As August 15th comes around some college soccer players are scrambling to get in shape for that dreaded beep test. I have been using Shaun Austin’s Yo-Yo app plus speakers and of course Freelap’s Timing System. So far the aerobic engine is looking very good because of the focus on speed and very little RSA. Repeat sprint ability is only valuable if you can make the play to begin with efficiently. Soccer players need to learn to run and not jog, as jogging kills elastic qualities and fatigues the athlete faster. Rarely do I like replacing running with other forms of conditioning, but in order to build an aerobic engine you must build an elastic athlete so they can transfer the physiological adaptations. Fitness is about sustaining velocities, not just getting one’s VO2 max up. A soccer player only needs 9 weeks of training to get enough conditioning in to max out the test provided they are fast enough to sustain pace at about 85% of reserve. For a free MP3 Audio download here.
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