Goalkeeper Training Intensity: Power Up With Higher 1 RM Training.

Somewhere around about the age of 18, there was an automatic switch that told me to beef up or suffer the slings and arrows of pointing fingers and giggles from girls at Bondi beach. Not until the last few years, and a whole lot of study did I understand the necessity of intense training to fuel goalkeeper performance and growth. During my adolescence playing in the old National Soccer League here in Australia, I had trained intensely, though most of my training revolved around running activities. In fact, I could not remember one time that we as a team had hit the gym to increase our muscular endurance or strength. Fast forward to the present, and I see that to be truly a top notch goalkeeper you must train for strength, power and anaerobic endurance, more so than aerobic endurance exclusively (even though it does have its place in a goalkeepers training schedule).

Training intensity is important for a goalkeeper who wishes to succeed competitively. Richardson, A. et. al. 2001, states that intensity is a mixture of quality over time. Intensity appears to maximise strength responses. What this means is that a competitive goalkeeper will utilise a greater number of motor units, muscle fibers with a greater amount of muscle size and strength ensuing. Any set that is performed should be taken to failure or as close to volitional fatigue as possible. High resistance, low repetition exercise activities are more effective than low resistance, high repetition exercise prescriptions in increasing strength and Type IIa and IIb muscle fibers. The type of fibers that make a good goalkeeper great. Another study (Tesch, P.A. et al. 1998) titled “Skeletal muscle glycogen loss evoked by resistance exercise” stated that loads of above 60% 1 RM increase the involvement of type IIa and IIb muscle fibers. Therefore to increase strength and power for competitive goalkeeping would be a great idea for those teams that do not utilise these type of training protocols for their own goalkeepers.

Utilise intense goalkeeper specific drills and close to 1 RM weight training to power up your goalkeeping performance for the pre season and watch your game grow to new heights.