Effects of combined strength and kick coordination training on soccer kick biomechanics in amateur players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a soccer (strength and technique) training program on kinematics and electromyographic (EMG) muscle activity during a instep kick. Ten amateur soccer players (aged 19.9 AE 0.4 years, body mass 74.8 AE 9.1 kg, height 177.4 AE 6.7 cm) constituted the experimental group (EG) whereas 10 players (age 21.6 AE 1.3 years, weight 71.5 AE 6.7 kg, height 175.2 AE 3.4 cm) served as controls (CG). The EG followed a 10-week soccer-specific training program combining strength and technique exercises. All participants performed an instep soccer kick using a two-step approach while threedimensional data and EMG from six muscles of swinging and support legs were recorded prior to and after training. Maximum isometric leg press strength, 10-m sprint performance and maximum speed performance on a bicycle ergometer were also measured. Analysis of variance designs with repeated measures showed that the EG improved significantly (Po0.05) maximum ball speed, the linear velocity of the foot, ankle and angular velocity of all joints during the final phase of the kick. Training had insignificant effects on EMG values, apart from an increase in the averaged EMG of the vastus medialis whereas maximum isometric strength and sprint times significantly improved after training (Po0.05). The present results suggest that the application of the training programs using soccer-specific strength exercises would be particularly effective in improving of soccer kick performance.

Kicking ability and kicking deficit in young elite soccer players

“…Furthermore, this kind of training should be incorporated in the daily workout routines since we can improve, at the same time, two of the most important and determinant soccer skills: jumping (heading) and kicking. However, it has been recommended that strength training should be integrated with other types of training involving the actual movement pattern to increase the performance within more complex movement patterns and in combination with regular soccer training (Aagaard, Simonsen, Trolle, Bangsbo, & Klausen, 1996;Manolopoulos, Papadopoulos, & Kellis, 2006). It has been proved that incorporating analytical tasks to improve kicking performance with the non-preferred leg increases the use of this leg by the player during competition (Guilherme, Garganta, Graça, & Seabra, 2015).…”

Tensiomyography of selected lower-limb muscles in professional soccer players

“…Many research studies on soccer kick emphasized the importance of maximum power of the lower limb muscles and the coordination between the agonist muscles and the antagonists such as rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) during the kick (Dörge et al, 1999;Lees and Nolan, 1998;Manolopoulos et al, 2006). Furthermore, RF and BF are also the most frequently strained muscles during the preseason and competitive season, respectively (Woods et al, 2002(Woods et al, , 2004.…”

Landing Mechanics between Noninjured Women and Women with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction during 2 Jump Tasks

“…The EMG data were normalized by using a dynamic normalization procedure in which the mean signal for each muscle group in the window of interest was divided by the maximum signal generated on the specific trial analyzed. This method has been widely used to analyze EMG activity during dynamic tasks 2,9,26,27,34,35 and has been shown to reduce participant variability when compared with maximal isometric voluntary contractions. 2,41 In addition, this procedure controls for the variability between trials caused by fatigue during dynamic tasks with multiple trials.…”