HOW TO APPROACH THE PRE-XMAS TRAINING BLOCK PART 2

#6 - Make Your Low Intensity Running High Quality

For 90 - 95% of your training you want to actually train below the speed of the game and above the speed of the game. Above the speed of the game is taken care of with the sprints from the previous point and let's look at below the speed of the game. Training at game speed doesn't really do anything for you but it's what 99% of teams do. It's too fast to get true aerobic benefits from and too slow to get any speed benefits from. Do not mistake fatigue for high quality training. That's high fatiguing which is not the same at all. You could use boring pace running drills which no one really wants to do (even though they should) so using tempo runs here is a good option where you run a distance of about 70m at a 60% pace of your sprint with the focus being on using a solid technique (watch a sprinter in slow motion to see what i mean). You'd cover the distance in about 12 - 15secs, not fast at all, do a quick something else after it (handball/kicks, core exercise etc) for another 30secs, then run back x 6 - 10 sets. Keep everything "easy" where everyone should be allowed to go at their 60%, not someone else's.

#7 - Skill Work Conditioning

You could do 1 giant step further from #6 and use skill drill conditioning where you'd stay with the 60% pace rule and use small groups (3 - 5) to perform mini-skill drills so you now kill 2 birds with the 1 stone which will hopefully get more blokes training earlier and continue to train later because the absence of mind numbing running. I'd rather get more blokes do a moderate to high amount of training then less blokes get a high amount of training - compliance is critical at local/amateur level.

#8 - Profile Your Players

Look a lot of extra work potentially here but you need to know what you're working with before you can develop a game plan. Developing little player profiles on their perceived strengths/weaknesses, peer perceived strengths/weaknesses, footy goals etc can assist you in identifying any specific needs players may need to fulfil their potential. This interest shown by the coach on a personal level can also build trust between player and coach as well.

#9 - Psychological Fatigue Can Be More Detrimental Than Physiological Fatigue

This piggy backs off #4 decision making from earlier. We've all played in games where we've been chasing all day and the perceived hardness of that game was as high as you've ever had. Then we've had those games where we simply run on air and everything goes swimmingly and we feel fresh as a daisy post game and wished we had another 2 quarters to play. The thing is you might have actually ran further in the perceived easier game. By training decision making throughout the pre-season, it will take a less psychological toll on your players, thus their time to fatigue will be greater.

#10 - Build Trust In Your Playing Group From Day 1

The more I think about it, the more I'm coming around that trust is what makes or beak teams. When there is trust then there is everyone pulling in the same direction, they stick to the plan without going outside it and players are playing for far more then just themselves. Don't be mistaken, trust isn't bonding although they can go hand in hand. Using trust based exercises can help built unity within the group and think outside the lines here too.

#11 - Train Like The Teams You Want to Be

We've all got aspirations to win Grand Finals, which means for relegation leagues like mine, you'd go up a division if you were to do that. So if you want to become a division 1 team then you better be training like a division team and preparing like a division 1 team. Winning a Grand Final is never pointless but the next might be if you were to be non-competitive in the upper grade for you to drop right back down again. For lower teams, this might be even preparing would, or training like they would in regards to quality, professionalism etc. Shitty teams don't just get better out of nowhere.

#12 - Who Needs Learning and Who Needs Practice?

The better players tend to dominate training at local/amateur level which is fine but what that means is that the lesser players essentially get less touches then the good players which should really be switched around if anything. Let's break this down further. Learning is acquiring new skills. Practice is repeating already acquired skills. These are 2 very different groups with very different needs so I suggest you make this part of your player profiling and run 2 different groups at the same time.

#13 - Lots of Touched For Every Player

Piggybacking off the last group where some players get heaps of touches and others barely get 5, that needs to be evened up. I know it;s easier to do 1 drill for everyone but it suits maybe 5 - 10 players perfectly and the rest get under/over stimulated, making close to a waste of time. Your options are to run the same drills but split your group into your top 20/bottom 20 or run an easy and hard version of the same drill at the same time. FYI, cone drills are best learning players and decision making drills best  for practice players.

#14 - Practice The Odd Skills of Footy

We think of acing footy training by whizzing the ball from cone to cone, not touching the ground and everything is sweet but let's be honest - we're local/amateur footballers. What game has any of us played where that has happened? Most of the times we don't have leads coming straight at us unimpeded. Most of the time we have to pick the ball up off the ground, not be able to stand there and take an uncontested mark. With opposition comes a decrease in time so we need to get the ball to point A, with precision, in 1 - 2secs. I think it's worth developing drills that different leading patterns that require different kicks than normal, deliberate ground ball drills and low and hard kicking drills. Even the age old drill of kicking on your opposite foot should still be used and it's in these circumstances during a game, where pulling these types of things off will win the big games.

