A Simple Look at Aussie Rules Footy Fitness Part 2

Earlier this year I did a post that gave some insight into the different energy systems to train and how to train each of them.

This post will give you an insight into the order of which to train these energy systems during the year.

I'm going to write this out as though I am in charge of a footy team from the 1st day of their off season. This will mean that I won't be starting 'again" come team pre-season training, it will build on what is laid out from the off season phase.

Please refer to post linked above for recommendations for each energy system training requirement.

Off-Season Energy Systems Training

This refers to the time between you're last game and the 1st night of pre-season training so we're looking at about 8 weeks.

Goal 1 - Alactic Power

Goal 2 - Aerobic Capacity

Alactic power is the top of the pyramid in regards to energy systems for team sports. The fastest players are generally the best players and is what can set an AFL player apart from an elite VFL footballer. All things being equal, the fastest bloke will get drafted every time and some blokes get drafted purely on speed, in the hope they can be coached to an elite level.

You'll use a short sprints and mostly sub maximal intensity for 4 weeks then increase the intensity and then the distance slightly, in the next 4 weeks.

Aerobic capacity is what you probably already do by going for a few 10km runs per week which is fine, but you need to make sure that you're staying within a heart rate zone that will build actual capacity and not build up fatigue for 2 reasons.

Reason 1 is that speed cannot, and will not, be increased in the presence of fatigue. Reason 2 is that it's October and you can';t be breaking down the body 11 months from finals time or you'll find yourself in a hole you won;t be able to get out recovery wise.

You'll start at the low end of the duration scale and a heart rate of 130 - 150 beats starting at the low end and progressing to the top end over the 8 weeks.

Pre-Season Energy Systems Training

This refers to the start of team pre season. and we'll split this into 2 portions of pre and post Christmas.

Pre-Christmas Goal 1 - Alactic Power

Pre-Christmas Goal 2 - Aerobic Capacity

These goals remain the same but the training will be different. These 2 energy system qualities take the longest to gain so it stands to reason they get the longest training time.

Alactic power will shift to near maximal intensity and slightly longer distances then you ended with pre-Christmas. Just remember that actual max speed can only be held for 2 - 3secs max so use set distances that are too long for actual speed development erring on the shorter side if anything.

Christmas Break Energy Systems Training

This refers to the time between your last pre-Christmas team training session and you're 1st post Christmas team training session. We're looking at 3 - 4 weeks here which is plenty of time to slack off and lose a lot of your benefits from last year. Your goal here is to at least maintain where you are and with a few extra days off you might actually find yourself faster during this time from extra recovery.

Post-Christmas Energy Systems Training

Work back from your 1st practice game to the start of post-Christmas pre-season training to see how many weeks and sessions you;ll have between now and then which will determine how long each goal will be the main focus for.

Post-Christmas Goal 1 - Aerobic Power

Post-Christmas Goal 2 - Lactic Power

After 2 or so weeks of finishing up alactic power ans aerobic capacity development, we'll now move to a few more goals, while maintaining alactic power with low volume, high intensity training as you can maintain it with as little as 30 - 50% of the volume you used to build it, so long as intensity is maximal.

Aerobic development will also be maintained with some specific drills for it as well a greater emphasise on skill drills which can also be performed at an aerobic capacity type intensity.

Again remember when you're training the power side of anything you need full rest between sets so plan some easy skill drills between these sets.

After 3 - 4 weeks of aerobic and alactic power now we can head into alactic capacity. You can't build high capacity if you have low power so ensure that power is trained, and improved upon before capacity. If you're not fast for 1 set then how can be fast for 5 or 10 sets? You can't.

You'll need to be a programming demon at this point because you now need to address alactic power, aerobic capacity, aerobic power, alactic power and now alactic capacity all at once.

Plan the bulk of your energy systems work prior to your 1st practice match as those early games will build more fatigue then any other games you play for the year as the body gets accustomed to the intensity of change of directions and contact/bumps.

You'll also struggle to implement your game plan effectively if you're still slugging it out on the track 2 a week and going into games already half knackered so the focus for training is on high quality with "some" volume that will decrease from week to week until round 1 where you want to be at your peakiest best!

This is all laid out for you in the Ultimate Footy Training Manual so get your hands on one before it's too late to do something about it and round 1 is on top of you!

