Is the Fitness Work You Do Actually Specific for Football?

My regular readers and anyone who knows me, is well aware of my disdain for long distance running. To me it makes no sense to run slowly for a long time when you never do it for football.

Never.

Ever.

Not if you actually want to touch the football that is.

Last year I caused a minor stir when I posted this:

http://aussierulestraining.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/you-must-train-like-this-in-2012.html

This post will take this a small step further.

The running component for Aussie Rules Football has different requirements then long distance running but they go unnoticed in 99% of the programs I see players do.

The running requirement of football  involve 2 main components:

• Time
• Distance

In Aussie Rules terms, time refers how quick you need to get to the ball, contest or player. Sometimes you have 10secs to get there and sometimes you have 2secs to get there.

Regardless of the time you have to do it in, you have to get there FIRST. Whoever gets there first, gets the ball.

Whoever gets there 2nd is chasing tail.

In Aussie Rules terms, distance is how far you have to run to get where you need to the ball, contest or player. Sometimes you only need to run 100m to get into an attacking position and sometimes you need to only run 5m to get to an attacking position.

Getting back to long distance running, the time is not a big concern so long as you get to the end of the 10km run or whatever you distance you're running.  

Looking at distance, the actual time it takes to cover the distance is usually ignored so long as you again, cover the distance.

Neither of these are anywhere near relevant to football.

So what should you do?

Footy is made up of a lot of sprints over various distances and when I mean sprints, I mean having to get somewhere first which means most of these sprints are performed at at least 90% of your top speed.

So a better idea is to do repeated sprints covering various distances for your off season training, replacing those outdated and joint killing long distance road runs. The AFL doesn't do them anymore so why do you?

Add an element of speed to your running because you need to get quicker. AFL clubs draft players purely because of their speed and it is the reason why interchange bench rotations have gone through the roof, to maintain the speed at which players can run at.

So here's what to do:

1 - Determine what running patterns you use in your games. Do you just run the wings? Do you need to do multiple leads? Do you need to lead and run back towards goal?

2 - The next step is to determine what sort of distances you cover during these running patterns. Yes they will vary but if you break them down into 2 or 3 general distances then that will be more then enough for programming reasons.

Once you have the distances and running patterns determined then you simply need to test your speed for them which will then enable you to set a time range to complete each set in. So if you need to lead up to center half forward then run back towards goals it might be a 150m run with a turn in the middle of it. This would be your set run.

When testing it if you can complete it 30secs then set yourself a range of 32 - 33secs to complete it in and once you can't complete it in that time frame, then the session is over.

Why should I finish the session I hear you ask?

Because you've slowed down to the point where you are no longer going to be first for the ball and any additional training will just be inducing fatigue resulting in greater recovery before you can train again. All it will do is make you better at getting to the ball slowly which you can do in the reserves with no training at all.

So choose 2 or 3 running patterns and train them once each week. Don't set yourself a goal of how many you'll do, just run them as fast as you can and when you can't do them in your time frame, start your warm down.

It's time that amateur footy players started training smarter, not just try and train more or for longer.

Football Specific Exercises

I contribute a fair bit the bigfooty.com forum in the health and fitness area where today a post went up in regards to footy specific so I thought I'd have a go at what my list would consist of.

There's general strength and there's specific strength and for the most part, you'll need general strength before specific strength but the exercises can overlap which you'll soon see.

Kicking

Exercise - Hip Mobility, especially hip extension

Why - Kicking relies mostly on your hip range of motion for 2 reasons. The first one is if you have full hip extension range of motion then it tells me that you have working glutes and adequate joint integrity of all the various muscles that pass through the hip. The second one is that a tight joint is usually a weak joint so if you have good hip mobility, then your strength potential will be greater.

What To Do - Of course you'll need to do some hip flexor stretching but here's a little secret way to do it. In front of a mirror do a hip flexor stretch and note the angle of your thigh in relation to the floor. Next just take a little 'off" the stretch and with the arm of the leg that is in front, perform 5 very slow circles with your arm locked out in each direction then retest and now look at the angle of your thigh which should have decreased (closer to the ground).

Marking

Exercise - Thoracic Spine Extension

Why - If you can think back to the turn of the century there was a bloke called Wayne Carey running around who won games off his own boots and brought a team from close to extinction to perennial finals contenders.   In some circles he is regarded as the greatest player ever and for half of his career he couldn't even really lift his arms above his head. For us mere mortals we need to be able to reach up as high as we can to take contested marks and if you're lacking thoracic spine mobility, especially in extension, then this will not be possible.

