Conditioning to feel less tired?

[cRonaldo17]

Hi everyone, I'm 20, 5'6" and 125 lbs. I play competitive soccer during the summer and ice hockey during the winter months. Right now it's soccer season for me and I'm looking to improve my conditioning. I was wondering what type of training I should do to feel less tired during a soccer game where I'm constantly running around. During the first 5 or 10 minutes I feel really energized but as time progresses I slow down, lose control of the ball easily and really feel the effects (lactic acid I believe). I just want to condition myself to be able to run around more without feeling the burn so soon. I'm not fat or anything, I'm very much in shape for soccer. I do H.I.I.T and uphill cycling on a daily basis. Thanks for any suggestions for conditioning.

Sounds like you need to work on a different type of conditioning - HIIT is generally done for a shorter amount of time so it makes you ready to go all out for a short time, kind of like boxers training in 3-5 minute rounds - because that's how they fight.

Consider some kind of crosstraining for longer times. Some of the crossfit workouts look pretty good.

www.crossfit.com

I enjoy doing a different kind of cross training. I do triathlon bricks.

Swim/bike one day, bike/run another day - 1-2 hours each session.

For your sport consider run/bike/run sessions lasting about an hour. Feed the activity with pre-workout, during-workout, and post-workout nutrition consisting of protein and carbs.

I don't know your nutritional requirements for your body, but here's how I'm feeding my bricks when I start doing cardio again.

Pre-workout - 2c milk, 2 scoops whey, 1 banana
During workout 1 20 oz bottle of gatoraid/hour - 2 scoops of whey in water 1/2 way through the workout.
Post-workout - 2c milk, 2 scoops whey, 1 banana.

You will have to find the right nutrition for your activity and your body to support it. Training for endurance while running on empty will get you nowhere fast - except tired.

[Weston]

I have no experience playing or training soccer. But if I were on a team, I would ask the coach and the more fit players how they train and how they prevent early fatigue.

I also suggest you measure your progress using the Multistage Fitness Test, also known as the Beep Test. This test is used by police, fire, and military organizations around the world to measure aerobic fitness.

Basically, it is a 20-meter shuttle run with the pace set by a series of audio beep intervals. As the test progresses, the beep intervals get shorter. Your aerobic fitness level is measured by the number of shuttles you can complete while keeping pace with the beeps. Here are some helpful links:

1) How to conduct and train for the Beep Test:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/beep.htm
http://www.topendsports.com/testing/beephome.htm

2) Table that links Beep Test score to predicted VO2 Max:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/msftable.htm

3) Table that links VO2 Max to Fitness Level for your age group:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/vo2max.htm

4) Free download of Beep Test mp3 file at bottom of this page:
http://www.defence.gov.au/army/1_19RNSWR/fitness.htm

[cRonaldo17]

Thank you both for your responses. I've done the beep test before several times in high school. I've always reached level 13 then I gave out. I've asked everyone on the team about their training, some say the only training they do is whatever takes place when the coach gives us drills. Most of them do say that they also tire out easily. This isn't really out of the ordinary as most of us are pretty much average but I just want to reach the condition level close to a pro athlete's so I'm better prepared.

[gymgirl]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

Consider some kind of crosstraining for longer times. Some of the crossfit workouts look pretty good.
www.crossfit.com

i agree, since i started doing crossfit type workouts i've noticed i've been able to run longer and faster without feeling tired cardiovascularly. it really builds up your endurance.

awesome that you play soccer! i played through high school (left mid) i loved it, but the shin splints got me really bad!

[Dan84]

whats your carb intake like before training or the match you need to factor in endurance and sprints along with ball and flexibility work. Also do you lift weights regularly? strength training is vital if you want to improve your performance, of course you have to be aware of recovery times so i'd say a upper lower split would be ideal, if you're playing on a saturday maybe lower body on a tuesday upper body on a thursday. Plyometrics will aid in explosive power as well. Sprints should be mixed up and performed while partially fatigued as this is more realistic for performance in a match.

The average outfield player will cover between 8-11km per match of this approximately 70% is done at low speed <4m/s while the remaining 30% is done at higher speeds with approx 1km done at sprint speed.

A specific type of interval training for footballers would be to mimic the demands of an actual game with the correct work-to-rest ratios and distances covered. If players sprint for over 1 km during a game with high to low ratios of 3 to 5 seconds to 30 to 90 seconds, then a session such as two sets of 20 x 25m maximal sprints with 30 seconds rest (2 minutes between sets), would represent the demands of a tough match, namely, frequently repeatable high power. To focus solely on the ATP-PC system, short maximal sprints of 20 to 60 metres with 1 to 2 minutes recovery are best. To train the anaerobic glycolysis system, longer sprints of 15 to 30 seconds, with 45 to 90 seconds recovery, are recommended. Aerobic training involves running continuously, fartlek, long repetitions (e.g., 6 x 800 metres, 1 minute rest) or extensive intervals at moderate speeds (e.g. 30 x 200 metres, 30 seconds rest). (nicked from Brainmac)

Just don't neglect ballwork, flexibility and your ability to change direction and speed swiftly and you should be fine.

[cRonaldo17]

I'm a striker for our team but I sometimes like to help out the defence as well so I'm running around a lot. And I do lift weights but not heavy lifting, I do some light weights. Before a game I usually eat pasta.

[TommyD]

Going off of what Dan said regarding carbs, it's good to use periodization with your diet. If you know you're going to have a hard practice or a game, prepare 24 hours in advance with 7-12 grams of carbs per kg of body weight. In your case this comes to 399-684 grams of carbs. On a 2250 calorie diet (which you're probably close to at 125 lbs), you would probably stay towards the lower side in order to get protein and fat into your diet (since 399 g of carbs would be ~70% of your diet) .

However, if you know that you'll be having a light to moderate practice in the next 24 hours, you can reduce the amount of carbs to 5-7 grams per kg. This comes to 285-399 grams of carbs. Again, err to the lower side in order to keep adequate amounts of protein and fat in your diet.

You'll be surpised how much energy a high-carb diet will give you when participating in endurance activities.

[ixoyc]

since soccer is sprinting the whole time, i'd say quarter (1/4) to half mile repeats would be the best. There long enough to build stamina, but short enough to be sprinting (the half mile run now a days is considered a sprint like the 100 meter dash or similar)