The indoor season provides a change of pace and focus that I think is good for player development but you don’t want to completely lose the base of fitness that was built during the outdoor season. The challenge is that you have a limited amount of space to work with when you’re training indoor. We use a school gym, and a small one at that. I look for exercises that mimic the movement patterns of the game while using space as economically as possible.
The warm-up below is from Dave Tenney and included in our Ultimate Soccer Conditioning Training Pack. It includes all of the movements that occur in a game and can be adjusted to focus on whatever area is important to the coach.
Movement Progression
Exercise #1
Setup – jog, shuffle, spring, jog
Coaching Points
Decelerate – slow, stop, prevent muscle pulls
Exercise #2
Setup – back peddle, sprint, turn inside sprint, stop, job
Coaching Point
At the highest level turning is the difference between making it and not
making it .
Exercise #3
Setup – shuffle, spring, turn sprint, stop, jog
Open gate
The series of runs can also be done with a ball to add a technical element. Another progression is to add passing and movement as shown below.
Exercise #4
Setup – pass, set, play target – back to beginning
Coaching Points
• Part of speed is getting a rhythm of passing
• Hard pass vs. lay off
• Be precise
• Long pass is with inside of the foot
• Soccer fitness is the ability to be fast, be fast often and the ability to
recover between moments when you were fast.
These and many more conditions sessions are included in the Ultimate Soccer Conditioning Training Pack.
Have a Great Day!
Tom
