Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Strength Coach Latest Featured Forum Discussion: Value in finding Maximum Aerobic Speed in High School Female Soccer Players


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 Value in finding Maximum Aerobic Speed in High School Female Soccer Players
I took over a Girls High School Soccer program last year and immediately implemented weight training and physical assessments in hoping to help them to begin learning about their bodies, reduce injuries and help me begin to individualize their training as much as possible. I am realistic about our program and youth. I have few student-athletes who want to play at the next level but most seem interested in being healthy and strong. What I am trying to answer is there value in trying to identify their Max Aerobic Speed and Max speed to develop conditioning strategies for them. If so, what do you recommend. I have also begun using Heart Rate Monitors during our field sessions. Some are very excited to get this feedback. I am still learning how to use this information to educate them and individualize their training. Here are our current Physical Assessments. Would you recommend alternative assessments?

sit-n-reach
Push-ups (60 secs)
Sit-ups (60 secs)
Standing Broad Jump
T-Test
30M sprint
300 yard shuttle
1.5 Mile run

Thank you.


 RE: Value in finding Maximum Aerobic Speed in High School Female Soccer Players
Kyle- congrats. Great questions. Lets try to take them one at a time.

Your current testing protocol is a bit dated? For MAS you could simply test 3/4 mi. MAS is the speed in the 5-6 min range and, my guess is most of your girls would fall in this range. This would also eliminate the 1.5 mi run

Sit and reach is an outdated test. The FMS Active Straight Leg Raise looks at a similar quality but, prevents movement across multiple joints.

For push-ups I would simply do max reps with proper form. My guess is that most will be under ten and done in about 15 seconds.

I would eliminate sit-ups altogether. Probably more harm than good. ( Take a look at Anthony's No More Sit-ups and Crunches article.)

Standing Broad Jump- not a bad test but you have to carefully monitor landing position. Low squat landings can cause the knee injuries we are trying to prevent.

T-Test- no problem with this one.

Instead of a 30M sprint use a 10 yd sprint. Much safer and you'll get better comparative data.

300 yard shuttle- my favorite conditioning test.

1.5 Mile run- as I mentioned above, cut it in half and get MAS.

PS- Don't get caught up in the "this is what the US team does" etc. The key to testing is your team, not what some else does. Again, congrats. 
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