Physical Preparation Podcast · Mike Robertson

Erica Mulholland on ACL Tears, Overuse Injuries, and Strength Training for Female Soccer Players

·57 min·3 clips

Tim Hewitt’s research claim: year-round strength training one to two times a week can reduce ACL risk by 50%.

1. Physical Preparation Podcast focuses on Erica Mulholland and ACL tears, overuse injuries, and strength training for female soccer players. 2. Mike Robertson hosts the show, and Erica Mulholland is the Tampa, Florida performance coach whose 14 years in strength and conditioning shape the conversation. 3. The episode asks how young female soccer players can reduce ACL and overuse injury risk while improving performance on the pitch. 4. Erica says she works mainly with soccer players, but also lacrosse, field hockey, softball, basketball, volleyball, and track athletes. 5. She explains that she moved from skills work into strength and conditioning after realizing she was adding too much skills training on top of skills training. 6. Erica says she earned her CSCS and master’s in exercise science and has been doing the work for 14 years. 7. Mike says he likes the leverage of educating coaches because one coach can affect 15, 20, or 25 girls each year. 8. Erica says her practice now uses a long-term pathway for parents and athletes instead of a quick speed camp mindset. 9. She describes age-based progression, starting with movement-pattern mastery and later pushing heavier loads for girls age 14 and up. 10. Erica says she presents to athletes and parents at the end of summer to explain why in-season strength training can continue with one to two sessions per week. 11. Erica says ACL injuries happen in up to eight times body weight and forces, which is why she does not want injury prevention reduced to balance drills. 12. She prefers crisp explosive plyos, speed work, and short-duration plyometrics inside warmups instead of separate "adorable little" prevention programs. 13. Mike agrees that injury prevention and performance overlap, using the idea of two circles that overlap in the middle. 14. Erica says the biggest ROI in season is a speed stimulus, mechanics work, mobility, short plyometrics, and heavy strength work with lower volume. 15. She likes hex bar deadlifts, split squats, lunges, hamstring slider curls, stability-ball curls, pull-ups, and eccentric pushups for teenage female athletes. 16. Erica uses timing gates to show athletes that a sprint followed by a jog-back produces worse times and that full rest is needed for real speed work. 17. She says parents often worry when they see athletes resting, so she has to explain the energy-system reason for long recoveries. 18. The conversation stays direct, practical, and coach-to-coach, with Mike and Erica trading examples from soccer, track, and other sports. 19. Coaches and parents of female soccer players will get the most out of this episode. 20. Listeners wanting broad sports psychology or entertainment chatter may skip it.

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