Best MA to benefit soccer team?

Danye

Hi all,

A mate of mine is the manager of a men's soccer team and with the dark nights coming in they can only secure a facility for one night of training.

So he was thinking of maybe looking to do something else even for fitness alone and I suggested maybe a martial art. The team, despite being a "senior" team are young and a little too easy to be pushed off the ball so martial arts could help with that as well as the fitness side.

The question is though, what MA do you guys think would have the best crossover for soccer? I was thinking of Judo, although my mate think thai boxing after doing a bit of googling. I'd be very interested to hear your opinions on this?

dardis

Grappling or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be another to have a look at.

We are in the process of designing a programme for a senior GAA football club. We are using wrestling, Judo, Submission wrestling and BJJ movements and drills with the goal of improving the guys' physical presence on the field.

We are based in Blanchardstown, if it suits shoot us an email royalgrapplingacademy@gmail.com

Danye

dardis wrote: »

Grappling or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu would be another to have a look at.

We are in the process of designing a programme for a senior GAA football club. We are using wrestling, Judo, Submission wrestling and BJJ movements and drills with the goal of improving the guys' physical presence on the field.

We are based in Blanchardstown, if it suits shoot us an email royalgrapplingacademy@gmail.com

Thanks for the reply. I've heard of some Gaelic footballers and rugby lads rolling alright. It's a great idea.

Unfortunately your on the wrong side of the city. So in your opinion, judo/ bjj / grappling would be best?

Peetrik

It can really depend on the club you go to. Some styles have a huge focus on fitness (MMA/Thai etc) but the classes themselves can focus solely on technique and you are expected to do all the fitness (running/sprints/weights etc) as homework on your own outside of classes - Which might not suit your team.

Being honest, a combination of long runs, intervals and sprints would be much more beneficial for fitness than doing a MA class once a week. Martial arts are a lot more fun though so if you do decide on a martial art I would suggest you focus your search on clubs that...

a) Compete - The general fitness level of the entire club should be much higher than a non competitive club
b) Full contact sparring - The power output required for full contact training is much higher than points based systems and sound like it would be better suited.

Best of luck with it

arybvtcw0eolkf

I've never played soccer, well not as an adult, so I can't give any opinions based on that experience.

However when I gave up kickboxing to move onto Judo my aerobic fitness dropped off a lot but my anerobic fitness came up a lot.

Whenever I've ignored Judo for a bit to concentrate on BJJ my fitness levels take another nose dive and it takes me maybe three weeks to gain that fitness back (at Judo).

So I'd certainly be looking at something aerobically intense like kickboxing or better yet - Muay Thai..

Based solely on the sheer amount of injuries associated with it I'd leave Judo, and tbh I wouldn't rate BJJ at all in terms of aerobic fitness.

Mellor

If the goal is purely to improve the teams football. Then dedicated strength and conditioning would be better than a martial art imo.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Mellor wrote: »

If the goal is purely to improve the teams football. Then dedicated strength and conditioning would be better than a martial art imo.

Without a doubt

cowzerp

Boxing training would get them very fit and is great for balance, coordination etc, I played football long before i joined Boxing and within weeks my dribbling skills improved seriously because my footwork and coordination etc had improved so much

FTA69

We currently have a few members of the London GAA senior panel in our boxing gym and they say it's fierce good for maintaining fitness levels.

cowzerp

FTA69 wrote: »

We currently have a few members of the London GAA senior panel in our boxing gym and they say it's fierce good for maintaining fitness levels.

GAA teams come to me for pre season and do be super fit going into their leagues, the Dublin team started it a few years ago around the time they went from being soft as anything to the hardest side around..

Defo the way to go

arybvtcw0eolkf

cowzerp wrote: »

Boxing training would get them very fit and is great for balance, coordination etc, I played football long before i joined Boxing and within weeks my dribbling skills improved seriously because my footwork and coordination etc had improved so much

I'd put your dribbling down to old age

Danye

Peetrik wrote: »

Being honest, a combination of long runs, intervals and sprints would be much more beneficial for fitness than doing a MA class once a week. Martial arts are a lot more fun though so if you do decide on a martial art I would suggest you focus your search on clubs that...

That was one of the first suggestions that was made but the players themselves shyed away from it. He asked what they would like to do and a few suggested martial arts as they thought it would be more "fun" and enjoyable than running in any shape or form. Thanks for the advice though

Grant Rotten Reef wrote: »

So I'd certainly be looking at something aerobically intense like kickboxing or better yet - Muay Thai..

Thanks Grant Rotten Reef. It looks as if they're going to do Muay Thai and some of the lads are happy with that and have even suggested training Muay Thai twice a week and football on the Wednesday.

Mellor wrote: »

If the goal is purely to improve the teams football. Then dedicated strength and conditioning would be better than a martial art imo.

In ideal world this would be the way to go but the players themselves weren't too keen on it and financially it wasn't really feasible.

cowzerp wrote: »

Boxing training would get them very fit and is great for balance, coordination etc, I played football long before i joined Boxing and within weeks my dribbling skills improved seriously because my footwork and coordination etc had improved so much

As I've said above, it looks as if they've decided upon Muay Thai, which would offer a similar return as boxing I'd imagine. They did look into boxing in the local gym but they were unable to cater for them as they're jammed with young lads as it is.Thanks for the input in anyway


Thanks to everybody for the replies! It looks as if they're going to be doing Muay Thai twice a week, and football training one night a week. They're only a new team playing at a low standard so I'm sure the extra two nights training will be benefical to them.

Thanks again.:)

Niall Keane

The clinch introduced to soccer :cool:

I might even start watching the game so....

Danye

Niall Keane wrote: »

The clinch introduced to soccer :cool:

I might even start watching the game so....

Haha it will come in handy when dealing with corners!

You'd have to be paid to watch this standard Niall.

djor88

A lot of good comments here, thai boxing is a great workout but again, most clubs will focus on technique during some sessions, with fitness sessions and circuits etc on certain nights.

While this training is beneficial, I'd imagine a football team would benefit more from circuit/strength training, like a bootcamp or crossfit sort of style, 1-2 times a week, incorporating bodyweight exercises and sprints etc.