City's training a 'shocker'
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA -- London Free Press
They look like rudimentary implements of torture -- bungee cords tied to tires and fences, harnesses, cone-shaped objects with a variety of other things attached, a treadmill with bungee cords.
The man who operates these implements is 52-year-old Steve Bozso, who operates Istvan Timewarp (his training business), is a personal trainer, a soon-to-be former tobacco farmer and someone who has been given a lot of credit for London City's good start this season.
He's introduced the Canadian Professional Soccer League team to plyometrics, a training system meant to focus on improving the particular skills and athlete needs for his sport.
"It's based on shocking the muscle," he said. "It recruits all the various muscle fibres. For example, when you do work at 60 per cent of what you are capable of, you are recruiting only slow-twitch muscle fibres. Once you hit higher than that, you start to recruit 70 or 75 per cent. Then you use fast-twitch muscle fibres.
"That's what we want to incorporate. We want fast reaction. That's when you hit really hard and recruit all the muscle fibres. What they believe is when the muscle is shocked, the messages from the brain through nervous system to the muscle, the speed gets enhanced. Your brain can fire the muscle much quicker by shocking it."
Soccer is a game of conditioning, quick starts and stops, balance and the ability to jump. Proper plyometrics training emphasizes those skills. That's why all the equipment is designed with a view to improving power and explosiveness.
"I would like to have these guys for two hours, twice a week," Bozso said. "But our schedule is very prohibitive. We do this once a week for an hour and a half. It's very intense training. We need to give them 48 hours of recovery time because it stresses the central nervous system quite a bit."
At one time a soccer team's training consisted of stretching and a lot of running. The sport has lagged behind other sports in advanced training techniques. Teams are recognizing the need for improvement since far more demands are made on soccer players now than in years past.
Bozso began developing his methods in 1998 with his son's youth soccer team. He has since upgraded his coaching certificate.
"During that time, I've built up all this equipment and realized I had a product that worked," said Bozso. "I approached Harry (City coach and manager Harry Gauss) and talked to him about it and he was very enthusiastic. He was fully aware of speed and quickness training. I don't know why, but he was. He gave me an opportunity to train the team."
Gauss said his team is fitter than the other CPSL teams.
"I had never worked at a professional level," Bozso said. "It was scary coming here initially. I found out these are exceptional athletes. I've never worked with a bunch of people that are this talented and this motivated. They push them themselves hard. It's taken me to a higher level."
Bozso is in the middle of a career change.
"Tobacco farming is tough," he said. "I'm in the process of turning the barn into a gymnasium. This is something I'm good at. And it works. No ifs, ands or buts."
Especially from London City.
