AthleticSpeed

As tradition goes in sports, particularly speed and power sports, conditioning has been a one way street. This tradition has the athletes usually doing volumes and volumes of long slow runs, long slow movements, snake runs, miles and miles of road running, jogging around the field or track and all disguised under the impression that this will get the athletes’ “endurance” up and they will “get in shape”!

 

Really? Says who? In shape for exactly what…a long slow run or how about a long slow game? If that’s the case then, yeah, they’ll be in perfect shape for everything that’s slow and involves low intensity BUT since we all know that speed and power comes with high levels of intensity, top end speeds and speed endurance and enormous bursts of power and strength then this method of training most certainly will not prepare our athletes for what is expected of them in the coming months. Now, don’t get me wrong, low intensity and starting off any training program slowly is a MUST, especially when beginners are involved and when teaching proper technique and mechanics. So please don’t take this as me saying that low intensity and slow has no place no sports training because it most certainly does and it has a proper place at that! However, what I AM saying is that we must remember that everything in training has a progression in which there is a starting point and a desired end.

 

Now, I’m definitely not advocating that you just go out on the first day of training and hammer it in at 90+ percent intensity! What I am saying is that training can and must begin slowly, at low intensities, for the purpose of teaching, reprogramming, identifying weaknesses and perfecting. However, since we are in the world of speed and power, we eventually will have to progress to faster speeds, more repetitions, heavier workloads and more sets. This line of progression of what makes the difference between coaches with talented athletes and coaches who really teach and believe in athletic growth and development such as myself!

 

Now, when planning to get athletes ‘in shape’ we must remember the above principles of progress which is starting off slow to ensure the proper teaching of mechanics, movement, posture and technique. Once the athlete has mastered those principles then it’s time to move on and apply those basic skills to faster speeds while adding more repetitions and sets. During this phase, what is commonly called the general preparation phase, I like to train speed first all the while improving the athletes work capacity or what is usually referred to as the aerobic base.

 

However, as I said earlier, I do not believe in long slow runs or movements during this phase or any phase for that manner. I am a strong and firm believer in the phrase ‘Long slow runs make long slow runners’! Many coaches and athletes have taken the aerobic base to mean a time of running slow and long, but that is not the case. I used to phrase ‘work capacity’ earlier and it’s the same general preparation phase focused on conditioning but the phrase means the capacity to do work or you can say ‘aerobic capacity’. Either way, it all means the same thing, but with my terminology we’re still focusing on improving endurance, VO2 (oxygen uptake), muscle endurance and speed, but we have come to call all of this ‘work’; improving how much ‘work’ the athlete can do within a certain amount of time before muscle failure and fatigue sets in.

 

During this phase of training, I am following the principles of progression and overloading just like any other phase of training. I am heavily focused on training speed/acceleration, proper mechanics, good posture, good technique and I’m identifying weaknesses within the athlete and structuring strength programs to improve those weaknesses and at the same time perfecting the athletes’ strengths.

 

So, how do you improve aerobic/work capacity: there is a little known fact in the athletic world about what’s known in track and field as ‘circuits’! Circuits are a combination of exercises that are usually done with no weights and spread out over a pre-set distance and time. The easiest way to remember and structure a circuit is by remembering what level your athletes are and then prescribing a number of general strength exercises to correspond with their exercise/athletic level. Circuit exercises are always general strength (as previously noted) exercises and they typically have a resting period of 30 seconds between each exercise; each exercise lasts for either a number of repetitions or a set time (usually 30-90 seconds depending on ability level); and there are usually 2-3 sets of anywhere from 8-15 exercises per circuit. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? I assure you it isn’t and it’s as easy and simple as boiling water!

 

Now that we know circuit training, when properly implemented and designed, will improve aerobic/work capacity we can now structure a circuit to suit the needs and demands of the sport and the athlete. Typically, a circuit will consist of many general strength exercises. The good thing about circuits and what makes them so easy to structure is that they don’t require any particular order of exercises! So it doesn’t matter what order the exercises go in as long as they are challenging the energy system that they are supposed to challenge…simple! A circuit will include low intensity plyometrics, push ups, sit ups, ab exercises, squats, etc and if you really want to make it a challenge, instead of giving 30 seconds rest between exercises just add a good tempo run to really challenge athletes (they’ll hate you for it now, but they’ll thank you later when they experience strength gains and decreases in injuries and prolonged peak phases!). So let’s design one (this circuit will be for intermediate athletes or athletes who have participated in their sport for at least 4 or more years):

 

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Champions Circuit

(it’s fun to come up with a catchy names for circuits)

*instead of a 30 second rest I will add a 75% run between exercises*

 

• 25 push ups

• 50 yard run (make it a good pace; emphasize good form at all times)

• 50 crunches (yeah, my circuits are very challenging!)

• 50 yard run

• 20 prisoner squats

• 50 yard run

• 20 lateral lunges (10 each leg)

• 50 yard run

• 60 seconds jumping rope

• 50 yard run

• 20 lunges (10 each leg)

• 50 yard run

• 50 bicycles (25 each side)

• 50 yard run

• 25 push ups

• 50 yard run

• 20 super mans

• 50 yard run

• 20 burpees or rocket jumps (end the circuit with a mental challenge)

• 50 yard run

• Rest 3-4 minutes then repeat

 

Start off doing only 2 sets and then move up to three sets depending on their level of progression. Monitor all exercises and only prescribe 8-10 exercises for developmental athletes. For advanced and beyond athletes, I would prescribe 12-15 exercises and increase the run from 50 yards to 100 yards for a real challenge. Follow this formula and watch the aerobic base improve while making strength gains at the same time.

 

Continue in knowledge my friends!

 

Charone 

 

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