Skill Variability

Last week I tried some long jumps at the track I train at when I do sprints.

I've not performed a long jump since year 10 or 12 which at least 20 years ago and it showed with my stuttering approach run up to the pit!

Suffice to say my return to the pit won't win me any medals but it did make me think about skill variability.

Skill variability is the ability to perform a lot of different skills at a pretty good level.

Sprinting is as specific to footy as you can get so let's have a look at what relates to:

• Acceleration
• Max Velocity
• Change of Direction
• Acceleration + Change of Direction
• Max Velocity + Change of Direction
• Change of Direction into Acceleration
• Change of Direction into Max Velocity
• Change of Direction into Change of Direction

This list could go on forever.

Let's now look at what each of these requires as far as strength and fitness qualities are concerned:

Acceleration - high force capabilities, concentric strength, isometric/starting strength, relative strength, mechanics, hip extension strength, coordination

Max Velocity - high velocity capabilities, mechanics, hamstrings strength, muscle/tendon stiffness, coordination, mobility

Change of Direction - high force capabilities, eccentric strength, isometric strength, concentric strength, mechanics, stability, coordination

That's 13 different components you need to perform these movements optimally right there - and that's only the "big rocks".

Footy is as eclectic sport  as there is with it's extremely high active demands and 360 degree nature.

If you train by running slowly in a straight line for the greater part of your pre-season, then how can you expect to improve on the parts of the game that are the most important.

In the Plug-In Fitness Formula for Coaches I'm working on - there will be a chapter on kicking variability which is crucial for local/amateur players.

The ability to perform a variety of kicks is what WILL win you games or lose you games because it's the decision making of those kicks that matter, not the quantity.

It's no secret that the best teams do less work because of skill efficiency and this across the board from underage footy to AFL level.

I have pretty good kick variability myself but I do know that short kicking is not a major part of my repertoire.

Reasons for that might be that I played back for the middle part of my career often being in charge of kick out duties requiring long kicking. In the last 3 years I've played deep forward so any kick that isn't a shot on goal is short in nature to a teammate in a better position.

If I wasn't ale to perform these kicks then I'd often be having lower % shots at goal then we should be and a scoreline of 12.3 is far better then 6.15 (more points but less scoring shots).

When you head out to train in the next 4 or so weeks have a think of where you can slide some variability into your training to make you a more well rounded player.

The Plug In Fitness Formula for Coaches

Let's play a game of I have never.

I have never been a football coach.

I have never needed to also find the time and resources to evaluate my current playing list and identify what my team needs to move forward next season.

I have never needed to find even more time to find and visit potential recruits to add to my current playing list.

I have never been in charge of developing and implementing 9 months of training for 40 - 60 players at one time, with players starting at all different times and all with different strengths and weaknesses.

I have never had a "second job" that takes whatever spare time I have away from my family and friends.

What I have done is run this blog for 7 years.

What I have done is gotten certified in the same qualification that all AFL strength coaches possess (Level 1 S&C ASCA).

What I have done is searched high and low in the last 15 years I've been into all things fitness for the most effective training methods available.

More importantly I've played near on 400 games of local/amateur footy.

I know how we are trained and most importantly what is lacking in our training.

I have relationships with AFL, VFL and TAC coaches so I'm also aware of what they do at the elite level.

I've played under maybe 20 coaches - all with their own strengths and weaknesses in regards to knowledge and implementation.

Out of those 20 coaches I have never come across a coach with anything close to a base level of knowledge on strength and conditioning.

I'll be honest, you probably fall into that boat but that's fine.

How can someone, essentially working a second full time-ish job simply have time to do do all the above, and more?

How can they find the time to educate themselves at a high enough level on everything football?

They can't.

You can't.

But I can help.

And I want to help.

With all the information from above, I have developed a program perfectly suited to local/amateur teams of any grade.

This program is a god-send for coaches at any level football.

The done-for-you program consists of the precise training you can use for your players, in your training sessions, leaving you more time to put into recruiting, tactics and game play stuff.

Here's what you can expect.

All team training sessions all laid out for you from the very first pre-season training season to the very last home and away, or hopefully finals, training session.

All sessions for a Monday and a Wednesday (or whatever nights you have your team train) are all laid out for you.

What to train (speed, aerobic capacity etc), when to train it and how to train it.

