Getting in shape for tryouts in summer of 07 (what do u recommend me to start with?)

[SoccerChick86]

At my college (I go to a community college), there's a track and a fitness center. I have access to both anytime monday-thurs when I am on campus.

I am putting everything all in one thread, so I won't have to keep asking questions seperetly. I want to be ready for the summer! I have a lot of time to condition become faster than I am now, and ready! 2 years ago when I tried out, I was cut the first week of tryouts because I was not in shape and controlling the ball was not great either. (did not play for a year before the tryouts). If I get the agility good, my speed, and being able to move my toes out of the way when I kick the ball, I should be able to make the team in 07.

I am planning to tryout for soccer in the summer of 07 and I want to be in good shape moving from direction to direction, speed, controlling the ball, and also kicking the ball (I tend to kick with my toes and I hate my toes getting in the way) I have not really kicked a soccer ball around or anything since last winter when I took a soccer class for fun. I wasnt that great though because I was rusty. now I am ready to start early so I can be ready for tryouts and be in shape. I am in shape cardio wise if theres not a lot of running involved, but I need to get into more shape so I can play the whole game.

a few questions -
what advice do you have for the ball when it comes to be higher than my hip area (upper body)? I have a fear of it hitting my upper body and I know for college I cant do that and have to lose this feel and get comfortable. I see other soccer players stopping the ball with their stomach or their chest or head. I have been doing weightraining, so my chest has muscles and same with my stomach (abdominals), so I should be okay as long as it doesnt sting, or is that a good thing and I should not stress about it?

What do you think about running on a treadmill at a certain speed or the incline?

How can I get my toes to get out of the way when I kick the ball? The toes should be under the ball automatically when I kick and I should kick with my laces, not my toes.

Also - dribbling the ball drills...I need some of those too to help me get more control of stopping the ball and dribbling it.

When you do weightraining, what exercises do you do specifically for soccer (of course it has to be full body workout to maintain balance throughout the whole body)? Also, what do you do for cardio? this is a lot different than softball or any other sport for conditioning.

Here is my current weightraining schedule... (I am in softball tryouts right now, and I found good exercises to give me strength through a whole body work out) and yes I stay off the machines and barbells because those do not work stabilizers. dumbells and cable is the best. the only machine type is dips and chin ups (its mostly all body weight, but gets you to a point where you dont need the seat to kneel on anymore. I am not to that point yet, but almost.)

Dumbbell – deadlift, bent over row , side bends, (rotator cuffs/shoulders/wrist/forearm: shoulder external internal rotation/lateral raise/front lateral raise/bent over lateral raise/bent over straight arm raise/wrist turns/forearm curls/wrist curls)
Machine – Dips, Chin Up
Cable - Cable Push Pull
Bodyweight - | Squat-to-Stand, double back leg lifts, hip row, pistol squat or one legged squat (same thing), Single leg windmills, squat touch down, one leg romain deadlift, one legged box squat, side plank, scorpions, lying straight leg lifts, In and Out Bench Hip Rotation, bicycle, Leg up Crunches and Twist Crunches, push ups
Medicine Ball - russian twists, oblique twists, woodchops, softball swing

I also do plank-60 secs, one leg off ground and then other both 15 secs, then arms 15 seconds, then oposite leg/arm 15 secs, and then plank again for 30 seconds. this is for core stability.

For cardio - what cardio do you do?
mon/wed mornings I run a mile and then do cariocca for hip rotation, lunges, backwards stride, sprinting, etc. for 25 minutes until my fitness class teacher calls us in for the weightraining part. (I dont follow his weightraining though. I follow my own listed above). and the reason why I am taking this class is so I can get up early in the morning and exercise to refrain from laziness. I can do whatever cardio I want during the 25 minutes. I'm also getting an agility ladder soon for agility work. Oh and I can run 1 mile in 9 minutes (the fastest time I ever ran a mile) and a mile and a half in 13.26 (at the beginning of the fall semester, I was at 14 minute for mile and a half for the fitness class test)

[holicman]

Wow, great first post and firstly welcome to SFN

On the playing side of things, maybe practice kicking a soccer ball against a wall outside somewhere, and try to kick the ball with the side of your foot,and repeatedly keep kicking the ball back and forth against the wall.

See if you can kick it first time, then keep yourself on your toes,and retrieve the ball off the wall and then kick it back against the wall. If you keep doing this everyday, it will become 2nd nature to you. This will help improve your reaction time and also help you remember to keep kicking the ball with the side of your foot and not your toes.

Your fitness regime seems pretty good, for Cardio, I do a good hill climb around my area called "the 1000 steps".

If you have something similar then I would suggest that, but what you seem to be doing is consistent and once your body gets used to that, you will only improve your endurance

You have adressed the issue regarding chesting the ball down, yes you need to eradicate the fear of it hitting your chest.
If you have the muscle thats good, and its also lucky you have the natural cushioning(something men dont have) to be able to chest a ball down within your control.

