Sunday, July 6, 2014

Fitness Lessons, World Cup Style

Between the U.S.’s great performance in the World Cup plus some of the craziness of the games, World Cup soccer has been everywhere you turn lately.  Being the fitness vulture I am, I decided to point out a few things about the conditioning of soccer players that can help YOU get lean and strong.  Because as was pointed out on pretty much a daily basis in the Training Rim – soccer players are in really good friggin’ shape. 

Here are some take home lessons for you:

1. Soccer players do Intervals.

Watch how soccer players run:  They alternate between 100% intensity, to resting, to relatively high intensity, back to 100%, back to rest, over and over.  In other words they do intervals – periods of very intense work followed by less intense work and rest repeated.

They DO NOT pick a low intensity and do that for an extended period.

Again, soccer players have very low body fat.  I’ll try it their way.

2. Soccer players change direction constantly.

Soccer players are constantly changing direction.  Forwards, backwards, sideways, diagonally, etc.  Constant direction changes force all joints of the body to work evenly.

They DO NOT start going forward and then keep going forward…for an indefinite period…

When joints are moved in all directions, they stay balanced and healthy.  When they go in only one direction over and over for extended periods they become dysfunctional.  (One of many reasons jogging is unhealthy).
Find me a good soccer player with bad posture, which is the tell-tale sign of joint imbalance and injury. Go ahead, bet you can’t find one.

Again – I’ll do it their way.

3. Soccer players stretch – AND STILL GET HURT.

The rash of hamstring pulls in the World Cup was almost comical in its frequency.  And every one of the players stretches prior to the matches.  So how does this happen?

BECAUSE STRETCHING DOES NOT PREVENT INJURY.  PERIOD.

Let’s be clear:  I did not say “don’t stretch.”  I said it does not prevent injury.  So if part of your workout is to yank on your knee and twist your back prior to exercise because you think it’s preventing injury, you are wrong.  Save your time.

Can these points make you an elite athlete like the World Cup players?  Probably not.

But they can get you simmer, stronger, and sexier!