Alan Sinovčić is a strength and conditioning coach for a Croatian futsal club. He has a degree in kinesiology and has worked with several sports clubs. Futsal requires a high level of fitness as players cover over 100 meters per minute and have high-intensity efforts every 23 seconds. Sinovčić's training program focuses on increasing players' work capacity, testing fitness levels regularly, and using individualized and periodized programs that emphasize core strength, aerobic capacity, speed and agility to prepare players for the physical demands of competitive futsal.

1. strength & conditioning
Futsal specific
Alan Sinovčić
Strength and conditioning coach
Futsal club Alumnus Zagreb

2. Who am I?
- Bachelor’s degree at Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb
- Strength and conditioning specialist
- Worked as a fitness coach in footbal, futsal, basketball and
handball clubs
Major trophies:
- Croatian champion with
Footbal club Zadar, boys
U-15 (season 2012/13
- Croatian champion with
futsal club Alumnus,
season 2013/14

3. Some key facts about futsal:
• Analysis of movement demands has shown that
locomotor activities in futsal match changing every
3.28 seconds
• One study reported 8.6 activities per minute of play
with a high-intensity effort every 23 seconds
• Futsal players at high competetive level cover 121
(105–137) meters per minute
• Aerobic capacity (Vo2max) of professional futsal
players is 58-65 ml/kg/min

7. What all this means?
It means that futsal player at
high competetive level must
have very well developed all
important conditioning
segments: speed, agility,
quickness, aerobic and
anaerobic capacities,
coordination, balance and
strength

8. Base training hierarchy

9. Important segments of strength & conditioning in futsal
1. Work capacity
2. Individual aproach
3. Evaluation/testing
4. Core training
5. Vo2max development
6. Tactical metabolic training
7. Speed, agility and quickness
8. Injury prevention
9. Balance
10. Periodization
11. Nutrition & suplementation

10. 1. Work capacity
Work capacity definition by Vern
Gambetta:
- The ability to tolerate a high
workload
- The ability to recover from
the workload sufficiently for
the next training session or
competition
- The ability to resist fatigue

11. Why work capacity is so important?
1. Necessary for enduring the length of each training session
2. Prepares the athlete for more stressful training sessions and cycles
3. Enables quick recovery between training sessions

12. 2. Individual approach
Each futsal team is a group of different people, with different
capacities, skills and different weakest links. So, when you work with a
team, you must consider your team as a group of individuals.
For example, if you are working on
raising the level of aerobic capacity
with all players following the same
program, you can expect one of the
things:
1. Your fittest players will raise
their fitness level, but the least
fittest players will overtrain
2. Least fittest players will improve,
but fittest players will stagnate

13. Individual approach
What to do?
- Break players into two or three smaller
groups, depending of their abilities and
your resources
- Designing different programs, e.g. one
program is for players who must work on
agility, second program is for those who
lacks in glycolityc endurance...

14. 3. Testing/evaluation
Standing broad jump
Sprint 5, 10, 20 meters

15. Testing/evaluation
4x5 meters agility
300 yard shuttle test

16. Testing/evaluation
Beep test
Yo-Yo Intermittent Test (or Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Test)

17. Testing/evaluation
FIET - futsal intermittent endurance test
- developed by Jose Carlos Barbero Alvarez et. al.
- test for specific futsal endurance

18. Testing/evaluation
- players run shuttle-running bouts of 3x15 m (45m)
dictated by audio signals
- after each 45 meters players are allowed to rest for 10
seconds
- after each 8x45m, players passively rest for 30 seconds
before continuing
- starting speed is 9 km/h, speed increments is 0.33 km/h
for first 9 bouts, shifting to 0.20 km/h from 10th bout
every 45m until exhausting
-The test ends when player do not reach the front line in
time with beeps for 2 succesive times

19. 4. Core training
-The core plays an important role in
transferring forces from one end of the
body to the other
- Core strength has a significant effect
on an athlete’s ability to develop and
transfer forces to the limbs
- If a player has a weak core, he’ll be
limited in ability to maximize his
running and shooting
- Proper core stability allows an athlete
to accelerate, decelerate, change
directions and quickly adjust to
spontaneous loading changes

20. Core training
Core training is often neglected, underrated od misunderstood
- Hundreds of crunches – totaly wrong
- Hours in plank position – far from enough for quality core
- Core is the most important link in kinetic chain!
THE CORE:
- the spine
- hips and pelvis
- lower limp
- abdominal structures
MOVEMENTS:
1. Multiplanar
2. Functional
3. Preferably in
standing position

21. Core training
The core can produce, reduce, and resist:
• spinal flexion (saggital plane)
• extension (saggital plane)
• lateral flexion (frontal plane)
• rotation (transverse plane)

22. Core training
Sample exercises:

23. 5. Vo2max development
- VO2max: individual's maximal aerobic capacity
- It refers to the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual
can utilize during intense or maximal exercise
-It is generally considered the best indicator of cardiorespiratory
endurance and aerobic fitness
- Vo2max is highly correlated with repeated sprint ability and
recovery rate
- VO2max values of or above 60 mL/kg/min are advisable to play
futsal at the professional level (Jose Carlos Barbero-Alvarez)

24. Vo2max development
M
E
T
H
O
D
S
1. Billlat protocol
15/15 or 30/30 interval training: run 15 od 30 seconds
at 90% of HRmax) followed by 15 or 30 seconds
running at 70% of intensity. 12-20 reps in training,
once or twice a week
2. 4x4 interval training
4 intervals of 4 minutes of high intensity exercise at
90% of HRmax followed with 3 minutes of active
recovery at 70% HRmax
3. small-sided games
Various games where players
must almost constantly be in
the zone of vo2max (intensity
cca. 90% HRmax)