What about your headers ??? Can you header a ball in the right place ??
What other skills in soccer do you have ??

Your fitness seems supreme to me but I can give you advice really on the soccer side of things and help you build up your skills.




There is a chance that you could break your toe if you kick a ball too hard, or if someone goes into tackle you.

[SoccerChick86]

I suck at heading the ball.

for kicking - aren't you suppose to kick with your laces? side of your feet are for passing. thats what I do. I just have to be able to kick under the ball everytime without my toes being in the way and not kick the grass when trying to bring my toes under the ball.

The position I want to tryout for is defense or half back if I am in that shape when summer comes around. Oh and I am a female, 20 years old. I don't think age matters though.

For dribbling - what drills do you think is good? at home or maybe at the park? and for stopping the ball as well in different ways. I'm okay with the ball being on the ground, but if its passed in the air a little bit, it tends to go off of me and away from me a little bit. I can kick the ball at the park off the wall and back to me. I need good dribbling drills to include in as well.

[holicman]

For dribling, jogging and sprinting with a soccer ball around a park works well.

If you do this combined it can help improve your dribbling, because like 2nd nature, you will become accustomed to having a ball at your feet.

Ball Juggling is also quite handy, because it not only develops control, but your reaction time, balance, co-ordination and again it helps you with controlling the ball as it come back down. You should always be on your toes when doing this exercise.

Heading a ball in a juggling form can help too.

To head the ball correctly, you should always use your forehead, and follow through.
Dont let the ball just hit your head, move your head toward the direction of the ball and follow through.

It will hurt more if you just let it hit your head, if you use your forehead it doesnt hurt, or except at the moment of impact, but you will find that its minimal pain.


yeah you are right too about kicking the ball with your laces.

what I would suggest is find a few friends to train with, stand about 50 to 100 yards apart from each other and practice kicking the ball with your laces to each other.

Or hire out an indoor soccer/futsal field and practice just shooting that way for a while.

Again, kicking against a wall can be good too.

When kicking with your laces, its a matter of being able to lower your toes down and swing through with the laces connecting with the ball (obviously).

Its the lowering of the toes and the timing of the shot that is important.
Maybe when you kick the ball, what I would suggest is making sure when you are on your backfoot,make sure that you are on your toes to give you that elevation above the ball, or just practice lifting your leg higher to get on top of the ball.

[SoccerChick86]

thanks =) I am planning on doing soccer conditioning right after softball tryouts are over. I dont think I am going to make the team, so I'll be working on soccer after th fall semester.

and I cannot juggle. I have tried that many of times. The most times I have gotten with juggling was 4.

how about weightraining?

[holicman]

I cant really help you with weight training.........though I used to do alot of work on my leg strength, I found this helped me kick the ball with alot more force with a lot less effort, and also helped improve my speed when running.

I would suggest surfing through other topics here at this site in this section, I am sure there are alot of people who would have asked about this, and I am sure there are alot of people who would have given adequate responses

[SoccerChick86]

okay=) what did you work on to give you good leg strength for kicking the ball with a lot more force, less efort, and speed? so I can do some of those exercises too.

[holicman]

I kept doing the leg curls on a bench, so I would sit on the bench where you are meant to do bench presses, and I put weights on the leg section at the bottom end of the bench.

I sat at the end and used my feet to repeatedly lift the weight.

At the gym I also used the rowing machine apparatus to improve my stamina, my flexibility, cardio and legs too.

The exercycle on the hardest setting is also very very good, though it can get quite tiring after a while.

Thats pretty much all I ever did for my legs, but I did it quite frequently.

[holicman]

Oh btw, when exactly is your summer ??

Here in Australia, our summer is from December through to February.

Are you in Australia or somewhere else ??


The only reason I ask that is just wanting to know how long you are preparing yourself for before the soccer tryouts

[SoccerChick86]

I'm in California, USA. My summer is in June through September. It is October 23rd right now here.

[holicman]

Thats great you are giving yourself alot of time to prepare for it.

Good luck and I wish you all the best, and If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or just post a message up in here

[SoccerChick86]

Yup! =) There's also the health and fitness forum on here (I just saw that there is one) that I can take a look at and pick workout plans from there as well.

What position do you play?

[ooaapaulmcgrath]

hi soccerchick

your workout that you posted at the start......is that all to be done in one single day? there is a lot of volume in it...

and hows your diet? lol..i know i know...

if you want to get stronger, youre going to need to eat more...

and if you could perform squats instead of leg curls, you would see far greater results

[SoccerChick86]

spaghetti/pasta

and no I am not fat. I can see some abdominal muscles in my stomach, so I'm good in the ab part. but I dont eat any fruits and veggies hardly.

and I do not perform leg curls. I dont like machine exercises. they dont work. dumbells are the best because they have stabilizers

[ooaapaulmcgrath]

what do you mean they have stabilisers???

you need to eat more, calories = progress....

fitday.com is a great place to track your diet, free too