Coaching a soccer player

[Pnigro]

Hi Mark!

Ok, there's a friend who wants me to coach him. He's 24 year old, out of shape, never lifted weights before, and plays on a soccer team once a week (and pretends to play more).

He has played soccer all of his life but his aerobic condition right now SUCKS. He gets very tired after a while. So his main priority is to improve that. He is very anti-weights and stubborn. I tell him he needs to do weights to become stronger and more flexible.

I'm not a coach. I'm 23 year old and everything I've learned is from the internet and your books. I've been reading and studying on weightlifting for 3 years now.

Anyways, he wants me to coach his way to a better soccer player.

Here's my approach and questions:

I will put him on Starting Strength, starting extremely light on all the exercises (the bar alone). This, with the intention to get him used to the exercises, improve flexibility and start training for strength. Also, since it's very low weight and just 3 exercises per day, it will reduce the chance he will reject the program.

However, I'm clueless on the cardio side of the program. I believe he MUST do cardio since that's the best way to improve his aerobic performance.

1) How much cardio should he do per week?

2) Should he do cardio the same days of SS after he finishes the program? Or should he do it on the rest days between?

3) I suppose sprints and switching running slow/fast on the threadmill is better than long distance 30-40 minutes of boredom?

4) Any other general tips? Am I approaching this correctly?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sounds like an enormous pain in the ass. Tell him that if you're going to coach him he has to do what you say or you're out. You must actually mean it when you tell him. Have him do the novice progression like everybody else does it for 3 weeks. Then add to that as a 4th day a CrossFit metcon "girl" workout you think he can actually do at some level, and have him do it once/week for 2 weeks. Then add a 5th day of sprints, starting with 10-40s and going up from there as he can tolerate it. If he hasn't quit by then.

[Pnigro]

Thank you!! Sounds good.

[spur]

May I respectfully add to what Rip has said, by suggesting tempo running to improve his conditioning for soccer. Its a method used by sprint coach charlie francis.

Basically it means running at say 75 percent one's effort for say a total of about 2400 yards per session once or twice a week.

100 yards x 4 x 6 sets is what we do. with a 30 second rest between each rep and 90 second recovery between sets. Of course the work, rest, volume ratio will depend on the individual's level of conditioning. You can start with lower volumes and longer rest periods initially. The idea is to ensure that form does not break down from the first set to the last.

This should help improve his repeated sprint ability which is a requirement for soccer.