Weekly Routine
I have gone over the areas that you should be working on in my Lets get startedLet’s Get Started Entry. Let’s look at how you approach working on all of the areas during the course of a week.
Big Picture First
First, consider where you want to be (goal) and when you want to get there. Right now there are about 6 weeks before a potential season start. You definitely want to be in shape and hopefully a little stronger than you are now. Lots to do in a relatively short period of time. You also want to move along at a reasonable pace. By that I mean you don’t want to rush head long into a workout program doing way more than you are capable of. Maybe divide things into 2 week segments ramping up to the final week before your season begins.
Be Safe
As always, before you start any workout program you need to be able to perform. If you are injured consult with your physician and do the PAR-Q form in my first blog entry. I you have any questions, talk to your doctor first.
Action Plan: Okay you have goals, how do you achieve them? List and prioritize those goals. Highest priority gets the most attention, but don’t forget all the different parts of training that I listed in my Let’s Get Started entry. The big 5 are:
· Mobility and Flexibility
· Strength
· SAQ-speed agility and quickness
· Sport specific development
· Energy system development
You need to incorporate all of these areas into the overall plan. You have goals and a framework, now I will help a little. Mobility and flexibility should be done daily. This can be done in the morning and can be separated from other elements or be part of the daily workout.
Strength should be done 3 to 4 days a week.
SAQ should happen a couple of days a week. I like to combine it with other areas. For instance, I will do ladder work with my stick and combine with dodging work. I also use ladders as part of a circuit which includes strength and cardio. I’ll do a set of ladders followed by strength group A then another set of ladders. Then it is on to group B in the strength program and I will finish with one more set of ladders. So, I combine 3 areas in one workout (Strength, SAQ, and energy system).
Sport specific skills is up to you and what you have to work with at home. Here again, wall ball is a big one for the stick skills. Defenders can work on approach and breakdown. Goalies, turn your bounce back on it’s side and fire the ball off of it so it bounces and work on stepping to the ball. You are working on at least 3 areas in all of these suggestions. How often? Daily sounds good, but be realistic. You certainly need to put in consistent work here. For other sports its the same, work on the skills you need to play your position and sport.
Energy system several days a week as in at least 3 days. Lacrosse is a game of bursts. By that I mean we go hard for a few seconds and then we either pass the ball, shoot or get off the field. Your training should prepare you for that. After watching a lot of game clips and recording the amount of time a player has to go hard either on defense or clearing the ball or dodging to shoot or pass, the average is between 8 and 15 seconds. You need to be able to sustain these bouts easily and not be completely gassed at the end. So working hard for 20 to 40 seconds followed by a rest is a goal. Interval training is my choice. Here again, I used lacrosse as the example and other sports have different demand which you need to train for.
Intervals are alternating bouts of hard work followed by rest. I live on a street with street lamps that are evenly spaced and I use them for my intervals. I will run between 2 posts and then walk to the next one and then repeat. Too short, go to 2 sets of posts intervals with a walk to the next one. Vary it from day to day or even within a workout. We also change directions a great deal so you need to do that as well. For instance, run to a light post, stop and hustle back to your starting post. Do a number of interval reps and then rest for 2 to 3 minutes until you are completely recovered. Then you can do another set. I can get a great interval workout in about 30 minutes following this method. Be sure to add a cool down at the end. 5 minutes walking followed by some stretching.
Every now and then add in a longer easy run just to change things up a bit.
Putting it all together: Let’s make some sense of all this information. This just a simple template and you can customize it based on your goals and needs.
Monday: Strength day 1, 10 minutes after of easy interval running, wall ball, cool down and stretch
Tuesday: SAQ with a shot after a dodge or a 5 yard approach to a breakdown for defenseman. Add a round of wall ball
Wednesday: Strength day 2 plus 3 sets of ladders
Thursday: Hit the wall and do a little shooting, and a good energy system workout (20 minutes of intervals)
Friday: Strength day 3 followed by 10 minutes of easy interval work
Saturday: Nice distance run to loosen you up
Sunday: Rest day
Importance of rest: I can’t emphasize this enough. You need to rest. Do not over do things to exhaustion. Yes you want to push yourself, but you also need to listen to your body. If you get up on Thursday feeling completely exhausted from all of the work you have been doing take the day off. You can alter and adjust as needed. Build in rest! You can insert a rest day anywhere you want.
This is only one schedule and you need to design one that fits you. It doesn’t have to be perfect on the first run through. Assess and adjust as you go. After a week or so ask: is this doing what I want it to do? Can I see a difference? What needs to change?
Need some more help? I am here to help you get going and to organize your program.