The following item is offered for informational purposes and does not represent an official reccomendation of the Austin Aztex.  Persons undertaking a workout program should consult a physician about their physical health and consider very carefully the implications of the stresses that may be involved.

 

 

Core Workout

 

1. Choose variety over reps.  Alternate your workout, it’s more important than just doing 100 regular crunches daily. Perform 15 to 20 reps of each exercise.

 

2. Forget the “Upper vs. Lower Abs Idea.”   It’s all one sheath of muscle, the rectus abdominus. Where you feel it depends on the move’s anchor point. Ex.-Leg lifts engage more of the lower section of the abs.

 

3. Engage your Pelvic- Floor. To target your abs more effectively, strengthen your pelvic-floor muscles; they assist your deepest abs in doing exercises correctly. Engage them by gently pulling your belly button toward your back. Place one hand on your abs; if you feel your stomach pushing out while doing crunches, you are doing them incorrectly.

 

4. Work your abs, not your neck.  To stop your neck muscles from tensing, place your tongue firmly on the roof of your mouth as you do your crunches.   You can also place your index and middle finger gently on the side of your neck, while looking up and back while doing crunches.

 

5. The “Jelly-Effect.”    Without a strong core, an athlete will experience what is called the jelly-effect; this is when a person who has a strong upper and lower body, can’t explode as high and as fast because of a weak core. As you jump up, the force generated from your lower body is suddenly slowed because of the weak muscles in the core, resulting in a loss of power. 

 

6. Programs. You must treat your core workout the same as any other workout.   When not using a weight bearing machine or ball, perform 3-4 different exercises to be done 4-6 days per week, with at least one day of rest for recovery. 3 sets of each exercise, and 15-20 reps of each is recommended.    When using a weight bearing machine or ball, perform 3-4 different exercises, 3 days per week, with two off days.   3 sets of 15-20 reps is recommended.   

 

 

 

1. Regular crunches- While lying on your back, with your legs bent and the heel of your shoes tucked slightly under your legs, raise your upper body up no more than 30 degrees off the ground until you feel slight tension in your stomach. If you feel strain in your lower back, then you have raised up too far. Do 20 reps

 

2. The Rocket- Stand with your feet together, knees slightly bent and abs engaged with arms to the sides. Jump up as high as you ca, using arms for momentum, and land softly with knees slightly bent. Do 15 reps

 

3. Side Crunches- While laying on your side, raise your upper body off the floor no more than 30 degrees or until you feel slight tension. Placing your index and middle finger gently on your neck, will ease any pain. Do 15-20 reps on each side

4. Raising on up- While laying on your back, lift both legs straight in the air with your legs together. At the same time, reach with both hands as high as you can towards your toes.   Do 15-20

 reps

 

5. The frog- Get into the regular crunch position, with the bottom of your feet facing each other(like doing a groin stretch).   With one hand on top of the other, reach between you legs and try to touch the heel of your shoes. Do 15-20 reps

 

6. Coffins- While lying on your back with your legs straight, not bent, and your hands on top of each other, reach as far as you can past your knees without straining. Do 15 reps

 

7. Reverse Crunch- While lying on your back with your legs straight, roll your legs up and back towards your chest, while your hands are at your side. Do 15-20 reps

 

8. Elbow to knee- While in a regular crunch position or legs off the floor and bent, reach up with your right elbow and try touching the outside of you left knee. Perform the same exercise w/ your left elbow and right knee.   Do 15-20 reps

 

9. Not these- While in a regular crunch position and your legs together in a 90 degree angle, drop your legs until you are about 6 inches from the ground, then up again into the ready position. Your hands are at your side, not underneath you. Do 15-20 reps.

 

10. Six Inches- Same as above, but just keep your legs straight and raise them up six inches from the ground. The best way is to hold for a certain amount of seconds. Ex.-20 seconds to hold for each.

 

11. Standing Crunch- While standing, lift your each knee as high as you can towards your chest, as you come down with your legs straight, lift leg slightly behind you. This is like a slow swinging motion, or kicking motion. Helps with your hip flexors and glutes. Do 15-20 reps

 

12. The swivel- In the regular crunch or frog position, place your hands to the side and reach under your glutes to your groin while rotating your body left and right. Do 15-20 reps

 

13. Heels- In a regular crunch position and your hands to the side, reach towards the heels of your shoes, going slightly past them. Do 15-10 reps

 

14. Side to Side- While standing straight up with your hands to the side, reach down towards the outside of your legs...please keep your legs straight while reaching. Helps with love handles. Do 15-20 reps

 

15. The Handles- Same as above, but with a slight twist backwards, towards your heels. Do 15-20 reps

 

16. The Wave- Get into a push-up position. While in this position, arch your body in the air, with your glutes furthest away from the ground. Slowly drop your body while moving your head forward, them raise your body back into the ready position...please do it slow. Do 15-20 reps

 

