After watching the remaining games of the World Cup after the US lost, I kept thinking that things might have been different if the team’s pre-World Cup training regime was different. Understand that there were four-a-day workouts during a grueling training camp at Stanford.
At the World Cup where you can see elite soccer at its best, three starting US players went down with hamstring injuries. Would having them in play all the time made a difference? Would the United States have gone beyond the quarterfinals?
According to coach Klinsmann, he was pushing the athletes in the pre-camp in hopes of reaching new fitness levels which he believed to be the key to successful play. What is this a substantiated fact? Does it lead to better competitive performance?
Understand that he was starting with elite players from professional teams. They were already on a high level of physical fitness and playing performance. In order to become even more fit, in regard to their present levels, they would have to do much more extensive training to even get a very small increment of fitness.
Being more fit does not improve game play. It may allow the player to run further or faster but if the fitness is not coupled with execution of their skills and game strategy it will not be of little value. On the elite soccer level specificity of the workouts is paramount. The exercises or drills must relate in exactly the same manner as they are used in game play. General training ,which is used to become more fit is used as a base or prerequisite for improvement of game skills and competitive play.
Working out multiple times a day prior to beginning season or tournament play, does not ensure more fitness but it does ensure the production of fatigue. When in a fatigue state, is impossible to have quality training that will transfer to more fitness or better game play. Excessive fatigue on this level is only conducive to injury.
This practice of literally running the athletes into the ground prior to the season, not only seems to be prevalent in soccer but in other sports. It is common to hear of head coaches going over the heads of the strength and conditioning coach and imposing additional “fitness” drills on the players. Very often it takes the form of wind sprints.
More is not always better. In most cases, and especially close to the season, it over-fatigues the athletes (many of whom get injured) and the athletes are not able to recover fast enough. As a result they begin the season at a lower fitness level than they would be without the additional workouts.
For more information see Build a Better Athlete. For more information on intensity of workouts, see The Revolutionary1 X 20 RM strength training program.