Posts Tagged ‘Soccer’

Peak Performance for Over 40 Athletes By Monica Walker

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | AE Articles, Whats New

Profile: Tami Lenox

Tami started training with us in December of 2002. She had a desire to improve her speed and explosive power but initially felt her age would not allow her to do so. She also had a women’s 40 and over national soccer tournament in August of 2002 and wanted to be well prepared to compete.

Over the years Tami remained extremely active and fit. She participated in three to four soccer leagues and also coached a women’s soccer team.  However, she felt like she had lost several steps and found it difficult to keep up with her male counterparts on her co-ed team. Needless to say, Tami is a true soccer buff and has watched the sport develop and flourish locally and nationally over the last 30 plus years.

We did a comprehensive assessment to determine her strengths and weakness. Tami trained for almost eighteen weeks in 2002 – 2003. She only missed two scheduled appointments due to inclimate weather and averaged two workouts with us weekly.

When Tami started her training we planned a three-part plan to meet her goals. Her first six weeks emphasized flexibility, functional strength training, running drills, and introductory plyometrics.  She was very sore in the beginning because the training emphasized developing fast twitch muscle fibers, which was something she had never done before.

The second phase continued to work from the previous plan but we added interval sprint training and also correcting her sprint mechanics.  The last phase of the plan also continued building on the previous, however we started to do more sport specific training that was associated with her sport, to improve her mobility.

Tami made astonishing improvements to her athleticism over the eighteen weeks of training, which has even amazed herself! Tami found herself able to accelerate quickly, change direction, and compete with younger participants during her soccer games. Listed below are some of her stat’s she has recorded while training.

                   Test 1  (Jan 2003)        Test 2 (April 2003)        Test 3 (June 2003)

 40 yard Sprint            6.13 sec                         5.69 sec                                  5.01      

Penta Jumps             7.65 meters                   8.90 meters               9.88 meters           (5 Double Leg Hops)

Body Fat                             16.01%                         14.20%                     13.11%

Read more about Tami and our amateur athletes in the Washingtonian Article Faster, Stronger, Better

Tags: Over 40 Athletes, Soccer