HOW TO APPROACH THE PRE-XMAS TRAINING BLOCK PART 1

Team training is due to start back up in the coming weeks so it's the perfect time for this post.

The money involved in local/amateur footy is as high as it's ever been making the stakes for success even higher, as you want those player payments going to good use.

The player point system also means that the more players you bring in, the more you need to develop your "home grown" talent as there's only so many 3 - 5 point players you can slide in 1 team of 22 players.

This all means that your team training sessions need to be as close to perfect as they can.

Essentially you'll have about 8 sessions pre-Xmas and then another 20 sessions post-Xmas before your 1st practice match.

Let's say most players complete 75% of those sessions and we're looking at 21 total sessions before the main stuff.

21 exposures to training be ready for competitive football.

That's not a hellva lot really to be honest so you need to nail every single training session you have and not waste any sessions at all, especially if you have require a lot improvement from 2018 and/or need to incorporate a lot of new faces into the team.

Here's some pointers of how to structure your pre-Xmas training to "get the most from the least", which should always be your aim considering all your players have to work etc.

#1 - Determine What You Want Your Players and/or Team To Achieve In This Block

Are you training them to be able to train post-Xmas? Do you want them to gain fitness? Improved skill level? Bonding with new players? All of these options? How much exposure to each option would you like players to have?

#2 - Work Back From Your Last Pre-Xmas Session

Like any goal setting exercise, you start at the end goal and work back, especially as we have time constraints to fit things into. Through this exercise you start with priority 1, ad work it back through the 8 sessions, then priority 2 and so on. This will be the first exposure to you getting rid of excess training that really doesn't need to be in there which is essential at local/amateur level where resources (physical/psychological) are limited and is probably the number q factor in setting up your in-season training later on when weather, player availability and all those things rear their ugly heads.

#3 - Introduce Decision Making/Chaos Drills

There are no cones on the footy field so the sooner you can introduce drills without cones and make players think for themselves, the sooner they can start learning decision making. Start your training block with high cone/low decision making/chaos drills then swing to low cone/high decision making/chaos drills by the end of the block.

#4 - Have High Success With Cone Drills and Moderate Success With Decision Making/Chaos Drills

Having a high success rate at cone drills looks amazing but is far away from what happens on game day. Cone drills can be used to reinforce efficient skill levels and build confidence but it will not transfer over to game day because as Mike Tyson once said - everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Once your players become proficient at decision making fora particular goal, then you need to change the goal posts a little to build on that learning again and again and again. In this block it might be as simple as small sided games with less players and then progressing to more players which condenses the playing field more and increases pressure. Failing at decision making/chaos drills is fine as long as you can see the decision making process players are trying to go with.

#5 - Start Speed Training Immediately

Speed is the most important commodity in team sports and takes the longest to develop especially if  you don't have it abundance naturally. Speed is also a skill so it needs to be practiced so coordination of the limbs can occur at high speeds - this doesn't just happen automatically for a lot of us who don't sprint all year round. Obviously you can't full tilt into 100m sprints so work your way up from a starting point of 10m to 20, maybe 30m in this block and hit max velocity type training (contact times to be precise) with extensive plyometrics which are low level plyometric exercises performed for 20 - 30m per set x 6 - 10 exercises. You'll be able to build back some of your top end speed, without sprinting, without the soreness that follows and without the injury risk while also decreasing injury risk all at the same time - the most from the least.

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 15 (LAST ONE FINALLY)

- Strength and endurance retain their adaptations for the longest so develop them first and than focus on the shorter residuals while these 2 remain elevated...if a specific quality has previously been trained extensively then it will be regained more rapidly than if it has not been trained previously which is important when it comes to peaking everything at the same time

- Create freedom for players because when we all started to learn in the backyard there were no rules and no instructions so you could try anything you wanted to which provided an open environment and you only sought help when necessary...set up training games to replicate this where you get extra points for doing the mercurial such as goals from the boundary, pack marks etc

- Progress from walk/run grids to jog/run grids to long tempo runs to in and outs sprints @ 80% to in and out sprints at 90% to in and out sprints at 100%

- Only count the reps that involve the recruitment of high threshold motor unit’s while bar speed is slow which are called stimulating reps, aiming for 4 – 6 reps/workout

- Cone Stack Drill x 4 - 5 cones to stack on the home cone up and back against a teammate

- Warm up: you can and need to force adaptability right from the start of the session with no warm up being the same...you can vary your warm ups through providing a time frame per session to warm up in (individually or as a team), perform all different exercises then the last session, explore movement bandwidths by doing your regular exercises but over greater ranges of motion/different speeds/different stances and choosing 1 player to do the warm up and everyone does what they do

- Energy systems: rebound training day options are tempo running, cardiac output training and tempo lifting...stimulation training day options are high resistance intervals, high intensity continuous training, alactic intervals, explosive repeats, aerobic plyometrics and strongman training...development training day options are extensive intervals, threshold training and cardiac power intervals

If you want to know more about any of these points I've brought up during this series then hit me up on the Facebook page.

