HOW TRAINING TOO HARD CAN WRECK GAME PERFORMANCE

I've just read an article by running specialist Steve Magness, on how trying to prove yourself in training can wreck your game day performance.

This is hugely prevalent in local/amateur footy and I've been through it myself in my younger days.

I'd train the house right down at ridiculous intensity but my on-field performance wouldn't match up with that, plus I was cooked in the back end of every season.

How many times has someone had "the best pre-season's ever" but still can't perform any better come competition time?

There's blokes at every footy club in Australia that this happens to.

Here's a summary of the article that I'm sure you can relate to in some form or fashion.

- Getting fir is easy but expressing that fitness is not

- If you are sufficiently motivated than it's very easy to train yourself into the ground

- If you train at a high standard but your competition form is down then you need to find out why that is (overtraining 1 trait and neglecting others, overtraining in general, wasting/using all your mental/physical energy for training, nutritional/lifestyle deficiencies etc)

- Often you'll be dealing with the insecurity of poor, or self perceived poor performances by proving yourself on the track to make up for it so every training session represents a test

-  When this happens the goal has now shifted from being prepared for competition to feeding your need to know that you're ready for competition and you're physically and mentally cooked far too early

- After these training sessions in your mind you're fit but subconsciously you've accomplished your goal but it's not the right goal and you'll forever be a great trainer, but an average player

- This insecurity comes from a lack of trust in the plan an a lack of trust in the process

I get 4 - 5 gems from Steve Magness each year I reckon and you can find this article here.

My recommendations for footy based the above:

- Use 1 short speed exercise (20m - 30m sprint, flying 10m sprint etc) and 1 aerobic exercise (6min time trial, resting heart rate etc)to gauge your progress through the training period.

- Test them as various times of the year to gauge progress

- If at any time you see a decrease in performance of these testing exercises, then you need to make an alteration to your training as these tests will be correlating heavily with your on-field output so everything else is secondary - yes even those 3 bench press and bicep curl days.

- Find a training plan that you "believe in" and trust, and bloody stick to it

- Draft Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid