I want to start off this post with a confession – I did absolutely NOTHING over the holidays – no training, no lifting weights, just a lot of sitting around, eating, and watching TV. I didn’t watch what I ate, I didn’t get any touches on a soccer ball, nothing. I did so much nothing that when I stepped on a scale after I got back from vacation, I had gained six pounds!

And you know what?

That’s okay.

However, problems arise when you get back from vacation and maintain that vacation lifestyle. Players that want to play at a high level may take a week off, possibly two, but after that, they need to get back to training.

Getting in shape is hard. Ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?” Is it worth it to do all this work to get back into shape? Do I want to be a better player? I think you’ll find that the answer to these questions is yes, it is worth it, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.

Once you have remembered your motivation for getting back into training, it’s time to create a plan. Your plan should start with your goals. What do you want for yourself? Do you want to be fittest on your team? The quickest? The best ball handler? Pick two or three of the things that you want, and set them as your goals.

BE SPECIFIC

The next step is to make sure your goals are measurable. It’s easy to say “I want to get in shape” or “I want to be stronger” or “I want to dribble better”, but these aren’t measurable. They don’t have a specific goal with a specific due date.

Here are a couple of examples –

Fitness – “I want to run a mile in X minutes by January 25th”

Juggling – “I want to get X number of touches while I am juggling before the ball hits the ground by February 2”

Pick goals based on where you were before, not where you are now. Don’t allow the holiday to be an excuse to take a step backwards. If you ran a 7 minute mile before vacation, but now can only do it in 7 minutes, thirty seconds, don’t set your goal to 7 minutes 15 seconds. Try to improve on your time from before vacation.

For example…

Fitness – “I ran a mile in 7 minutes before vacation. My goal is to run a mile in 6 minutes 30 seconds by January 25”

Weight – “I weighed 175 pounds before vacation, and now weigh 180. I want to get my weight down to 170 in 3 months, on (insert date).”

BE REALISTIC – If you could do 15 pushups without stopping before vacation, don’t set your goal to be 100 without stopping in 15 days. It won’t happen, you know it won’t happen, and you will lose motivation because you know you just can’t get there.

Set short-and-long-term measurable goals.

Instead of doing the above and setting unrealistic goals, break your goal up into manageable sections. For example, if your ultimate goal is 100 pushups, set your goal like this –

I could do 15 pushups without stopping before vacation. In thirty days, on (insert date), I want to be able to do 25 pushups without stopping. In 3 months, on , I want to be able to do 50 pushups without stopping. In 7 months, on (insert date), I want to be able to do 100 pushups without stopping.

This gives you milestones so you can track your progress.

TRACK YOUR RESULTS

Now that we’ve gone over how to set goals, it’s important to track them. Lets use a soccer-related example here. Let’s say your goal is to be able to juggle the ball with your right foot only 50 times without the ball hitting the ground by (insert date), but right now, your previous best score is only 20 times. You plan to work on your juggling 3 days a week for the next however many months. However, in order to know how you are progressing towards your goal, you must track your results.

I recommend using a google docs spreadsheet, as this is a free tool. In this case, the spreadsheet I would create would look something like the attached file.

Spreadsheet Example

In addition, you could generate a graph like the following attached file to make sure you are moving in the right direction.

Chart Example

If you don’t track your training results, you won’t know if you are moving in the right direction, and you could find yourself surprised and disappointed come goal day.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Every year, millions of people develop New Year’s resolutions, and every year, millions of people fail to follow these resolutions. Why? They are relying on themselves alone. Every person, no matter how strong their willpower, needs help to keep them on the right path. This can be a friend, family member, anyone that can be trusted to consistently remind you of your goals. Approach them in the following way – “(Insert Name), I’m working on something that is really important to me, and I was hoping you’d be willing to check up on me every week (set a specific time) and make sure I’m still working hard and motivated.” Most people will be happy to help you out.

START OFF EASY

Finally – start off easy. Don’t go to the field and run wind-sprints for 45 minutes straight. Your body won’t be ready for this, and you’ll get discouraged and quit. Instead, start working your way up to it bit by bit. Start in little increments – jog up and down the field a few times. Run a sprint or two, and stop when you start breathing hard and sweating. Come back in a couple days, and run a sprint or two more than you did the last time. Make sure to give your body a day or two to rest and build itself back up in between heavy workouts. Progressively work your way up to where you want to be.

If your goal is to develop into a more complete soccer player in 2013, a subscription to our Daily Soccer Drills is an excellent place to start!

What are some of your goals that you are going to work towards this year? Let me know in the comments.