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 14

-Follow the system of plus, minus and equal where every athlete needs someone better then them to learn from, someone not as good as them so they can teach them and someone equal to them to challenge them

- For fast fitness do 4/5/6/6/7/4 x 30secs, 4mins rest x 3/week x 2 weeks

- Michael drach exercises

- Seasonal training concepts: micro loading sprints x 2/week @ 92% max velocity x 32 sessions...extensive long runs x 1/week @ 120 max aerobic speed x 8 – 12 sessions...supramaximal strength x 1 – 3/month @ 102% rep max x 6 – 8 sessions...recuperation tempo intervals x 1/week @ 60% max velocity x 24 sessions...potentiation warm up x 2/week pre-training/games x 40 sessions...vegetative sessions x 3 – 4/week @ 50% effort x 180 sessions...1 pool session/week helps with the aches and pains of competition and 2/week shows up on fitness tests providing land training is maintained...vo2max matters for repeat speed ability...microdose all elements of sprinting

- Hypertrophy training for 6 weeks on and 3 weeks off produced the same muscle growth over 6 months as consistent training did with the rate of gains being at its highest after the 3 week rest period

- Movement transition speed method #1 - individually challenge the athletes with a greater set of different movement types in a single practice with a progressive increase in randomness...method #2 - force athletes to directly switch from 1 movement to the next without having buffer zones in between movements

- Max aerobic speed intervals do 15:15 @ 120% or 20:10 @ 100%...do tempo running within speed blocks...use max aerobic speed early in preparation phase while intensity/volume of skill work are low then in specific prep blocks use it a pre-fatigue skill method

·      

      - Local/amateur training x 2 – 3/week: week 1 – Monday x tactical, Tuesday x energy systems 11v11/8v8 3 x 10mins etc, Thursday x tactical, Saturday no game but energy systems again...week 2 – Monday x tactical, Tuesday energy systems 3 x 11mins, Thursday x tactical, Saturday x friendly game...week 3 – Mon x tactical, Tuesday x energy systems 7v7/5v5 4 x 5mins, Thursday x tactical, Saturday x friendly game...week 4 – Monday x tactical, Tuesday x friendly game + energy systems 7v7/5v5 4 x 4.5mins split into 2 groups and run each option at the same time...week 5 – Mon x tactical, Tuesday x energy systems 4v4/3v3 6 x 1min with 2mins rest x 2 rounds, Thursday x tactical, Saturday x friendly game...week 6 – Monday x tactical, Tuesday x energy system 4v4/3v3 6 x 1min with 90secs rest x 2 rounds, Thursday x tactical, Saturday is 1st game

      - Train the best players together at various times to build synergy/flow

      - Your body seems to remember the last thing you did in your previous session going into your next session so finish gym sessions with plyometrics and/or high rep/rhythmic explosive work

      - For decision making where there is plenty of data for persuasion but it won’t get the job done as decision making is emotional and not logical which is where trusting in your teammates comes in (i.e players that only pass it to your mates/good players etc)

     

      - Give players a problem and encouraged to solve it for themselves where the process is critically important

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 13

- Doing jump squats at a load equal to your bodyweight (bodyweight + bodyweight load) produces only 16% less force then a 1 rep max attempt

- 6 - 10 x 30secs sprints with 3 minutes rest improves muscle oxidative capacity and performance

- Explosive contractions x 1 second are an easier and less a tiring way of increasing strength...3 second contractions are considered sustained contractions and are best for increasing muscle mass...do 40 contractions x 3 per week x 3 months

- The fear and recoil test is holding a swissball, closing your eyes and bouncing yourself off the ball and back up onto your feet...by exposing your body to fear such as height, flight, speed, darkness and falling, you can unleash your potential automatically...can also do by falling backwards into other people's arms

- Use block training to hit new personal best’s then conjugate training to realise your new maximum output and put new pb’s into action

- Potentiate everything

- Portable power jumper program

- If you improve strength without a subsequent improvement in coordination then performance will decrease

- Single response hieden over low hurdle progressing to band resisted and add a vertical element to lateral movement

- Low step drop heiden trains power in the frontal (side to side) plane...land on a single leg...sit back on the hip upon landing

- Low depth drop to low lateral hurdle jump planned then have a coach call out which way to jump upon contact

- To assess carbon dioxide tolerance do the max exhale test...is a direct indicator of psycho-emotional load...do 3 full breathes then exhale as slow and long as possible timing your maximum exhalation time

- Perception is the ability to perceive pertinent information and put that into an action, quickly and accurately and is the most important aspect of sport success so use shadowing and command drills

