We are combining the recaps for Weeks 4 and 5 because of something really exciting, we went to the motion capture lab and participated in a kicking session with McKenzie. This is a different service that TOSH provides but one that we feel will be extremely beneficial to our players. Before we get into that however we are going to go back and look over what we did in Week 4.
As always Tuesday is a plyometric day and Thursday is a treadmill day.
WEEK 4- Tuesday
One of the main themes of the TOSH Training Program is core work. Core work is the foundation of the entire program with McKenzie first and foremost making sure that a participants core is right for all of the activities and exercises that we do. The reason behind that according to McKenzie is "We focus a ton on core and hip strength here at TOSH because of how intimately those two muscle groups are involved in producing power when jumping, sprinting, cutting, etc. " You could really see that in this week's plyo day. We did a lot of work on the Bosu balls balancing and working on strengthening our cores.
Thursday
In addition to core work, form is a huge priority here at TOSH. Learning and maintaining the proper form has taken a pivotal role in the beginning of each of our treadmill days. In order to truly maximize the power and strength we are developing from our workouts, we must have the proper form. Essentially, to get the most out of this program you really need to focus on the form. That is what we focused on today. We did anaerobic exercises today and had to focus on maintaining proper form even when are muscles were tired.
WEEK 5
For week 5 we also did plyometrics and treadmill as normal but on Tuesday after the workout we participated in one of the other many programs that TOSH offers and we are going to focus on that for our week 5 coverage.
The program we participated in was the kicking program that is set up and run with McKenzie. You set up a time and then go into the motion capture room at TOSH. You take some warm up kicks and then kick a couple that are being recorded until you hit one that you feel good about. After that you sit with McKenzie and she walks you through several different parts of striking a ball, including your approach, your plant foot, your technique, and more. After breaking down your shot on camera, she provides some drills to help you improve. You can schedule more appointments to look at how you are progressing and to look at other aspects of shooting. The one we participated in was dominant foot only, but you can also work on your weak foot, goalkeeping, long balls, crosses, curve, and many more aspects. We did our segment with two people to highlight what McKenzie can do. We used someone with very little kicking experience and then someone who has played soccer at the collegiate level. You can view our experience in the below video. Be sure to check back next week as the UYSA staff wraps up Spring Training.