25. 6. Tactical metabolic training
The tactical metabolic training approach to conditioning is an
extension of the high intensity intervals and repeated sprint
conditioning approaches. The keys to “tactical modeling” are
parameters from competetive matches (work/rest ratio from
competetive matches).
This is favourable from a coaching viewpoint as it allows technical
and tactical elements to be executed in simulated game conditions
(Plisk and Gambetta)

26. 6. Speed, agility and quickness
SAQ – Most popular method in the conditioning of athletes
SPEED - rapidity of movement
AGILITY - rapid whole body movement with change of velocity or
direction in response to a stimulus
QUICKNESS - the ability to read and react to a situation; it is a
multidirectional skill that combines explosiveness, reactiveness, and
acceleration
SAQ is based on the stretch-shortening
SAQ is based on the stretch-shortening
cycle (SSC). SSC is
cycle (SSC). SSC
a eccentric contraction
followed by an immediate
concentric contraction
is a eccentric contraction
followed by an immediate
concentric contraction

27. Speed, agility and quickness
BENEFITS OF SPEED, AGILITY AND QUICKNESS
TRAINING:
• faster footwork
• improved dynamic balance
• improved movement
• shortening of reaction time
• preventing injuries

28. Speed, agility and quickness
Framework of Speed, agility and quickness (SAQ) program:
1. Dynamic flexibility
Dynamic flexibility increase muscular flexibility through the
neuromuscular system and reduce injury via decreasing
reflexive muscle contractions
2. Mechanics of movement (running technique)
Hurdle drills; Knee-lifts, dead leg, multiple hops, sidesteps, forward
and lateral jumps...
3. Innervation
Ladder drills; various linear and lateral exercises
4. Accumulation of potential
This phase brings together the areas of work already practiced.
Short and very explosive drills, and the emphasis is on quality.
Combination runs.
5. Explosion
Short speed bursts, resistance running, contrast training
6. Expression of potential
Sixth phase brings together all the elements of the SAQ
programme into highly competitive situations

29. 7. Injury prevention

30. Injury prevention
1. Quality warm-up
Prepares muscles, ligaments and tendons for trainings and matches
2. Proprioception
It refers to the body's ability to sense movement within joints and joint
position
3. Good technique & skills
Player with good skils and technique will be less
prone to injuries
4. Eccentric muscle contractions
eccentric strengthening have big preventive effect
5. Strengthening
Stronger muscles, ligaments and tendons are less
injury prone
6. Work on stability and mobility
Joint by joint approach – best “secret” for
injury prevention

31. 8. Balance
Balance is the single most important component of athletic
ability because it underlies all movement (Vern Gambetta)
- Our goal must be to
develop balance in motion
- it is impossible to quality
reduce and produce force
without balance
- if the balance is lost, it
leads to inefficient
movement and wasted
energy
- exercises: 90 degree
jumps, leaning tower,
hurdle walk...

32. 9. Periodization
Periodization is the systematic planning of training. The
aim is to reach the best possible performance in the
most important competition of the year

33. periodization
•GENERAL PREPARATION PERIOD 6 – 8 weeks
First two-three weeks: general preparation with 60-70%
strength and conditioning programs (testing, prevention,
proprioception, aerobic and muscular endurance, general
strength), 30-40% futsal technique and tactics
Third to fourth or fifth week: futsal specific strength and
conditioning, 50% of conditioning programmes and 50% od
technical and tactical preparation
Last two to three weeks: emphasis on technical and tactical
programmes (70-80%), conditioning programmes are strictly
specific (SAQ programmes, small-sided games...)

34. 10. Nutrition and supplements
Don’t underestimate power of quality nutrition!
1. Don’t eat simple carbs
and sugars
2. After training first replace
fluids (water or isotonic
drinks)
3. Eat lots of fish, eventually
add some quality omega-
3 supplement
4. Include healthy fats(olive
oil, nuts, seeds...)
5. Never miss your meal
6. Avoid fried foods
7. Don’t trust everything
you hear from
supplements industry

35. Important things to know
1.Train movements, not muscles
2.In every training session create an
challenging environment
3.Involve as many speed sessions as
possible
4.Stress core before extremities
5.Don’t involve single-joint
movements
6.Folow the right progression

36. REFERENCES:
1. Gambetta, Vern: Gambetta Method, a Common sense guide
to functional training for athletic performance
2. Castagna, C., Barbero Alvarez, J. C.: Physiological demands of
an intermittent Futsal-oriented high-intensity test
3. Barbero Alvarez, J.C., et. al.: Match demands of professional
Futsal: a case study
4. Barbero Alvarez, J. C. et. al.: Match analysis and heart rate of
futsal players during competition
5. Fitzgibbon, Shane; Getting to the core:
http://irelandstrengthandconditioning.wordpress.com/2013/
09/27/getting-to-the-core-what-is-core-training-anyway/
6. Kelso, Tom: Core Strength and the Athlete: Keeping It in
Perspective
7. Junge A, Dvorak J: Injury risk of playing football in Futsal
World Cups
8. Rowbottom, David J.: Periodization of Training
9. Arnd Krüger: Periodization or Peaking at the right time
10. Gamble, Paul: Strength and Conditioning for Team Sports:
Sport-Specific Physical Preparation for High Performance