- When designing drills you want human stimulus, varied number of athletes, 360 degree environment (curvilinear, backwards, rotational, angled etc)...sets to last 2 – 5secs with the odd longer drill...will work better with a sport specific element (ball, positions etc)...manipulate time and space every rep...keep score to increase anxiety/pressure...embrace mistakes which is a good thing as the environment is challenging...manipulation of constraints are drills where you must evade someone coming from different angles and/or receive the ball from different angles/ways, having to evade someone coming from somewhere you can’t see and receiving the ball from varying distances...reactive cone drills are performed with 2 – 4 cones set up and you and a partner start in the middle and react to each other and race to the cone where you start in stationary, push up, side step in, run in etc positions...3-player chase sprints is where the middle player starts in front and then has to go with either of the outside players who go at the same time...in the gym start lifts from a clap/whistle to simulate a block start with reaction time

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 12

- Align hips: supine stick between knees 5 x 5secs squeezing upon exhale...ball between knee 5 x 5secs squeezing upon exhalation

- Aerobic threshold program

- Force-velocity training: if force deficient aim for slower bar speeds x .6 - .65m/s @ 80%...if velocity deficient than aim for faster bar speeds x .9 - .95m/s @ 60%

- Frontal plane stiffness/power/change of direction: drop off a low step from a single leg hip flexion stance into a lateral step and then into a single leg high knee hip flexion jump

- Force-velocity profile assessment

- Take off velocity: after he determined he had enough speed-strength/strength-speed through force-velocity profiling, he needed to improve contraction speed and increasing power/jump heights while attempting to minimise countermovements by teaching the muscles to fire faster without relying on large ranges of motion = higher impulse...single leg romanian deadlift isometric pulling into pins x 5secs / band assisted alternate lunge jump x 3 / vertical jump x 3 / 12" depth jump x 5

- Agility: assess by looking at shoulder dip, a not wide enough stance, too high or poor angles and  train with tennis ball retrieve, low step side to side on/off steps, catch and throw medicine ball while changing direction

- If you’re too sore from the last session then repeat it to give your body a chance to recognise and adapt to it and soreness will often be gone by the next session

- Lactate retention program

- Game conditioning doing 60secs on/120secs off @ 8rpe via pick up and handball in a group of 2 – 3 over 2 – 3m, roll pick up handball, kick etc

- Test aerobic qualities in week 2 because you get huge improvements very quickly with initial sessions

- Absorb, load, redirect with high depth drop into lateral step then progress to depth jump into lateral step

- Altitude drop: drop off a step in a single leg hip flexion stance then pull the stance leg up and push them hard into the ground upon landing x 5 – 10/day

- Lateral speed: contrast hand held sled side shuffle with bodyweight side shuffle

- Repeat speed program

- Utilse colors and verbal cues such as heiden jumps to a red, orange or yellow cone on command...try this with handball/kicking drills

- Agility shadow

- Train to learn...train to train...train to compete...compete to win

- Halterer Broad Jump are great for directing force horizontally so do 2 – 3 x 2 – 4 single reps/set

- Isometrics: wekks 1/2 – neural/isometric based, week 3 – structure based (normal up and down training), weeks 4/5 – neural/isometric based, week 6 – structure based...neural driven athletes have the best gains from isometrics

- Small sided games: 11v11, 8v8, 7v7, 6v6, 5v5, 4v4, 3v3

- High performance recovery training sessions start with a mindset that you’re in recovery in the first place...recovery breathing x 5 – 10mins doing 4 point prone / supine 2 arm pullover with feet on box / forearm plank with lower body on floor 2 – 3 x 5sec breathes each

OFF-SEASON RUNNING TRAINING

Yesterday we looked at off-season gym training and today we  look at running.

Here are some suggestions for your running training.

- The base of all endurance qualities is aerobic capacity and without you'll struggle to build any meaningful endurance...ever. If you want to ace a time trial, you need great aerobic capacity. If you want to ace the repeat speed test, you need great aerobic capacity. And if you want to be as fast in the last quarter as you are in the first, then you need great aerobic capacity. To build it we're looking at long and slow training of any sort (bike, running, swimming, circuit training etc) for at least 20mins. Also be aware that doing a lot of shorter aerobic capacity sessions can work just as well as 2 longer one's. Not ideal but beats the boredom.

- My suggestion when starting to run again is tempo runs which are 75 - 100m sets performed at 60 - 70% pace where you should aim to use a technique that is "high in the hips", heels staying off the ground, and solid front side mechanics (foot/knee lift, ground strike etc).

- Look to cover 300, 400, 500m over 3 weeks with these, nothing outrageous.

- I really need to hammer home the low intensity level of this type of training as you want to stay in the aerobic zone or you're no longer training aerobically, sorta the aim here. You should be able to literally talk the entire time and if you can't then it means you're working too hard and your now needing to take in extra oxygen to get the job done. Slow.The.Fuck.Down. You'll have a light sweat and you should be able to do a 15 - 20mins session of this everyday if you wanted to. It's not how you go for a normal run by any means but it's far more effective.