What To Do - thoracic spine extensions is easily the best option here placing them in your warm up on each training day and also just do them on your off days.

Sprinting

Exercise - Resisted Sprinting

Why - Most players are tight in the wrong area's and weak in the wrong area's which can make sprinting technique and mechanics sub optimal. Resisted sprinting with a sled, prowler or even hill runs actually trains the muscles responsible for sprinting during the actual sprinting action. You can't get more specific then that.

What To Do - If you have a sled or prowler then attach it to your good self and sprint with it. If not, then the old school hill runs will work just as well. Only perform the sled and prowler sprints x 20 meters maximum as you basically want to improve your hip extension range of motion during acceleration.

Jumping

Exercise - Squats

Why - Squats simulate jumping although it's not quite as specific as resisted sprinting for sprinting speed. For someone that can squat 100kgs, they'll have 100kgs in reserve to jump with during game time so if you can get this to at least 1.5 x your own bodyweight then you should be on your way. Yes plyometrics might be better, but without strength, plyometrics are mostly wasted as you simply won't possess the engine room to optimally benefit from them.

What To Do - Squat in the 1 - 5 rep range bracket @ 80 - 95% intensity and do so with as much explosive intent as you can, even if the actual effort doesn't look explosive.

Tackling

Exercise - Full Contact Twist / Cable Push Pulls

Why - If you can absorb and resist forces when you tackle, they will stick. When you can't do that then the player with the ball will be able to fend you off or simply run through you as your stability is lost once they run into you or you run into them. There are also times when you will be tackled by 2 or more opponents from different angles so you need to absorb multiple forces from anywhere, anytime.

What To Do - For the full contact twists progress from a standing position using the anti rotation principle and progress to using some hip rotation where you start to produce some strong rotational forces once you can stabilise them. For the cable push pulls progress from the standing and push pull action to anchoring a band to something heavy and then wrapping the band around your waist.

Standing Up in Tackles

Why - Easy, once your on the ground you're useless.

What To Do - Deadlift in the 1 - 5 rep range bracket at 80 - 95% intensity and do so with as much explosive intent as you can, even if it doesn't look intensive.

Force Absorption

Why - The more force you can absorb and transfer through the body, the greater output you'll have the potential to produce. The greatest jumpers and sprinters can exert ridiculous amounts of force into the ground with each step and planting action, and coupled with their equally ridiculous force output abilities, result in Usain Bolt like sprint times and Lebron James like leaps. Think of a rubber band, the further you pull it back, the further it goes upon release.

What To Do - Swings with either a dumbbell or kettelbell progressing to assisted eccentric swings where a partner pushes down on the weight at the top just before going into the eccentric contraction.

Prehab

Exercise - Single Leg Variations

Why - Soft tissue injuries are a result of the overuse of secondary muscles for under performing prime movers. Single leg exercises trains all of the leg muscles from toe to hip as now your base of support is smaller and more stabilising muscles are required, a ,ot more then a squat. Also if you can't get to at least parallel during a squat for whatever reason, then single leg exercises should be your go to exercise for legs along with deadlifts.

What To Do - Step Ups, Reverse Lunges, Split Squats, Walking Luinges, Dynamic Lunges, Bulgarian Split Squats, Single Leg Deadlifts and Single Leg Romanian Deadlifts in the 5 - 8 rep range bracket as heavy as you can. 

My Off Season Starts Monday

The title says it all really.

After sitting on this program since July and getting it all organised via a lot of help from co author Ben Peterson, I'm ready to go.

I posted about the program I'm doing earlier in the year here and I can't wait to see how it goes.

For the last month I have been getting back into squats after not doing even 1 rep of a squat since a Smolov cycle I did just over a year ago. Over 2 to 3 weeks I worked up in weight and tested at 125kgs x 1 rep.

Today I did some performance testing with the following results:

I was also anticipating doing a 20 and 40m sprint but the weather was shitty today so I might just leave that out because if my 10m time improves then so will my 20 and 40m time.

So my question to you is how is your off season training going to make you better in 2013?

Why Do I Train The Way I Do?

After a week where I only trained ONCE (haven't done that for as long as I can remember), my off season training starts this week. I just purchased a squat rack from a mate of one of my trainers which we'll assemble tomorrow and then I'll be off and running.

This appeared on the Herald Sun website this week:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/146183/default.aspx 

The focus of my training is not what really everyone focuses on. While 90% of other footy players are just worried about how far they can run, my focus is more on the explosive side of things. 