I've actually got a 25% off offer at the moment if you go via this link: https://payhip.com/b/VS0B

                                                     

How I Rehabbed in 24 Hours...Must Read!

My training is pretty full-on at the moment. I'm currently doing 5 gym sessions and 5 track sessions per week.

Last Monday saw me in the gym warming up for a lower body sesh when on my last warm up squat set, my back went. Technique was fine, the load was easily doable but still being a warm up set, the back wasn't into it.

Once, maybe twice a year, my back will do this for no real reason but I have had some pretty bad back pain in the past which I've managed to starve off from proper training.

I suspect that this time it was my body telling me to ease up a bit and it was making me do it - you can't tell the nervous system what to do sometimes, it will make you do things you don't want to do!

If you've read any of the pain science stuff coming out these days, a great deal of chronic pain is from your brain. For example if you had a lower back issue for a couple of weeks and it clears up then the injury is gone and so it shouldn't hurt again for no reason now should it?

Except every now and then it does of which I'll explain in a future post, but the gist of it is that your experiences, beliefs and even culture can influence how you deal with pain.

I am of the thinking that I can bounce back from an injury which I always do, and that simple act alone helps immensely.

Anyway I hurt my back during squats which registered about a 6 or 7 out of 10 for pain/discomfort compared to some other back issues I've had. I could walk right after it which was a good sign - I had an episode where i was on my own in the gym for about 45mins and I literally couldn't move - that hurt!

Anyway I went straight home and had a nap for about 90 minutes, which is actually when you regenerate.

During the day I heat packed until I had to go back to work with not a lot of improvement.

I went in early to start some rehab and here's what I done:

1. Supine Breathing x 10 breathes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Cmffcm5Tk
2. Breathing Long Lever Deadbugs x 8/leg - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXtV1Co6TaY
3. Band Glute Bridge 5 x 10 second holds (just wrap a band around your knees and don't let it push your knees in during the set) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c99KVL25K2s
4. Prone Stability Hold x 5 breathes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOUvzQkSpZs

That little circuit worked pretty well for a 5 minute rehab session. I dd 2hrs worth of clients and repeated that before I went home.

I heated again before bed, applied heat cream of some sort and went to bed.

I could still feel the back in bed during the night but I could move a bit without aggravating it too much, so another good sign there.

The next morning rolls around it feels a lot better but the pain/stiffness is still there. It's really more stiffness then anything because when there is trauma somewhere in the body the body will protect the area by tensing all the muscles around it to stabilise the area, and also to stop you trying to move into a position that could cause further injury.

This is the number reason why immediate rehab can be your best cause of action, not ice/rest/ice for days on end.

Fun Fact - ice really only works on reducing swelling for 8 - 12 hours of which then you want to turn to heating and moving the injured area to promote blood flow and thus healing.

So I did my morning clients and repeated the rehab stuff again and was feeling alright enough to do the upper body session planned for the day. I will always train upper body if I have a lower body / lower back injury and it also helps greatly, ALWAYS, so do it!

I had a bunch of testing to do the day before on the track so feeling alright I thought I'd head down and see what I could do, if anything at all.

So I hobbled through my first 20 meter sprint, which definitely was not a sprint and certainly wouldn't have looked like it. I timed it and recorded a 3.28 second sprint. Not bad I thought considering my personal best was 2.94.

I did 2 more sprints and my times kept increasing but the pain and stiffness wasn't decreasing at the same rate. My right side felt very unstable initially but came along to the point that on my 7th or 8th sprint I managed to record a 2.82 second 20 meter sprint. I was happy enough with that and called it a day for those.

I did a 30 meter sprint that tied at 3.97 seconds against a personal best of 3.72 seconds and again I was happy so I just did 1 set of those.

The back was feeling fine so I continued on with a 30sec aerobic power test followed by a 6 x 30 meters every 30 seconds repeat speed test.

Back was near perfect by the end of it.

Whatever perceived threats there had been had totally been destroyed by continuing to find a way to train. The worse thing you can do is stay still as the brain has no reason to release the protective tension.

I even managed to follow that session up with a 12 minute run for distance with no problems at all pain wise, but it had taken a bit out of me and I didn't really get the result I was hoping for. I improved but not quite as much as I was gunning for but I'll test again in a few weeks in perfect health and see how I go.

