strength & conditioning Futsal specific

Alan SinovčićStrength and conditioning coach

Futsal club Alumnus Zagreb

Who am I?- Bachelor’s degree at Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb

- Strength and conditioning specialist- Worked as a fitness coach in footbal, futsal, basketball and

handball clubs

Major trophies:- Croatian champion with Footbal club Zadar, boys U-15 (season 2012/13- Croatian champion with futsal club Alumnus, season 2013/14

Some key facts about futsal:

• Analysis of movement demands has shown that locomotor activities in futsal match changing every 3.28 seconds

• One study reported 8.6 activities per minute of play with a high-intensity effort every 23 seconds

• Futsal players at high competetive level cover 121 (105–137) meters per minute

• Aerobic capacity (Vo2max) of professional futsal players is 58-65 ml/kg/min

What all this means?

It means that futsal player at high

competetive level must have very well

developed all important conditioning

segments: speed, agility, quickness,

aerobic and anaerobic capacities,

coordination, balance and strength

Base training hierarchy

Important segments of strength & conditioning in futsal

1. Work capacity

2. Individual aproach

3. Evaluation/testing

4. Core training

5. Vo2max development

6. Tactical metabolic training

7. Speed, agility and quickness

8. Injury prevention

9. Balance

10. Periodization

11. Nutrition & suplementation

1. Work capacity

Work capacity definition by Vern Gambetta:

- The ability to tolerate a high workload

- The ability to recover from the workload sufficiently for the next training session or competition

- The ability to resist fatigue

Why work capacity is so important?

1. Necessary for enduring the length of each training session

2. Prepares the athlete for more stressful training sessions and cycles

3. Enables quick recovery between training sessions

2. Individual approach

Each futsal team is a group of different people, with different capacities, skills and different weakest links. So, when you work with a team, you must consider your team as a group of individuals.

For example, if you are working on raising the level of aerobic capacity with all players following the same program, you can expect one of the things:1. Your fittest players will raise

their fitness level, but the least fittest players will overtrain

2. Least fittest players will improve, but fittest players will stagnate

What to do?- Break players into two or three smaller

groups, depending of their abilities and your resources

- Designing different programs, e.g. one program is for players who must work on agility, second program is for those who

lacks in glycolityc endurance...

Individual approach

3. Testing/evaluation Standing broad jump

Sprint 5, 10, 20 meters

4x5 meters agility

Testing/evaluation

300 yard shuttle test

Testing/evaluation Beep test

Yo-Yo Intermittent Test (or Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Test)

Testing/evaluation FIET - futsal intermittent endurance test

- developed by Jose Carlos Barbero Alvarez et. al.- test for specific futsal endurance

- players run shuttle-running bouts of 3x15 m (45m) dictated by audio signals- after each 45 meters players are allowed to rest for 10 seconds- after each 8x45m, players passively rest for 30 seconds before continuing- starting speed is 9 km/h, speed increments is 0.33 km/h for first 9 bouts, shifting to 0.20 km/h from 10th bout every 45m until exhausting-The test ends when player do not reach the front line in time with beeps for 2 succesive times

Testing/evaluation

4. Core training

-The core plays an important role in transferring forces from one end of the body to the other- Core strength has a significant effect on an athlete’s ability to develop and transfer forces to the limbs- If a player has a weak core, he’ll be limited in ability to maximize his running and shooting- Proper core stability allows an athlete to accelerate, decelerate, change directions and quickly adjust to spontaneous loading changes

Core training

Core training is often neglected, underrated od misunderstood- Hundreds of crunches – totaly wrong- Hours in plank position – far from enough for quality core- Core is the most important link in kinetic chain!

THE CORE:- the spine- hips and pelvis- lower limp- abdominal structures

MOVEMENTS:1. Multiplanar2. Functional3. Preferably in

standing position

Core training

The core can produce, reduce, and resist:• spinal flexion (saggital plane)• extension (saggital plane)• lateral flexion (frontal plane)• rotation (transverse plane)

Core training

Sample exercises:

5. Vo2max development

- VO2max: individual's maximal aerobic capacity

- It refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense or maximal exercise

- It is generally considered the best indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance and aerobic fitness

- Vo2max is highly correlated with repeated sprint ability and recovery rate

- VO2max values of or above 60 mL/kg/min are advisable to play futsal at the professional level (Jose Carlos Barbero-Alvarez)

Vo2max development

METHODS

METHODS

1. Billlat protocol15/15 or 30/30 interval training: run 15 od 30 seconds

at 90% of HRmax) followed by 15 or 30 seconds running at 70% of intensity. 12-20 reps in training, once or twice a week

2. 4x4 interval training 4 intervals of 4 minutes of high intensity exercise at

90% of HRmax followed with 3 minutes of active recovery at 70% HRmax

3. small-sided gamesVarious games where players must almost constantly be in the zone of vo2max (intensity cca. 90% HRmax)