Not that being able to run all day isn't a requirement of the game but it's 1 small part of the game, not the entire thing.

My focus this off season will primarily be increasing speed, both linear and lateral. As a by product of this I also envision an increase in vertical leap also.

The focus of speed / explosive training is either completely missed or most player's programs or not trained anywhere like it is supposed to be.

Speed training usually looks like a repeated sprint session like10 x 100m with incomplete for example which is not a program geared towards increasing actual speed - as in decreasing your time over a specific distance.

So why is speed and explosiveness so important in Aussie Rules Football?

The main reason is that there are points in the game where you need to be quicker or where you need to be able to jump higher then your opposition. I would place this of great importance, even more so then being able to run all day because you don't need to be everywhere all the time. We have 18 players that each play a position on the ground.

When you need to jump in the ruck or run for a loose ball on the wing it's just you and the opposition - and you need to win. You'll never win the tap if you can;t jump as high and you'll never get to the loose ball first if you can't run as fast.

By increasing speed and explosiveness you give your self a better chance of being a factor at the end of the game then the player who does not. Providing we can all run out a game of footy because we do pre season training and continue to train during the in season then speed and explosiveness is what can set players apart from everyone else.

Lets look at it this way:

Player A can run 40m in 5secs, player B can run 40m in 5.5secs.

Over the course of a game fatigue builds up so each quarter might look like this for a 40m sprint:

1st Quarter: Player A - 5secs / Player B - 5.5secs

2nd Quarter: Player A - 5.25secs / Player B - 5.75secs

3rd Quarter: Player A - 5.5secs / Player B - 6secs

4th Quarter: Player A - 5.75secs / Player B - 6.25secs

By simply being faster, player A is going to win a loose ball contest in all 4 quarters of footy versus his slower opponent, and this is if they both drop off in speed at the same rate. 

The same works for ruckman or tall forwards and backman with vertical leap, whoever has the highest leap at the start of the game will have the higher leap at the end of the game.

You can run all day which is great, but can you run FAST all day?

This is what I program my training to do and it's exactly what it will do for the blokes who have already signed up for the off season training camp starting next week.

Get on it or be literally be left behind.

Off Season Training Camp Spots Open

So we had our last game and after a 3 day bender and another 3 days of not quite being fully there, it's time to get started for next season.

Again I'll be holding the Off Season Training Camp in my South Yarra studio.

We'll follow a different format this season than last year, but with our main focus still being to improve acceleration, speed and to strengthen and condition the body to avoid injuries next season.

While just shy of turning 34, I played every game but 1 this season which I missed through the flu, not injury and they were senior games too.

I have a bunch of blokes from my local footy club booked in for this already but I'll open some spots up to my readers as well.

After an initial foundation program for 2 - 3 weeks depending on how long your season was and how the body is, we'll then move into the main program.

I understand that some teams are still playing finals but if you wanted in you can start at a later date.

Here's what you need to know:

When Does It Start? Monday 3rd September but as I said above, you can start later

Who Is It For? For anyone who wants have the greatest preparation they can have for season 2013.

Where Will It Be Held? Full Circle Fitness located at Level 1 / 308 Toorak Road, South Yarra

What Time? At the moment I have locked in 6pm til 8pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday but if there were a bunch of students or part time workers that can do an am session at around 10 or 1am, that may be an option too. I also might be able to do some other days/times if the demand warrants it.

Cost? $15 per session where you get 6 months of elite programming that will result in you getting faster, stronger and injury resistant for season 2013. Concession card holders will be $12.50.

My regular clients pay $79 bucks to train in my studio so this is nothing short of extreme value and I am also taking time slots away from training these clients.

So if you want in now or either after your finals campaign has ended then let me know ASAP and by Monday September 10th by the absolute latest via email (lange_troy@hotmail.com) or mobile (0411 091 978) with any questions that you have.

Last Game Tomorrow

What a turbulent year we've had down at the Yarra's in season 2012.