In the end after that Monday morning where I hurt myself I managed 9 sessions in the 5 days following the initial injury.

UPDATE - I wasn't doing any HRV stuff at this time but I'd guarantee my life on it that the day I hurt myself, my reading would have indicated a rest day and my resting heart rate would have been elevated far above my baseline figure. One way to avoid injury is to assess your body's readiness everyday day as you'll rarely, if ever, get injured when you're at your peak fitness - only when you're a underdone in meeting the demands of a game from time off from the game, low training base etc.                                                

A Simple Look at Aussie Rules Footy Fitness

The last 12 or so months has seen a big shift in my researching focus in regards to increasing 'fitness". I quotation mark fitness because it could not be anymore a broader term really.

How fit you are is extremely relative. Being adequately fit for footy requires different training modalities then being adequately fit for long jumping. As a personal trainer the majority of people come in say that they want to "get fit and tone up".

As a bloody excellent PT (if I must say so myself) of course I follow that comment of theirs up with a "get fit for what?" question of my own.

If I don't ask that question then I might focus on fitness through the use of the rowing machine when they really intended to say 'I want to be able run 5kms non - stop' or something similar.

Sure I can train the same energy systems on the rower that I can at through running but you need to condition the muscles and specific action to really make the big gains in your specific fitness.

Aerobic fitness is a huge component of Aussie Rules Footy and along with max speed is one of the big 2 recruiters look at before drafting players. It;s all about fast you can sprint, how often you can repeat it and how far can you get through a beep test of dominate a time trial.

I don't think I'm breaking ground with this info but if you actually know how 'fitness' can be categorized for footy then it can help you set a plan of attack with a bit of science behind it.

So we start with the the 2 main energy systems:

 - Anaerobic Energy System
 - Aerobic Energy System

Anaerobic means "without oxygen" (short bursts of intense activity) and aerobic means 'with oxygen' (longer and less intensive bursts of activity) in regards to energy output.

Anaerobic can be broken up further into:

 - Alactic
 - Lactic

Alactic refers to "without lactate" (no fatigue build up) and lactic means means "with lactate" (fatigue build up) in regards to energy output.

Got It? OK let's move on...

So we now we have:

 - Alactic
 - Lactic
 - Aerobic

Now you can break each up again:

 - Alactic power and capacity
 - Lactic power and capacity
 - Aerobic power and capacity

Power refers to a single all out, 100% effort where capacity refers to the ability to replicate that all out effort repeatedly to as close as your 1 off effort as possible.

Still with me I hope...moving on.

Each of these 6 fitness qualities have a parameters in how they are best trained:

Alactic Power - up to 5secs of activity, full rest of 3 - 5mins...set a baseline for the days training and once it drops by 5 - 7% in the session that exercise is over

Alactic Capacity - up to 5sces of activity, incomplete rest...again set a baseline for the days training and use a drop off of about 7 - 10%.

Lactic Power - 10 to 30secs of activity, full rest of 4 - 10mins...perform 2 - 12 reps per session

Lactic Capacity - 10 to 30secs of activity, incomplete rest but start at a work:rest ratio of 1:6 - 8 and work down...I would still suggest using a drop off because there's no point continuing to train if your quality has dropped so much you're building far more fatigue then actual capacity.

Aerobic Power - 2mins or longer of activity, full rest with a work:rest ratio of 1:3 - 5 depending on how "naturally" aerobic you are

Aerobic Capacity - 2mins or longer of activity, incomplete rest with a work"rest ratio of 1:1 - 3 starting with 3 and working down to 1

As a general rule - work power before capacity because you can't build repeat efforts of something you don't already have.

Here's a little homework for you - take note of some of the training sessions you done on your own and/or with your team and see how many of these have been covered and let me know your results via the Aussie Rules Training Facebook page.

Also don't forget the Aussie Rules "Ultimate Footy Training Manual" that you can purchase via the Paypal link at the top of the page for your full 12 month footy training program.

                                                 

My Footy Off Season Training So Far

Last year finished with a house move immediately after Christmas hence my absence but now that the Internet is up and going I'm back!!

You might  remember my post from Sep/Oct last year detailing my goals for my off season training.

