Conditioning

Most coaches agree that conditioning work is a must for summer training. What they don’t agree on is what conditioning is. Conditioning should not be referred to as just aerobic training. If you are a speed and power athlete and you are running mileage, I truly feel bad for you. You are putting yourself at a severe disadvantage and are actually hurting your performance.

Some of our conditioning work focuses on recovery. Thereare so many programs that are just hammering athletes with sprints, speed and agility training, plyos, weights, etc. These modalities should be worked on but there needs to be a structured recovery program in place. You can’t overload the central nervous system day in and day out, recovery is essential. As they say, you don’t get stronger and faster from theworkouts, you get stronger and faster from recovering from the workouts.

What types of conditioning should you do?

I continually stress the importance of general strength circuits. You can work on multiple facets while performing GS circuits. You are working on strengthening, balance, coordination, and aerobic capacity. We use this as a recovery day type of workout.

These workouts are especially great when training younger athletes. General strength circuits help build a greater work capacity, something today’s youth athletes are badly in need of.

Example of a General Strength workout:
Here is an example of a general strength circuit performed on the grass:

Split squats – 10 each leg
Jog 50 yards
Rotational push-ups – 8 each
Jog 50 yards
Bicycles – 1×30
Jog 50 yards
Burpees – 1×10
Jog 50 yards
Staggered push-ups – 10 each
Jog 50 yards
Russian twists – 1×25
Jog 50 yards
Backwards lunges – 10-each leg
Jog 50 yards
Lateral lunges – 10 each leg
Jog 50 yards
Reverse crunches – 1×20
Jog 50 yards
1 Leg squats – 10 each leg
Rest 3 minutes and repeat circuit.

Tempo Running
Extensive Tempo are runs at 65-79% intensity (HR ~140-160). I typically use these runs at 100-600m. The length of these runs are going to be dependant on the demands of the sport.
For the most part, I do not use Extensive tempo runs too often. The old saying ‘train slow to run slow’ could be used here. A problem with extensive tempo is that you can’t work on your running form at all with such slow speeds. The demands of most sports do not require our athletes to run far distances at slow speeds.

The benefit of using extensive tempo runs are they can be used to help flush out the system. If your athletes are feeling tiredfrom previous workouts or even sore, extensive tempo workouts are great for recovery.

We do use them at the beginning of training sometimes tobuild a little base before jumping into intensive tempo workouts.Also this type of workout helps to enhance oxidative mechanisms.
We use extensive tempo with our general strength circuits for the most part. This is where the athlete ‘runs’ from station/exerciseto the next.

Examples of an Extensive Tempo Workout:

1) 2 x 10 x 100m (75% intensity)30′ rest between reps and 2′ between sets
2) 2 x 8 x 200m (70% intensity) 1′ rest between reps and 2′ between sets

Remember, as a speed training coach, your athletes should be able to hit their times and be within their target heart rate. If they aren’t, give them more rest between reps, reduce the volume of the workout or shut the workout down because you are missing the training benefit/goal.

Intensive Tempo
Intensive tempo is usually referred to as interval training. Intensive tempo is running distances over 80 meters at 80-89%intensity. (HR ~160-180). Running intervals for tempo work is also great for conditioning and superior to running long distances.

Because intensive tempo borders on speed and special endurance due to the high intensity, lactate levels can become very high. The athletes body must adapt to handle, buffer and remove the lactate so training in this state is extremely helpful for sports that meet the same demands. Since all energy systems more or less turn on at the same time, intensive tempo is highly stressful on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. It is a great conditioning tool used for most field and court sports.

Examples of an Intensive Tempo Workout:

1) 6 x 200m (82% intensity) 3.5′ recovery between reps
2) 2 x 4 x 250m (86% intensity) 4′ rest between reps and 8′ rest between sets

Progress the intensity of your tempo runs based on your conditioning goals. The ability of athletes to buffer lactate accumulation will determine their success as fatigue levelsrise throughout the course of their game or competition.

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