has anyone got specific hypertrophy exercises they would like to share to develop footballers, aged 17-20yrs, following a 4-6week anatomical adaptation phase.

if a goalkeeper is already quite muscular, would you skip this phase?

With most of our players we tend to skip this phase with our athletes that are already fairly developed. But will always put it back in for our less developed or smaller players. We have had quite a bit of success training high intensity (load/speed) with very low volume (reps). We combine this with body weight early stage plyo drills (box step up jumps, stair work, split squats, med ball work for the upper body, etc.) and it seems to work out just fine.

Heavy loads, high intensity and speed in a very functional setting. The key is to get them to produce as much force as quickly as possible. So, unless they just lack the strength or muscular development to do this, we will skip the hypertrophy phases and go instead get them training for power/speed.

We have also noticed a reduced level of soreness with this approach, leaner players who are quick and powerful.

Scott Moody
Founder, Soccer F.I.T. Academy
Overland Park, KS USA