My immediate goal from way back in October, as always is to increase sprinting speed which I detailed my plan to do so in the post linked above.

My other immediate goal was to build a foundation to increase my aerobic capacity which will then move to aerobic power and some then lactic power from late Jan onwards until mid March for our first practice game.

As the plan dictated I had 3 blocks laid out:

Block 1 - High Force, Low Velocity (max strength) x 6 weeks

Block 2 - Moderate Force, Moderate Velocity (power) x 3 weeks

Block 3 - Low Force, High Velocity (max velocity) x 3 weeks

FYI, max strength is the highest load you can lift irrespective time. Power can be broken up into strength speed and speed strength referring to moving a sort of heavy load with a moderate amount of speed or moving a light load with pretty high velocity. Max Velocity is a light load, or unloaded in regards to bodyweight, moved as fast as you possibly can.

I trained each quality with the same exercise for 3 days in a row then rested for 4 days before changing exercises.

For the 6 week max strength block I used the following exercises:

Half Back Squat Lockout working up to 155kgs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWlguUlyFF0

Half Front Squat Lockout working up to 135kgs

Front Squats working up to 90kgs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ2whXpLWys

Bottom Front Squat working up to 75kgs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WnZVzAqyag

Front Squat with 3sec Isometric working up to 82.5kgs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0r20g5Wxjw

Timed Front Squats 5 reps in 5 secs working up to 40kgs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWMrqsSxytM

I used a load drop off of 7% meaning once I hit my 1 rep max then I dropped the weight by 75 and continued to do singles until I rep quality dropped. For times squats I dropped 7% and continued with 5 reps in 5 secs.

If you look close enough the theory is to start with high force (meaning highest load) and work down so the load decreases and thus you're velocity increases slightly each week. You'll see one week I predicted my order wrong and slipped back and then going back up the next week but no biggie.

Block 2 moved to power where I did these exercises x 3 weeks:

Trap Bar Jump Squats with minimal knee bend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iojCKlfEQtU

Steep Hill Sprint with a best 30m sprint time of 5.84secs

Resisted Sled Sprint with my fastest time being with just the sled itself (obviously) over 15m for 2.69secs.

My drop off for this power phase was different for each week. For jump squats I gauged on jump height and absorption to output time, for hill sprints I seemed to get faster each day so once I hit the previous days best time then I called it quits. For sled sprints I had a load range I worked in and then did some back off sets each day.

Block 3 shifted to max velocity sprinting with my 3 exercises being:

Slight Hill Sprint over 30m for a best time of 5.03secs

Flat Ground 30m Sprint for a best time of 4.03secs

Slight Downhill Sprint over 30m for a best time of 3.01secs

I did upper body using the same principles on 3 of the 4 days I rested legs.

The theory behind the entire set up is that you over train max strength for 6 weeks, which should theoretically take 6 weeks to 'bounce back" but at a higher level.

Then you overtrain power x 3 weeks which takes 3 weeks to bounce back at a higher as well.

So once you hit the back end of the max velocity block, you're max strength and power levels are increased from where you started at the same time, essentially peaking your performance.

I have since moved straight to a conditioning block which I'll detail in a future post but 5 - 10 after my last max velocity session (Christmas Eve) I posted had these results:

40m Sprint in 5.00secs (personal best - did a 5.56sec last year and 6.22secs the year before).

30m Sprint in 3.72secs.

20m Sprint in 3.00secs (couldn't better my 2.94sec I did just after my 10,000 Swing program unfortunately).

I have nit yet been able to test in a definitive non-fatigued state yet and won't get the chance for a little while yet either.

My current conditioning program is 16 workouts usually done over 4 weeks that I'm squeezing into 24 days, which included 3 days while I moved house so really closer to 3 weeks.

Then I launch into more aerobic and lactic power stuff until March which I could condense a down a bit more as well I think which will hopefully give me the chance to do 1 last speed block before our first practice match.

Remember most of my pre-season training is taken from the Ultimate Footy Training Manual which has a full years training from off season to finals all covered in it - you just do the work minus the planning! Head to the Paypal link at the top of the page to order.

You shan't be disappointed!

How to Train Over the Xmas Break

For those teams who commence training pre Christmas, you'll have a 3 or 4 week break coming up.