- Speed training wise do 1 week of 10, 20 and 30m accelerations over 3 weeks before hitting top speed. Use a variety of positions going from low to high meaning from on the ground to fully upright, as well as short to long, over the course of each session.

- You probably don't want to go more then 100m/session for week 1, 125m for week 2 and 150m for week 3.

A sample week 1 session might look like this:

1 - Prone Start 2 x 10m, 1min rest
2 - Push Up Hold Start 2 x 10m, 1min rest
3 - Sprinter Start 2 x 10m, 2mins rest
4 - Standing Start 2 x 10m, 2mins rest

OFF-SEASON GYM TRAINING

Most of us are 4 - 6 weeks away from team pre-season training starting up and we're looking to get some extra work in between now and then.

Here are some suggestions for your gym training.

- Work back from your end goal whether that is time dependant or ongoing

- Start with 2 weeks of prep/training-to-train work with no real instructions but to get some easy work in. Personally I do the 1 x 20 program which is exactly that - 1 set of 20 reps for about 15 exercises per session using the same exercises each session or alternating 2 different sessions, staying well away from failure. You might reach something close to failure over the course of this 2 weeks though. 

- Follow that with some form of testing, usually strength testing for a 3 -5 rep max (there's never a reason a footy player needs to do a 1rm - that's for powerlifters).

- Whatever program you follow, it should include a max strength portion (3 - 5 reps) a secondary strength section and then some bodybuilding stuff at the end, just to make you feel nice and giddy.

- For max strength training the easiest way to do it is to to work up in weight over 4 sets to a max set (load or reps) plus an optional back off set. Exercise selection wise we're looking at the big barbell lifts like bench press, military press, squats, deadlifts and you could also throw chin ups (palms facing you)/pull ups (palms facing away from you) as well. You only need to hit these exercise probably 1/week.

- The secondary strength section is the dumbbell or machine variations of the above lifts like db bench press, db shoulder press, pulldowns, rows and single leg exercises. Do 2 - 3 sets of these per exercise.

- The last bit can be used for your isolation and/or higher rep exercises like shoulder raises, glute exercises, arm exercise and core exercises. you only need 1 - 2 sets of these exercises.

- As a general rule I like to see more lower body exercises than upper body and personally I only use upper body training for something to do between leg training days. If you have squats then 8 upper body exercises then you're not to training to increase football that's for sure - priorities people!

- Instead of of doing 12 set of an exercise, sitting on Facebook for 3mins and repeating for 3hrs, pair your exercises up. I know it can be a bastard in a crowded gym (well I don't really as I haven't been in 1 for 15 years), but pairing your lower and upper body exercises increases workout density, work capacity and thus overall fitness and maintains a high quality of work in a nice little amount of time.

- Use fillers as well which is an exercises for mobility/stability purposes (this could be your core work, ankle mobility etc) or even low level extensive plyometric exercises like line jumps, lateral line jumps and ankle jumps. 

Here's a sample session:

1A - Trap Bar Deadlifts x 54333 reps, increase the weight for 4 sets then do set 5 at set 3's load

1B - Jump Squats 4 x 5

1C - Hip Lock 4 x 5 - 8/leg

2A - DB Bench Press 3 x 6 - 8 reps

2B - Reverse Lunge 3 x 5/leg

2C - Ankle Jumps 3 x 20

3A - Band Hip Thrust 1 x Max Reps

3B - Lateral Raise 1 x Max Reps

3C - Tricep Pushdown 1 x Max Reps

3D - Weighted Sit Up 1 x Max Reps

Day 2 might be:

1's - Bench Press / Chin Ups / Lateral Ankle Jumps

2's - Goblet Squat / Dumbbell Chest Supported Row / Pallof Press

3's - Reverse Hyperextension / Rear Delt Raise / Hammer Curl / Reverse Crunch

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 11

- Supramaximal triphasic training 10 week set up: supramaximal loading is 120% of 1rm or less...weeks 1/2 @ 105 – 120% eccentric with day 1 being 115 - 120%, day 3 being 105 - 110% and day 2 being a traditional reps day @ 90%...week 3 x deload...weeks 4/5 x isometric at the same %'s...week 6 x deload...weeks 7/8 is tradiaitonal reps @ 80 - 90% (day 1 x 75-80%/ day 2 x 85-90%)...week 9/10 traditional reps @ 55 – 80% (day 1 x 55-62%/day 2 x 65-72%) with accommodating resistance

- Supramax triphasic training 6 week set up: weeks 1/2 x eccentric @ 115 - 120% + 105 - 110%...weeks 3/4 x isometrics @ 115-120%/105-110%...week 5 x traditional reps @ 55 - 62%/65 - 72% with accommodating resistance...put in a french contrast (lift/jump/weighted jump/assisted jump)...can use clusters or potentiation clusters