Let's start back in November:

• we had a coach all lined up and even announced it on our website but at the last minute he did a runner to another club for more money and let us know via email - yep great bloke.
• of our senior team that finished a skeric out of the finals in 2011, we only had 3 returning players for 2012 with some retiring, some changing clubs and some chasing cash
• on the plus side we completely turned around our average age from 30 to 24 - 25 years old.
• we only appointed our senior coach in January 2012 so a lack of continuity was always going to be our most major hurdle in 2012
• suffered some crushing defeats in the first half of the year while we had 30 new players all trying to gel together at the same time - unheard of!!
• in the middle of the year we started to get it together and after a very encouraging effort against one of the top 3 teams as of right now, we were on the improve but still chasing our first win
• along comes round 15 and after 14 straight losses, including a 1 point heartbraker 2 weeks earlier, we finally break through for our first win with an inspired 54 point win - great feeling!!
• we have played 44 - 45 blokes in the seniors this year - again unheard of!!!!

So now it's come to the last game and we;re are starving off relegation to division 3 where we need to win our last game but we are also needing things to go our way in another game % wise.

We have our 2nd strongest team for the year on paper in tomorrow and with absolutely no pressure on us, we are ready to go at it harder then we have so far this year.

Well I am anyway.

So lets hope that the football god's shine on us tomorrow and if we can starve off relegation in the last month of the year with 2 wins and an increase in %, then I tell you what, we will have deserved it!!

Evaluating Your Season and Improving for the Next One

We're at the pointy end of the season now with some us already finishing up, some of us about to start finals and some of us (like me) with a few more home and away games to go.

At the completion of each season comes reflection in regards to what I need to be better at and what do I have to do to make that a reality.

Now let me emphasis just 1 word in that last sentence.

NEED.

What do you NEED to do to be better next year?

Now what this is usually up against is want.

What do I want to do to get better next year?

This usually results in you doing the same thing you did last year that gave you limited results the first time and you know what they say the definition of insanity is - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Lewis Jetta has done what he needed to do, not what he wanted to do, to become the an almost certain lock for All Australian this year, after barely getting a full game last year.

Once you have evaluated your 2012 season then it's time to do some goal setting for season 2013.

Actual goal setting is a much underrated process as it not only holds you accountable to your goals, but it can help you keep on track with your training.

You should write them down and say them out aloud. Put them on Facebook for all of your mates to see because if you're not holding yourself accountable, you know they will. Email them to me if you want to.

Now what I see a lot of happening is the wanting to increase each and every aspect of Aussie Rules as you can fit in which is not the way to go. Certain aspects will be further behind in development then others and thus will need far more attention then the things your're naturally and/or already good at.

Look at it this way, if you can run the tan in 15mins will getting your time down to 14:30 really help on the field? Or will that rehabbing that nagging hamstring injury you get each year during acceleration, causing you to miss 2 or 3 games, be a better choice for improvement?

So evaluate all of these things out of 10 (10 being perfect) for season 2012:

• Strength
• Speed
• Endurance
• Body Composition
• Agility
• Injury Resistance

You could add skills and other "field of play" options here like reading the play but that's work to do with your coaching staff rather then something you can do on your own.

Your first port of call is to prioritise what you need which is going to require great honesty. Most blokes will choose something they are already pretty good at but Aussie Rules is a very eclectic game and if you're only good at 1 thing, then that's not enough with the way the game is played now. You need to be versatile.

Now that you know what you need to improve on the most let's follow this to help us in dividing the amount of time and effort we need to really put into each point:

3 - Most Important (emphasis on improvement through specialised phases of training)

2 - Somewhat Important (some importance on improving through some specialised and general training)

1 - Important (low importance of improving and can be maintained or improved through general training)

So let's go back a bit and use our example from above of the player who has nagging hamstrings problems at some point each season.

He may have had an evaluation that looked like this:

• Strength - 5
• Speed - 7
• Endurance - 9
• Body Composition - 5
• Agility - 7
• Injury Resistance - 3

So it's clear to see that he has 3 glaring weaknesses; injury resistance, body composition and strength.

So now your training needs to reflect what you NEED to do.

3 - Most Important (injury resistance, especially the nagging hamstring))

2 - Somewhat Important (body composition and body strength)

1 - Important (everything else)

So you need to rehab that hamstring properly which will include plenty of massage, glute activation, gym strength work and low to high intensity acceleration sprint work, a decrease in body fat and an increase in muscle mass (subjective) from dietary measures and an increase in full body strength from work in the gym.

There's no point trying to improve his endurance which is a strength of his when it;s already at a 9/10 as there is minimal improvement to be made. The most improvements will be seen in what he is worse at, and rapidly if trained correctly.

So with the off season coming around, really have a think about what you NEED rather then what you want. If you can't really justify what you need to "get bigger" (how does getting bigger really improve your game?), then it's probably not a bigger need as you think it is.