The drills used are the most effective and efficient drills specific to the trait required to be developed so you can be assured that your players are getting what they need.

I'm not doing your job - I'm just making it easier.

You will continue to develop tactics and game strategies for your team, I just provide all the conditioning training.

We're talking alactic power, aerobic capacity, aerobic power, alactic capacity, lactic capacity, strength, body composition, player monitoring and more.

You probably don't even know what those terms are but that doesn't matter because I do - and I;ve developed a program that optimally develops all of these over the course of pre-season training.

The entire program is 3 phases:

Phase 1 - Pre-Season Pre-Xmas

Phase 2 - Pre-Season Post-Xmas

Phase 3 - In-Season

Each phase addresses different qualities as they need to be trained in order so you won't get even half the benefits of phase 2 without the foundation built in phase 1.

Teams wait until they reach higher grades to become more professional but my thinking is how far can you go with your current level of professionalism?

If it hasn't worked so far then how will it work all of sudden in 2017?

And if it does work then why wouldn't you already want things like this in place for continued success rather then a go up and come straight back down situation we see each year in relegation leagues?

Block 1 Round Up

I've outsourced my training this off-season to a bloke from the US DJ Williams who does work for the Chicago Blaze Rugby 7's team over there.

It can take me a 2 weeks to make up a training block for myself and with a bit on my plate at the moment I probably wouldn't have the time do it really.

So block 1 was geared towards general physical preparedness and looked like this:

Phase 1 x 2 Weeks - Isometric Focus
Phase 2 x 4 Weeks - Eccentric / Isometric Focus

Phase was a real ball breaker to be honest!

From a man who does most of his work in sets of about 7secs or less, this phase had isometric sets of 2 bloody minutes!!

I tell ya some of the weights I was using was EMBARRASSING.

The good part? 1 minute isometric sets for week 2.

Phase 2 used a bit of Triphasic Training with a 2 weeks of eccentric focus and then 2 weeks of isometric focus but with far shorter duration and thus far greater loading.

For deadlifts I had Sumo Deadlifts where I started with an 8sec eccentric with 45kgs then 1 x 14 @ 65kgs and finished with a 6sec isometric with 60 and 1 x 8 @ 90kgs.

For squats I did Belt Squats where I started with an 8sec eccentric with 45kgs and 1 x 8 @ 65kgs and finished with a 6sec isometric with 55kgs and 1 x 8 @ 110kgs.

In one of the mid season breaks last year I did a cycle of Belt Squats and topped out at 125kgs x 3 which equates to a max of 136. 8 x 110 equates to a max of 143 so we're all good there
 
Phase 2 also introduced a tempo running day to aid recovery and build sprinting mechanics.

Sprinting wise there's need a short acceleration day and a max velocity day with the focus being the MV day. My improvement for these has been excellent from starting at covering 35m in 5.2secs and topping out at 4.73secs with a 4.71sec wind assisted time as well.

Starting block 2 today which is a other 4 weeks and using max effort work in the gym (1 - 3rm type stuff), some weighted jumps and my favourite flying sprints for max velocity where I am to get my fly 10m down to less then 1sec. My personal best is 1.15secs which I'd like to think I can hit in week 1 at least then smash it in the next 3 weeks.

So that's where I'm at.

I've seen a few pre-season starting date notices making the rounds of social media so if you haven't done anything already you better!

Remember I have a sale on for my off-season 5 Week Untouchable Training Program that sits at $250 (down from $400) until Thursday 27th October.

Hit That.

Inside the Untouchable Training Program + 7 Day SALE!

Last week I gave you a look inside the Speccy Challenge I have running over here.

Today it's time to have a look at what the Untouchable Training Program has to offer.

The Untouchable Training Program consists of 3 phases and have been developed as separate programs.

Phase 1 is your off-season training program and with about 4 - 6 weeks until pre-season training starts (we start November 15th), then you better get your skates on1

The aim of phase 1 is to develop a great foundation of strength and aerobic capacity as to build speed and endurance from.

You'll be training 5 - 6 days per week so we're looking at fairly decent frequency here but that's what you want to to while your intensity is low to moderate and you're fitness is not near it's peak.

With a focus on building leg strength, you'll be training legs in the gym 3 - 4 times a week with low volume each session.

If you remember a post on Nat Fyfe I did last year you can see what a dramatic improvement you can get from simply doing this.