- Supramaximal triphasic training modified 3 day set up uses a stimulation day for day 1 @ submaximal 60-80% contrast with an extensive plyometric jump

- If you have knee issues try under/behind knee banded squats

- Reactive speed index test do 6 – 10 rebound jumps and take the 5 best

– Maintenance training loads seek to neither develop nor express a power/capacity but function to remove fatigue so adaptation reserves can be used elsewhere...stimulating loads concentrate on either acute/chronic training potentiation...stabilising loads focus on spending time training a recently developed level so you can display that quality more consistently and with consistency comes mastery through general, special and specific work capacity...adaptive loads takes you to the edge so you must be observed closely and such loads should be used for those who have mastered technique initially

- To change your body's direction you actually need to be able to change the direction of your force output...try single rep hiedens to forward single leg low box jumps where lateral force is absorbed and transferred into linear output which is far better then a wobble board or cushion for proprioception

- At Greater Western Sydney the players are given 4 weeks to hit a target in the gym in terms of strength numbers...uses parallel loading so high running/high gym weeks are done together so a full deload can be used

- Motor learning transfer option 1 is block training where you train all reps for 1 exercise before moving to exercisde 2, 3 etc but learning takes place on the 1^st rep and decreases each rep after...option 2 is random unpredictable order or exercise...option 3 is serial schedule of practice which promotes moderate amounts of contectual interference where you do 1 rep of each exercise in a series of rounds...systematic increases in contectual interference is a session of block, serial then random...block is not as good as random when it comes to retention/transfer where serial is best...try doing block into blocks of random into completely random practice for highest transfer

- Medicine throw ball exercises: drop overhead scoop, drop shoulder press throw, rebound rotation, split stance catch and overhead slam, half kneeling overhead catch and slam, tall kneeling overhead catch and slam

- For deceleration do a sprint/decelerate and stop drill someone calls out when to stop progressing to change of direction by calling out which way to go after that

- Neural perplexity drills include running/running with a ball/running with ball + easy math question...could do with stationary handball/kicking drills...also try ladder drills with a tennis ball being passed around the waist simultaneously...ideally you want hands, feet and cognitive all working at the same time...best placed in the rest periods of speed drills

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 10

- Lateral squat progression is cossack sq, lateral lunge, kbox lateral squat, band resisted lateral drive, band resisted heiden (in/stick landing/out), band resisted repeated heiden (in/out/in), 45 degree lateral box bounds while adding conventional lateral bounds throughout the full progression...assess through looking at contact time as well distance bounded out

 - Do supramaximal knee work on its own 1/week and then supramaximal knee/ankle work 1/week in the same session taking 4 weeks to progress through the time under tension variations until you've completed a good 8 week block of supramaximal loading...perform low vol (3 x 3/leg etc)...do calf isometrics from a seated position to replicate acceleration position

- High velocity potentiation clusters

- For max strength do 2sec isometrics/day/exercise

- For mass do 1 set of max reps @ 20% before doing 3 x 8 – 12 which provides more growth then 3 x 12 on it’s own an also greater strength gains

- 10 week rest-pause program: start at 70% or 10rm...10 - 20secs between mini-sets...week 1 – 70% x 10/4/1 + 60% x 12/4/3...week 2 – 75% x 8/3/1 + 62% x 10/4/2...week 3 – 80% x 7/2/1 + 65% x 10/4/2...week 4 – deload...week 5 - 90% x 4/1/1 + 70% x 6/3/2...week 6 – 92% x 5/1/1 + 70% x 10/3/2...week 7 – 95% x 4/1/1 + 72% x 8/3/1...week 8 – deload...week 9 - 97% x 2/1/1 + 75% x 8/4/3...10 – retest

- You can get strong enough by doing 1 x 8 @ 80 – 85% x 2/week

- Strength and endurance retain their adaptations for the longest so develop them 1st and focus on the shorter residuals when these 2 remain elevated...if a specific quality has been trained extensively previously then it will be regained more rapidly than if it has not been trained previously which is important when it comes to peaking everything at the same time

- Only count the reps that involve the recruitment of high threshold motor unit’s while bar speed is slow which are called stimulating reps aiming for 4 – 6 reps/workout

- Isometric mid-thigh pull to be 5 x your bodyweight in newtons and if not then continue getting stronger

