In less than 2 weeks, on the weekend of Friday, January 30th – Sunday, February 1st, we will be showcasing our mobile fitness app, Gols, at the 2015 National Soccer Coaching Conference, held at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Athletic Centre in down town Toronto.  As a lead-up to the event, I will be posting a few brief summaries of the components of our app that make it the best choice for anyone aspiring to improve their fitness in order to help them play the game, regardless of the level at which they play.

In this first instalment, I will be discussing probably the most unique component provided by our Gols app: soccer-specific training.  Everything about the exercises and training programs in the Gols app is specific to the sport of soccer.  Drawing on my 30 years of experience as a player, coach, fitness coach, and soccer-specific sports scientist, the Gols app combines proven science-based training principles with easy to follow exercise routines that will allow any athlete or person to improve their soccer-specific fitness.  Examples of soccer-specific training in the Gols app include:

• Programs sub-divided into the 5 components of fitness that are the most critical to soccer performance:  strength, speed, power, endurance, and flexibility
• Strength exercises that involve all the major muscle groups and movement patterns used while playing the sport, and which can be done anywhere, including on a soccer pitch
• Speed exercises and workouts designed to improve performance of the same types of sprints (forwards, backwards, sideways, and changing of direction) and distances (5 to 30 metres) used in the sport
• Power exercises and workouts designed to mimic the explosive movements (single- and double-leg jumps, forwards, sideways, and backwards) and total numbers of those movements, done in the sport
• Endurance workouts including variations of high intensity interval training, anaerobic power training, and speed endurance training, specifically designed to improve aerobic and running performance on the field
• Flexibility exercises and workouts designed to address the specific body parts (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders) and functional movements that can give rise to injuries and impaired performance if not trained properly

We are honoured and excited to be a part of the largest coaching conference in Canada, and are looking forward to seeing you all at the Soccer Fitness Gols vendor booth!

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Drop me a line here to get the conversation started.