Recently, I have fallen away from my usual Strength and Conditioning protocol. Typically, I would lift weights at least two to three times a week and I used to periodically run. This was a huge routine of mine, especially in the winter. Last summer I focused less on running and more on some weightlifting, but mostly I was at the field practicing my goalkeeping skills. Slowly, as school became hectic in my fourth year, I found myself less and less in the gym. This trend continued into summer, where I would work out here and there, but I had no set routine, and my programming was all over the map. One week I was focused on strength, the next power, the week after that bodybuilding. For those of you not familiar with fitness, this is not the way to attain any sort of improvement. For that you need consistency and focus, of which I had neither. Things only seemed to get worse as it seems that I have been getting sick back to back to back over the course of this summer. Other than today, I couldn’t really tell you the last time I set foot in the gym or lifted a weight. That’s pretty bad considering I’m an advocate for fitness. To make matters worse, being sick, I haven’t had the energy to cook, so you can bet that my diet went from being relatively healthy to whatever I could get my hands on, including Dorito’s.
I won’t pretend like I was totally inactive though. I’m technically playing for two soccer teams this summer. While the season got off to a rough start with rain cancellations, things have looked up and I’ve played a series of games, including a very busy stretch so far this month. Yet, rather than make me feel excellent, I’ve felt sluggish and slow. I’m still making saves, but not with the confidence or ability that I had last season, or even the indoor season. Everything seems to take so much more of an effort and this accumulated to the point where in my last game, after rushing off the goal line to challenge a breakaway (in which they scored), made me feel so winded and dizzy that I started getting heart palpitations. Had my fitness gotten that bad where coming off my line to make a save almost put me on the bench? This was the moment that I realized that I hadn’t become a worse goalkeeper than last season, but rather I wasn’t putting in the necessary work fitness wise or practice wise that allowed me to play so well. It was time to clean up my diet, hit the weight room, and run some hills. I may not be playing for the Champion’s Cup, but I still have pride in my ability to be the best I can be, not only on the soccer field, but in everyday life.
That is the real beauty of partaking in a strength and conditioning program. Not only will it help you succeed at your given sport, but it will help you live life more functionally and healthily. This isn’t to say that body building is harmful, or any other form of fitness, but simply to say that, in my opinion, I’ve seen more carry over from doing strength and conditioning than I have doing body building. I’ve had better balance, quicker sprint times, and been able to lift more after doing strength and conditioning. Everyone will have their go-to thing, and mine is strength and conditioning.
That being said, it was my first day back in the gym today. My last soccer game was yesterday and I was still feeling a little sore, but I knew if I didn’t get back at it today, I would never get back in there, at least not for a while. Even as I was getting my shoes on and leaving the house, the thoughts of just not going today seemed to get more and more appealing. I really had to fight the urge and just walk out the door. This is testament to the fact that even re-starting can be a hard endeavor if you are not motivated and dedicated.
Making things a little trickier is the fact that I have three games coming up this week: Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. That’s a lot, and now throw in some strength and conditioning. If I don’t do this right, it is a one-way ticket back to getting sick or injured. So, the first thing I did was design my strength and conditioning program. With a little tweaking, I was able to start this week. Now, when I say design the program, what I am doing is kind of a Bruce Lee methodology. I am taking things that have worked for me in the past, tweaking them if necessary and then adding different pieces together to form a long-term plan. First up in that plan is getting some additional strength, to help avoid any injuries that may occur and then adding sprinting power/recovery rate.
After scouring the internet time and time again for a reasonable, non-magazine feature strength and conditioning routine, I had finally given up. That is what had led me to design this specific program (with the help of other programs). I plan on introducing this program so that anyone interested can follow it as well, however, I will not do it in one full article until further on down the road. Until then, you will see the bits and pieces as I travel through the different stages of the program.
Okay, now for the current training routine. I followed the template for Starting Strength routine by Mark Rippetoe. I am pretty sure I’ve written about this before. Yet, this time around, I made my own little tweaks. This is not something I would recommend, however, after completing my Kinesiology degree, I am more than confident that I know what I am doing and won’t hurt myself. So let’s get down to the routine, shall we?
Workout A:
Squats: 3 sets of 5 repetitions
Overhead Press: 3 sets of 5 repetitions
Deadlifts: 1 set of 5 repetitions
Barbell Rows: 3 sets of 5 repetitions
Weights are followed by a sprint protocol on the stationary bike. It is a 5 minute protocol (working up to 20 minutes as the weeks pass), and involves 50 seconds of light biking (90 rpm) followed by max effort sprinting on the bike for 10 seconds. This sprint period can also be increased as necessary to add training progression.
Workout B:
Squats: 3 sets of 5 repetitions
Bench Press: 3 sets of 5 Repetitions
Power Cleans: 5 sets of 3 repetitions
Deadlifts: 1 set of 5 repetitions
This day is also followed by the same sprint protocol as Workout A.
Progress with the weights by adding 5 lbs per week to Bench Press, Power Clean, Barbell Row and Overhead Press, and 10lbs per week to Squat and Deadlift. It is a slow but steady progression. Perform Workouts A and B once a week each.
Core:
Planks: 3 sets of 1 minute.
Side Planks: 3 sets of 30 seconds per side
Bird Dogs: 3 sets of 20 repetitions
Deadbugs: 3 sets of 20 repetitions
While this core routine is quite simple, most core work for me comes from training soccer-specific goalkeeping drills. This is why I choose not to go too intense for a core day. However, it is more important to focus on the form of these exercises and I highly encourage that you use YouTube to see the proper form if any of these are unfamiliar to you.
Lastly, there are two things that I do every night regardless of the workout I do. These things are SEALfit Yoga designed by retired Navy SEAL Mark Divine, and can be found on his website sealfit.com. I also do Box Breathing, designed by Mark Divine as well. These are both really easy to do and are a good way to relax and settle down before bed after a hard day of training. Combined, I think these things take me a total of 20-25 minutes when I do the Yoga and 5 minutes of box breathing.
So that’s it for my routine for now. As I progress, I will write more on what I am doing. I have this routine penned out to take me approximately 3-4 months. Nothing happens overnight and strength is no exception. I may increase the volume to doing 4 gym sessions a week (Routine A and B twice each week) once soccer season ends, but that is still approximately 2 months away. I also will add some long-distance endurance running here and there but nothing too regularly as that will come later on in programming. For now, cardio is based on the sprint routine!
I will definitely be updating as I go through this and hopefully, I will see results in my upcoming games!