- Wave Ladders do 7, 1, 6, 2, 5, 3, 4 reps with 30secs between mini-sets = 28 reps with only 3 – 4mins total rest...rest is the same number of deep breathes as reps you just performed (7 breathes for 7 reps etc)...the highest rep set is followed by the lowest rep set and work into the middle (8/1 etc)...the highest rep set is 70 – 80% of max reps so do not hit failure until the very end...2 – 4 ladder sets/session...for fat loss use a tri-pair e.g. pull up/dip/swing where pull/swing is 10, 2, 9, 3, 8, 4, 7, 5, 6 but dips are 1,9,2,8,3,7,4,6,5...for strength use a 5rm and do 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1 or 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2 and you can do 531 variations if you want @ 7rm...week 1 day 1 do 3 sets, day 2 do 2 sets, week 2 day 1 do 4 sets and day 2 do 2 sets...for mass use a 14rm and do 2, 6, 10, 2, 6, 10, 10, 6, 2, 10, 6, 2 or 10, 2, 6, 10, 2, 6

- Use a 3 day cycle with day 1 being stimulation (moderate volume + low – moderate intensity or low volume/high intensity neural charge) after a rest day...day 2 is development day and is high volume/intensity...day 3 is rebound day where you shift to the recovery zone instead of having a day off...2 cycles/week with the 7th day off off...stimulation options include strength/cardio mix such as cardiac output training, tempo intervals, high resistance intervals + 2 – 3 exercises @ 80 – 90%...development options include lactic training, threshold training, cardiac power intervals x 60 – 90mins...rebound options is 15 – 20mins of low – moderate intensity and/or 1 full body exercise and 2 – 3 assistance lifts

FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF PRE-SEASON 2019 (PROGRAM AND VIDS)

3 days after my last game, a Grand Final win in the over 35's no less, I started up training for the 2019 season.

To be honest I don't really stop training but I do cycle through various phases at different times of the year because no one can train at 100% all year round.

Up until today I've completed 2 general prep phases to essentially "train me to be able to train".

The first phase was a tempo runs to keep the signal of fast leg turnover in my nervous system but not so fast that my CNS needed to be activated at anything more than a moderate level coupled with a purely isometrics program for the upper body.

The second phase was again the same tempo runs but the upper body gym program moved to a 1 x 20 program for 15 - 18 exercises.

The tempo runs performed at the athletics track as always was simply sprint the straights @ 65 - 80% and then walk the bends x 4 - 6 reps.

During the walk rest I also performed an easy hip lock exercise.

In the end I trained 18/21 days with 2 days post 40th birthday/Grand Final bonanza this past weekend (it was bloody tough trying to train off the back of that!)

So today marked the first day of phase which as normal is Triphasic Training, which I've written about countless times before.

Last year I did the potentiation clusters variation of Triphasic Training, programmed within a French Contrast Complex and I'm rolling with it again this year.

A French Contrast Complex is simply a max effort exercises followed by a bodyweight ballistic exercise followed by a weighted ballistic exercises followed by an overspeed exercise.

Here's what it looked like on the board:

My board writing isn't super so here are the details.

- Be Activated Warm Up (nervous system reset for improved movement efficiency)

- Seated Straight Leg Dorsi Flexion x 30secs (ankle and toe dorsi flexion isometric)

- Seated Ankle Circles x 10 (each way circling over the big toe essentially)

- Posterior Tibialis x 12 reps (this small muscle locks down the foot enabling it to talk to the core and the way you set up this exercise also allows you to train the foot through spiralling)

- Step Down Hip Lock x 8 reps (the more I read about it the more I think that this position is THE most important for running efficiency)

- 1 Boom x 8 reps (trains to exert great force into the ground as well as some mechanics)

- Forward Ankle Jumps x 20 (foot stiffness = speed)

Triphasic Training Potentiation Cluster (performed with in a French Contrast)

- Performance Squat x 1 rep with a 6sec eccentric (max effort exercise)

20secs rest

- 3 Step Acceleration (bodyweight ballistic exercise)

20secs rest

- Medicine Ball Projection 3 Step Acceleration (weighted ballistic exercise)

20secs rest

- Band Assisted Jump Squat (overspeed exercise)

All up this took me about 40 - 45mins and wasn't too hard...yet...those max effort squat loads go up pretty quickly.

I've written about many new concepts here so let me know any questions you have on this and how you can use this type of training to enhance your performance for 2019.

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 9

- Haltere long jumps: hold weight plates in each hand...use 4 - 6% bodyweight loading...works through increasing concentric ground reaction force

- for hypertrophy you only 10 sets/week/muscle group for maximum muscle growth...5 sets/week is the minimum...do 4 weeks of 10 sets followed by 2 weeks of 5 sets

- Sprinting isometrics training program

- Swing block method for strength: week 1 do a  5 rep max test...week 2 do 5 x 5 @ 75% of 5rm...week 3 do 5 x 5 @ 82.5% of 5rm...week 4 do 5 x 5 @ 90% of 5rm...week 5 do 8 x 1 @ 90 - 95% with 3 - 4mins rest btw singles...week 6 use a repetition/bodybuilding program...week 7 use a full deload week...week 8 retest 3rm and repeat

