designed program (that incorporates other lifts and forms of training along with appropriate soccer training).
I do want to point out, however, that I certainly would not be focusing on this exercise - it should be seen as a supplementary exercise with soccer athletes. There may be exceptions - such as a young player that is seriously under developed physically, but in general the emphasize should be elsewhere (such as total-body strength and power, correcting imbalances, etc.).
Does this address your query Ciaran?
Thats great Howard, thanks very much.
ReplyDeleteIf you are looking to apply an overload stimulus to a particular muscle group (whether that be predominantly for a neural or cellular adaptation),I would of thought that avoiding unnecessarily complex technical lifting would be a far more efficient method of training? If so, this would help to rationalise the use of compound lifts over a variety of sports.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it would be important to consider that the application of a 'needs analysis' for individual players or playing positions helps to 'filter' programs, prioritising lifts according to the demands of the individual's environment.
Ciaran - no problem
ReplyDeleteMJ - yes I would agree
Have enjoyed this - unless anyone has any objections I will post this thread as a blog in itself this weekend.
Just came across some thoughts on a similar topic in the article by Behm, Drinkwater, Willardson, and Cowley in the newest Strength and Conditioning Journal. Check it out.
ReplyDeleteJust read article by Behm et al. Interesting reading.
ReplyDeleteTrue, that this is a poor example for sport specific training in reference to soccer. Yes, this may be basic off season training where the athletes are working on overall body strengthening, the core in this case with shoulder stabilization. Core development is essential in every sport and even the act of running, especially sprinting requires strong and stable shoulders. I agree that a photo supplying preseason, sport specific training would have been more appropriate
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteI agree these players (in the off season) need "overall body strengthening" but is this actually "overall body strengthening" at all? I would argue no.
Regarding shoulder stabilization:
1. How important is this for soccer/football players?
2. You mention the role of shoulders in sprinting, where is the evidence that this form of training helps this?
I feel we may have to agree to disagree here - but it's ok - revisiting this post has inspired me to write a new blog about what strength training actually is.
Howard