Julian Green has been one of the best players with Fürth since they've recovered from the edge of the abyss. Basically, JG looks like a 2.BuLi player in a team that was already mentally gone to the 3.Liga. Of course, it doesn't mean Julian is that great, but at least it means he's found his level.
Except almost every (every?) soccer workout in the professional world includes weight lifting and most (all?) of those include bench press or dumb bell bench press. Perhaps you know better than the guys training the pros, but Every. Team. Does. It. At least part of the m. Add to that we are talking young men who are weighing in at 150? lbs or so? Does anyone really want to argue that if Zelalem adds 5-15 lbs of muscle, some on his upper-body he's going to slow down? As to Jozy - it was just a stupid, gratutitous shot that is also factually wrong. The idea that one should base their stupid, gratuitous insults on some small measure of fact may be old-school, but I'll cling to it, thanks.
And that is why I clearly posted I don't know the number, but I would venture "literally" every top professional soccer team has their players bench press. I've been in the weight rooms of a number of them over the years. I've watched players do it. There is 0 evidence that a 20 year old guy who's playing weight is 150 or so will slow down if he puts on a few pounds of upper body muscle. And just as 100 meter dash bodies are not applicable to soccer, neither are distance runners. The average strikers is going to go 5 - 8 kilometers over 90 minutes. Much more like the training regime of a sprinter than the competitive race of a mararthon or half marathon runner. Again, I have no idea what the "ideal" bench press weight is, but to suggest that some bench pressing will hurt a player like Zelalem or Green is silly. And I think 90%+ of pro soccer trainers would agree.
I think, watching Green, that he has likely increased his lifting a bit this year - or matured into a more solid physique. He looks stronger and bit more solid in the shoulders and chest. I'm not a detailed enough Green watcher, but I'd guess he has grown into his body and is working with weights a bit more and I think that has/will help him in the margins as his game progresses.
If the subject is weight training hurts endurance... Just take a look at Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, hell even Michael Bradley. All three have good upper body strength and all three have legendary stamina levels for a soccer player. Obviously, weight training did not prevent them from having some of the greatest levels of endurance the sport has ever known. It’s simply a myth that increasing upper body strength, at least in the realm of normal male development, is going to damage a player’s development. It’s similar to the myth that many women believe that weight training will make them look like a roided out freak of a woman...not realizing that those women have to cheat nature to reach those goals. A man being able to bench 1.25-1.5% of his body weight is more normal than it is abnormal for a healthy human male in his prime years. Granted, upper body strength isn’t the most critical area for a soccer player, but if you gave me the option of the exact same player except one has good upper body strength for a man and the other has the physique of an average woman, it’s no question that the player with some upper body strength would dominate the weaker opponent.
More to the point for Gedion.... How would upper body training help him? Well, we all saw he has solid technique and good vision. But we also all saw the he shyed away from toe to toe challenges. He lacked that tenacity and confidence in himself to put his stamp on the game. That’s the difference between a player who becomes another Yaya Toure and a player who is just another lost prospect.
The only way weight training hurts your endurance is if you put on so much muscle/weight and completely ignore cardio, which obviously as professional soccer athletes they are not. I completely ignored cardio during college but lifted like crazy. I'd get gassed in my men's league after 20 minutes. In my mid 20s now, still weight train 5 days a week, but now I mix in cardio a few times and can play 50 minutes no problem. As long as they're staying away from supplements like creatine and sticking with just a high protein diet, they will see strength gains but nothing that will put them over the top. my 2 cents from someone who trains athletes on the side
No it doesn't. Soccer and basketball teams, NFL teams too for RB's/WR's etc design weight programs around building explosiveness. Lean muscle. Higher rep work. Your YMCA weekend warrior who tries to do 2-3 reps at 85% of his max on the bench is entirely different, as are power lifters in general. Messi is clearly in the weight room numerous times per week. He's built like a number of NBA PGs.
I'm just going to say that both Green and Zelalem clearly have a few issues with strength. However, I think that their teams are pushing the right fitness regime. Also, genetically some guys might have a tougher time than others.
Zelalem has other serious problem to his game beyond strength: he's a slow-thinker who slows down any fast counter with an extra touch.
When I was young I just couldn't put on weight. I didn't look strong but was much stronger than I looked (I climbed everything). Much later I was finally able to gain weight and while not any stronger I looked much stronger. Just saying this because Green and Zelalem look like they have bodies that won't show muscles until they get a bit older. They may be doing the work but it hasn't shown up yet.
I consider the slow of thought and lack of an attacking mentality to be his real problems. Sure, he could use some strength and top level players certainly keep themselves as fit as possible, including strength training. But, in the limited minutes I've seen him play, he generally was able to avoid having to fight psychically with good skill and awareness in tight spaces. Some guys muscle people off the ball and shield it, others shimmy and twist away. He'll always be the later. I had high hopes, but my problem is his mental game. Slow to recognize a chance to attack and slower still to play with urgency. can maintain possession even at a pretty high level of play, but if you're a midfielder that's not going to create chances you need to be better on the defensive side of things, where that strength would be more important. But, since I can't imagine his ever becoming a more defensive minded player, I'm not as concerned about his becoming a physically imposing guy.
I haven't found a lot of easily accessed on-line guides for pro-teams, but many Interesting. I've only really seen a good number of his games with Gers in the Scots D2, but he often tried to play a one-touch, flick, stab or release pass kind of game and usually found that the rest of the team not on the same page. I'll reserve final judgement until I see him play more, but slow thinking did not seem to me to be a top problem. Holding the ball and expecting better movement did seem to be an issue. It felt sometimes like he was playing one of those red pinny/yellow pinny training games more than a competitive match where the ball had to end up in the goal. It will be interesting to see what he looks like when (if) he returns to form.
I don’t necessarily agree with the assessment either. I’m guessing that it is a label he got with u20s in 2015 and easiest to just run with it. He played very differently with that group he didn’t really know than with Gers, Arsenal u23s and preseason with the first team. There are definitely holes in the kids game, but not the sweeping type described here.
He lost his starting spot with the Rangers for a reason. Unlike Hyndman last year, who improved as time went on, Zelalem showed poorly, slowing down their game through the middle. He got benched, and only came back for the last games when the Gers had already nailed promotion.