Strength is base of speed and endurance.

For speed, increased strength allows to apply more force into the ground, thus propelling your further each step you take.

For endurance, strength will allow you to run harder for longer and will build the injury resiliency you've never had before. The kind that will keep you on the park each and every week.

The extra leg strength will also allow to handle contact and tackles better, especially in contested situations.

At this link you'll be taken to a page I made up that provides you with day 1 of the program.

You have PDF downloads of your training calendar for the week as well of the training program for that day.

On the actual page you have each exercise that has a video and a description detailing exactly how to do it.

In the actual program you get the full 5 weeks of this.

- Phase 1 Training Calendar
- Phase 1 PDF Program Sent Out Weekly
- Phase 1 Video/Instructions Page Sent Out Weekly

You simply turn up and do it.

So here's the deal.

For this week only, til Thursday at 6pm Melbourne Time, this 5 week phase 1 will be available for $250 - til Thursday only!

You'll need to click this Paypal link to get it at this price and as I will be sending these purchases out manually, give me 12hrs max to email it to you.

Send the payment to lange_troy@hotmail and once I get notification of it through to my email I'll send it out.

This price will NEVER be seen again!

How Much Faster am I Already?

In a couple of days I'll have completed week 5 of my off-season training program.

I am working with a strength and conditioning specialist from the US named DJ Williams from Chicago.

He is the strength coach for the Chicago Blaze Rugby 7's team which is how I found him after doing a little research on rugby 7's training after our women's team tore the Olympics a new one!

Anyway we;re about to finish up the GPP block which for the uninitiated stands for general physical preparedness.

This is he first training block one jumps into to "get back into it" and to prepare the body for the rigors of harder training to come.

A few weeks ago I blogged about the f$%k all difference between being fast and slow and showed exactly how time matches up to distance and how even half a second can mean your meters off the pace.

Here's what I've managed to do so far this off-season.

My testing drill is a 35m sprint that we do 3 sets of each week.

The first day I did these my best time was 5.20secs.

That equates to 6.73 meters per second.

My best time last week was 4.71secs which is an improvement of .49 of a second.

That equates to 7.43 meters per second.

So if you put 5.20sec me up against 4.71sec me and we see how far we both can get in 5secs then it's 33.65m to 35m - pretty much a meter and a half in that short span of time.

4.71sec me is getting to a lot more balls before my opposition next year leaving more time to take possession which gives me more time to make a decision then more time to execute on that decision.

My ultimate goal is to hit 8 meters per second which equqtes to a 4.37sec 35m but if I can get a 4.5sec before the start of the season, then that will put me at 7.78 meters per second which then has me covering 38.9 meters in 5secs, a full 5m faster then week 1.

Speed is King!!

Inside the Speccy Challenge

As part of my new site I'm rolling with there is a FREE workout called the Speccy Challenge that you can access in exchange for your email address.

The Speccy Challenge is a workout I've personally done on several occasions to put 10cms on my vertical jump in a single 30 - 40min workout.

I actually Facebooked about it way back on the 30th of June where I registered an 11cm increase in about 20mins.

So here's how it works.

#1 - Sign up for the Speccy Challenge here. Even if you;re on my current list this is a new list that will receive exclusive Untouchable information and offers so you still need to sign up specifically for this.

#2 - You'll be taken to a thank you page that will provide you with a link to go straight to day 1 of the challenge.

#3 - There are 4 daily emails that detail each exercise in the workout which are probably not ones you're familiar with so you can head to the gym and try them out before...

#4 - Day 5 is when you'll receive the full workout where you'll head off and do the businees.

#5 - Once you achieved your 10cms + increase then you head on over the Facebook page and let us all know how you did.

#6 - On 5 you'll receive an early bird special offer for the core off-season program which again you only receive by going through the Speccy Challenge program - yes I want everyone to do the FREE part! The early bird special offer is just under 50% of the regular price and WILL NOT be around for long. The program is 5 weeks long and there's 6 - 7 weeks before pre-season training so now is the time to jump on this.

#7 - There are few follow up emails after that.

So that's the Speccy Challenge in a nutshell so if you want the bragging rights, you want the pats on the backs, you want the Footy Show Almost Footy Legends $50k winners check (easiest $50k in footy!) and you want to be talked about years from now then the Speccy Challenge is waiting for you.

 Head here to start now!