- Isometric strength is the type of strength that makes elite sprinters faster then anyone else and is the ability to produce greater isometric force in 1/10th of a sec against an isometric resistance in the hip, knee and ankle joint through both flexion and extension...the Hoffman isometric method – 1 x 10sec max overcoming isometric/exercise in the midrange range of motion or you could work 10secs for the top/middle/bottom of each lift...Inno Sport/Jay Schroder method – extreme isometrics x 5mins with or without breaks...functional  isometrics – isometric push off high pins x 3 – 10secs...can use in French contrast with isometric x 5secs/depth jump over hurdle x 2/speed squat x 3 @ 40%/band assisted jump squat x 3...sprint specific isometrics – Alex Natera style

- Isometric program: weeks 1/2 – neural/isometric based, week 3 – structure based (normal up and down training), weeks 4/5 – neural/isometric based, week 6 – structure based...neural driven athletes have the best gains from isometrics

- 10 Week Triphasic program

- To decrease muscle slack try drop catch band back squat x 3 / high step bottom jump with reset x 3 / band assisted drop squat with reset x 3

·       - jump squats at a load equal to your bodyweight (bodyweight + bodyweight load) produces only 16% less force then a 1 rep max attempt

·        - For bulgarian split squats holding the load on the back leg side provides better vastus lateralis/glute medius/lateral trunk activation

      - Back up track speed sessions the next day with a lower body weights session to go a bit deeper into the motor unit's that may have gone untouched the day before

      - To decrease the golgi tendon organ affect use supramaximal training

·       - If you improve strength without a subsequent improvement in coordination then performance will decrease

      - For legs start with with single leg training, move to 2 leg then go back to single leg for the long term

PLANNING FOR 2019 PART 8

- 1st Step/Foot Overload exercises include low step drop into sprint, low step lateral drop into sprint, low step drop to heiden to sprint, low step drop into lateral sprint, low step lateral drop into split squat landing into sprint and facing sideways low step drop into split squat landing into sprint

- Reactive Strength Index can assess early overreaching as contact time is the 1st thing to go when you fatigue...the 5 jump test tells you how you can display force quickly as well as neuromuscular fatigue...a quad dominant athlete will have good vertical jump and poor 5 jumps where a posterior chain dominant athlete will have the opposite

- Stimulation session: 5 x 4 @ 40% w/ 3mins rest 24hrs pre-competition

- Max strength, or close to, can hang around for ages so focus on technical reserve as choking comes from a loss of technique...strength will be there for you all the time but you can only perform when you have the technique to get the most out of it...create it by dialling in technique so much that you can replicate it in any situation

- When training strength aim to exert the highest possible forces in less than 150ms

- Eccentric progression is general prep phase / slow eccentric / overloaded eccentric / overspeed eccentric / ballistic / competition taper...use a schedule of 2 weeks on/1 week off for the most part

- Swissball pec deck exercise 5 x 1min isometric, 60secs rest x 6/week...start at 20secs and add 5secs every 3rd day then work up to 100secs...squeeze glutes at the same time

- The last rep of a max effort set (3rd rep of a 3rm, 5th rep of a 5rm etc) is the same velocity of a 1rm 

- Range of motion with isometrics: builds stability and motor control in specific ranges of motion, applies force through tissues to promote adaptation and reduces neural guarding that holds back range of motion...find the range of motion that needs to be increased – put the body in the end range of that range of motion – contract the muscles to pull away from that end range then push into further end range of motion through breathing x 5 – 10secs and repeat...if you have capsular or joint restrictions that go beyond neural reflex loops then you might not see immediate change but rather you'll need to repeat multiple times/day to get a change...don't push to pain and work only in the range of motion prior to pain...start with a low relative effort

- Velocity based training: a change of .04m/s is related to a change in strength of 2 – 3%

- For hypertrophy you need to exhaust type 1 fibres first which makes it hard to access type 2 so pre-exhaust them with 1 x max reps @ 20%

- Bench press cns primer: fast seal jack x 3 – 5 / explosive bent over medicine ball throw into floor x 3 – 5  x 2 – 3 sets with 30 – 45secs rest

- Deadlift cns primer: fast jack x 3 – 5 / overhead slam x 3 – 5 / low box depth jump to long jump x 1 x 2 – 3 sets with 30 – 45secs rest

- Squat cns primer: alternate medicine ball side slam x 2 – 3 / depth jump x 1 x 2 – 3 sets with 30 – 45secs rest

- Upper body cns primer: fast jack x 2 – 3 / fast seal jack x 2 – 3 / bent over medicine ball throw x 2- 3 / overhead slam x 2 – 3 x 2 – 3 sets with 30 - 45ecs rest

- Lower body cns primer: rotational medicine ball throw x 2 – 3 / vertical to horizontal jump combo x 1 x 2 – 3 sets with 30 – 45secs rest