17. Superman’s- Lay flat on your stomach, with both of your hands and feet raised six inches off the ground at the same time. While your hands and feet are up, raise them both up as far as you can, until you feel a slight tension in your lower back. Remember to always start and finish with your hands and feet six inches off the ground. 10-15 reps

 

18. Alternating Superman’s- Same as above, but now raise the right leg up with the left arm and the left leg with the right arm. 10-15 reps

 

19. The Snake- Same as 17, with a side to side motion, keeping the legs and hands six inches off the ground...reach left and right now. 10-15 reps

 

20. Reach Ups- Lay on you back with your legs straight and six inches off the ground. At the same time, lift your right leg up and try to touch your right foot with your left hand. Do the same with the left leg and right arm. 15 reps

 

 

 

This is a running prescription, not a specific workout, that all of the players can perform and is highly recommended for all.   I suggest starting your running by jogging 20-30 minutes a day for the first two weeks, taking two days off to recover, performing 2-3 anaerobic and aerobic exercises once a week.    Remember, these are suggestions, you can pick and choose, the best way is to try each once to see where your fitness and comfort level is; if you feel that these workouts are too difficult, you can change the number of reps recommended, and if it’s too easy, just increase the sets recommended. I suggest performing this program all summer, increasing the intensity each week.   Two weeks before ‘Boot Camp,’ decrease the number of reps and days, but do not just stop unless you have a nagging injury. Have fun and good luck!!!

 

James Crowder

 

1. Get Fit.  The battle you fight and win in your head, is what will give you the mental toughness to overcome your opponent!

 

2. Making a commitment.  Self motivation can be your greatest strength. Know and appreciate how critical fitness is to individual and team performance.

 

3. No excuses.  Where there is a way, there is a will! Be creative in finding solutions. Don’t spend your time thinking of reasons you can’t do something.

 

4. Becoming a successful athlete. Skills, technique, sped, aerobic and anaerobic fitness, strength, power, agility, and balance.  All of these elements can be developed over the course of a summer to make you the complete soccer player.

 

5. Be accountable.  Write down everything! Make a log, you will be more likely to do it. When you write it down, it becomes a goal, not a chore.

 

 

When starting any running program, remember to progress, do not start at the top. Write down a 4 to 6 week program, to help you set a goal. Pick 2-3 different ‘Fartleks’ and perform them 2-3 times a week (30-45) minutes to complete.   You can progress by increasing the reps and lowering the times to complete each weekly or bi-weekly.   Please pick 2-3 other days to run miles also, setting a goal to finish whatever your game time is, without getting tired.(ex. If you play a 90 minute game, set a goal to be able to not fatigue for the length of time before the fall season begins). Remember to take at least one day off to allow your body to recover.

 

  

The Fartlek- Means speed play. Road running or cross country in which the runner varies the pace significantly during the run.

 

10 minute warm up jog

 

Stride hard for 4 minutes with a one minute jog immediately after. Repeat 8-10 times

 

10 minute warm up jog

 

Stride hard for 3 minutes with a one minute run immediately after. Repeat 8-10 times.

 

10 minute warm up jog

 

Max sprint for 75 seconds, 150 seconds, 120 seconds, 90 seconds, and 60 seconds. Take a 30-60 second rest between each to recover. 

 

Stride hard for 30 seconds, jog 90 seconds. Repeat with a 15 sec. Decrease in the recovery jog. Example- 30/90, 30/75, 30/60, 30/45, 30/30, etc...

 

 

Perform 2-3 times per week. Can be performed either on a soccer field or field marked with cones.

 

From the end line, sprint to the first 18 yds, jog to the opposite end line; repeat to the come back. Sprint full field and jog all the way back. Sprint to the furthest 18 and jog to the opposite end line; repeat to come back. Sprint to midfield and jog to the opposite end line; repeat to come back. Sprint to first 18, jog to opposite end line; repeat to come back, you are now done. Perform a total of 4-6 reps.

 

The U.S. National Team performs this. Mark cones 40 yds. apart. From the start, sprint 40 yds, allowing 6-8 seconds to get there. You have 40 seconds to jog back to the first cone to start again. The goal is to do 40 of these in a row w/o fatigue.

 

Set out cones 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yds. apart. In a continuous run, sprint to five and back, ten and back, 15 and back, etc... you can progress by adding more cones. You have less than a

minute to finish. Repeat 6-8 times.

 

 

Place a cone 10 to 15 yds apart. Run up and back, doing 10 in a row without stopping. You have 60 seconds to complete.   Repeat 8-10 times.

 

Place 2 cones 40 yds apart. Sprint up and back 3 times (240 yds. Total) rest 45 seconds between. Repeat six to eight times.

 

Running 120 yds in 18-25 seconds, with a 45-50 second time to get back to the start. Perform 10 sprints total. Rest for 3-5 minutes, then try and repeat five times.

 

Place 4 cones 7 yds apart in the shape of a T. From the bottom cone, sprint to the middle cone, turn right, sprint to the left cone, turn and sprint to the left furthest cone; you then turn, sprint back to the middle cone, turn and sprint back to the beginning. Perform 5 times in each direction.