Energy Conservation & Efficiency of Movement in Sport

If you watch Liverpool play in the English Premier League, you may have noticed this year that the team has slowed down some. Not that its players are out of fitness. Rather, they are more composed. It’s intentional, done to conserve energy and embrace efficiency of movement.

As of early March, Liverpool had 37 “slow” attacks and 35 “fast” attacks this season, according to Understat. As Liverpool’s site puts it, “that all-out, all-the-time style has gone.” Jürgen Klopp “has started to adopt the strategy of resting within games.”

The tactic is not a new one. Boxers and swimmers are also trained to look for moments within their bouts or races when they can preserve energy. Now, they not doing this to be lazy. Rather, they’re conserving energy to be able to really pour it on when they need it most.

Basketball’s LeBron James is renowned for having cultivated an ability to rest within a game. He is still playing the same average minutes per perpetual motion NBA game (34 minutes). Yet he is moving smarter. Rather than always running to his next position, he is finding more opportunities to walk. 

When you look at the stats, he comes across as slow. During the 2018 Finals he was the slowest player with an average 3.73 miles per hour on the court, per Second Spectrum tracking. 

He wasn’t happy about the label, but he understood where it was coming from. James ha talked with ESPN about his policy of conserving energy: “It’s not like you’re out there and you’re like, ‘OK, I’m not going to get back on defense here,” he said. “It’s just about picking your spots and having teammates out there who can take a few possessions for you offensively, and you can use all your energy on the defensive side for a few possessions.”

How does efficiency of movement translate to soccer?

Liverpool’s players are applying the same type of efficiency of movement in their 2019-2020 season. liverpool.com noted, “it’s been normal this season to see elongated passages of play with Liverpool knocking the ball back and forth across the pitch, prodding and probing for an opening, rather running at a breakneck pace.” As a result, three Reds are leading the Premier League in touches — Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson. All from the back line.

This rest-while-playing mentality has birthed a different Liverpool team. They are more patient, waiting for the opening, and ready for that next time they need to really go all out. It’s also helped to keep the squad healthier.

To understand efficiency of movement in sport, think about efficiency in anything you do. It’s about doing useful, necessary actions rather than just doing something for the sake of always being moving. 

Simply imagine yourself sprinting alongside Usain Bolt. You wouldn’t get a good look at him running beside you very long. But you can bet that during those milliseconds when you were in line with him, every one of his movements would be contained and controlled. In comparison, you’d look like one of those inflatable people that flail about at a car dealership or new restaurant. He’s learned how to conserve his energy and be efficient in his running. You’ve been focused on being fast.

At Mutiny, what we’re trying to do is encourage our players to control their movements to become more efficient. Sure, we want fast players and athletes who have stamina. But we also want our young squads to increase their abilities to transform their energy into useful work, by becoming more coordinated.

By working together, controlling the pace of play, and distributing the ball well our players can conserve their energy for an explosive counterattack when needed. If they’re not simply running around the field for the sake of looking like they are “working hard,” our players are going to be better able to get where they need to be on the field, quickly and with energy to spare. 

We all have only a finite amount of energy after all. Fitness, nutrition, and sleep will all make a difference. Even breathing more efficiently can have an impact as well. Yet as far as the mental game goes, we’re working to develop soccer players that can be efficient without extra effort. A solid skills foundation is fundamental, but our players will be able to do so much more in a game when they’ve practiced with attention to efficiency of movement and intention to conserve energy.