6. Tactical metabolic training

The tactical metabolic training approach to conditioning is an extension of the high intensity intervals and repeated sprint conditioning approaches. The keys to “tactical modeling” are parameters from competetive matches (work/rest ratio from

competetive matches).This is favourable from a coaching viewpoint as it allows technical

and tactical elements to be executed in simulated game conditions (Plisk and Gambetta)

6. Speed, agility and quickness

SAQ – Most popular method in the conditioning of athletes

SPEED - rapidity of movementAGILITY - rapid whole body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulusQUICKNESS - the ability to read and react to a situation; it is a multidirectional skill that combines explosiveness, reactiveness, and acceleration

SAQ is based on the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). SSC is a eccentric contraction followed by an immediate concentric contraction

SAQ is based on the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). SSC is

a eccentric contraction followed by an immediate

concentric contraction

Speed, agility and quickness

BENEFITS OF SPEED, AGILITY AND QUICKNESS TRAINING:

• faster footwork

• improved dynamic balance

• improved movement

• shortening of reaction time

• preventing injuries

Speed, agility and quicknessFramework of Speed, agility and quickness (SAQ) program:1. Dynamic flexibilityDynamic flexibility increase muscular flexibility through the

neuromuscular system and reduce injury via decreasing reflexive muscle contractions

2. Mechanics of movement (running technique)Hurdle drills; Knee-lifts, dead leg, multiple hops, sidesteps, forward

and lateral jumps...3. InnervationLadder drills; various linear and lateral exercises4. Accumulation of potentialThis phase brings together the areas of work already practiced.

Short and very explosive drills, and the emphasis is on quality. Combination runs.

5. ExplosionShort speed bursts, resistance running, contrast training6. Expression of potential Sixth phase brings together all the elements of the SAQ

programme into highly competitive situations

7. Injury prevention

Injury prevention1. Quality warm-upPrepares muscles, ligaments and tendons for trainings and matches2. ProprioceptionIt refers to the body's ability to sense movement within joints and joint

position3. Good technique & skillsPlayer with good skils and technique will be less prone to injuries4. Eccentric muscle contractionseccentric strengthening have big preventive effect5. StrengtheningStronger muscles, ligaments and tendons are less injury prone6. Work on stability and mobilityJoint by joint approach – best “secret” for injury prevention

8. BalanceBalance is the single most important component of athletic ability because it underlies all movement (Vern Gambetta)

- Our goal must be to develop balance in motion- it is impossible to quality reduce and produce force without balance- if the balance is lost, it leads to inefficient movement and wasted energy- exercises: 90 degree jumps, leaning tower, hurdle walk...

9. Periodization

Periodization is the systematic planning of training. The aim is to reach the best possible performance in the

most important competition of the year

periodization• GENERAL PREPARATION PERIOD 6 – 8 weeks

First two-three weeks: general preparation with 60-70% strength and conditioning programs (testing, prevention, proprioception, aerobic and muscular endurance, general

strength), 30-40% futsal technique and tactics

Third to fourth or fifth week: futsal specific strength and conditioning, 50% of conditioning programmes and 50% od

technical and tactical preparation

Last two to three weeks: emphasis on technical and tactical programmes (70-80%), conditioning programmes are strictly

specific (SAQ programmes, small-sided games...)

10. Nutrition and supplementsDon’t underestimate power of quality nutrition!

1. Don’t eat simple carbs and sugars

2. After training first replace fluids (water or isotonic drinks)

3. Eat lots of fish, eventually add some quality omega-3 supplement

4. Include healthy fats(olive oil, nuts, seeds...)

5. Never miss your meal6. Avoid fried foods7. Don’t trust everything

you hear from supplements industry

Important things to know

1.Train movements, not muscles2.In every training session create an

challenging environment3.Involve as many speed sessions as

possible4.Stress core before extremities5.Don’t involve single-joint

movements6.Folow the right progression

REFERENCES:1. Gambetta, Vern: Gambetta Method, a Common sense guide

to functional training for athletic performance2. Castagna, C., Barbero Alvarez, J. C.: Physiological demands of

an intermittent Futsal-oriented high-intensity test3. Barbero Alvarez, J.C., et. al.: Match demands of professional

Futsal: a case study4. Barbero Alvarez, J. C. et. al.: Match analysis and heart rate of

futsal players during competition5. Fitzgibbon, Shane; Getting to the core:

http://irelandstrengthandconditioning.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/getting-to-the-core-what-is-core-training-anyway/

6. Kelso, Tom: Core Strength and the Athlete: Keeping It in Perspective

7. Junge A, Dvorak J: Injury risk of playing football in Futsal World Cups

8. Rowbottom, David J.: Periodization of Training9. Arnd Krüger: Periodization or Peaking at the right time10. Gamble, Paul: Strength and Conditioning for Team Sports:

Sport-Specific Physical Preparation for High Performance