You've already done some pretty hard yards in the last 4 - 8 weeks in a team setting, focusing on team orientated goals that need to be covered in a team setting.

You now have the time to individualise a little before heading back to team training in early to mid January.

Here's how you can do it.

You'll most likely do your last session for 2014 in the week pre Christmas which will give you 3 - 4 weeks to get some quality individual training in.

First determine your weakest aspect out of strength, speed and endurance. If you can'r decide then use these guidelines to help you:

Strength - Hip Thrust x 10 reps at 1.5 x your own bodyweight

Speed - 20m sprint 3.2secs or less

Endurance - resting heart rate under 60 beats per minute

Now a program for each quality.

Strength

You might be thinking a squat or a deadlift will be the go here but I'm going a different way - I'm going with the hip thrust.

Why?

Pure glutes that's why.

Squats will hit the glutes a bit and so will deadlifts but you can easily do both of these exercises without using the glutes at all.

Hip thrusts can also be performed with everything but the glutes which I'll redirect you to the "Glute Guy" for a little hip thrust tutorial article here.

Other great qualities you'll get is an increase in speed and having strong glutes can really off set a lot of lower body injuries you'll get from footy.

Programming wise you'll hip thrust every time you hot the gym and every off gym day at home.

Rotate through these 2 gym workouts when you go there:

Hip Thrust 1 - work up to a hip thrust max set. Week 1 do sets of 12 until you hit a max. Week 2 do sets of 10, week 3 do sets of 8 and week 4 do sets of 6.

Hip Thrust 2 - do 30 reps with 70% of the hip thrust max set from hip thrust workout 1.

Home Hip Thrust - do 5 x 20 of bodyweight hip thrusts straight into bodyweight glute bridges alternating the exercise you start with (circuit 1 hip thrust into glute bridge, set 2 glute bridge into hip thrust etc). Rest 1 minute between pairs.

Now that I know that you've read the hip thrust how to article above but in the end there is 1 rule that cannot be broken and that is the rule of glute activation.

If at any point glute activation ceases and the stress of the hip thrust shifts to your hamstrings and/pr lower back, then the hip thrust session is over. The point of this exercise is to train the glutes and pretty much nothing else so if it;s not training the glutes then it's really doing but nothing but hurting your back and giving you hamstring cramps.

You don't have to the hip thrust strength level above so leave your ego at the door on this one.

Speed

It staggers me of the little, if any, attention that is given to improving sprinting speed in local footy considering it;s the one's who do what we all do the fastest that play at the higher levels.

Simply staggers me!

Anyway if you're finally ready to take the plunge then here's your 4 weeks of training:

Week 1 - 30m acute hill sprint
Week 2 - 20m flat ground sprint
Week 3 - 20m slight hill sprint
Week 4 - 20m flat ground sprint

You'll do this 3 times a week each week either 3 days in a row (yes all in a row) or every 2nd day, whatever fits your schedule the best.

You're also going to time each sprint so get your stop watch and hand hold time yourself. Once you do a 2 sprints in a row that are slower then you're fastest set, go home.

For example say you do 4 sprints that are progressively faster with the times of 7.05secs, 6.93secs, 6.73secs, 6.44secs followed by a 6.65secs and a 6.59secs, then your quality of work is declining and you want to get outta there.

You'll also rest 4 - 5 minutes between sets and DO NOT cut this short!

Endurance

For 7 days straight, take your resting heart rate every morning immediately upon waking and put it in your phone. After 7 days take an average and that's what we'll use for your resting heart rate.

If you're over 60 beats per minute then you'll need a plan focusing on lower intensity work. If you;re under 60 then you'll still do some lower intensity work but you'll also have some higher intensity stuff thrown in the mix.

Over 60 beats per minute:

Session 1 - Steady state running @ 130 - 150 beats per minute

Session 2 - Steady state running with 10 x 5 second bursts of 100% resting until heart rate is back to 130 beats per minute or 1 minute, whatever comes first. Do your 10 sets of intervals then continue with steady state x 10 - 20 minutes at 140 beats per minute.

Session 3 - Tempo intervals @ about 70% for 15 x 12 seconds with 1 minute rest + 10 - 20 minutes steady state at 140 beats per minute.

Under 60 beats per minute:

Session 1 - Steady state running with 20 x 5 second bursts of 100% resting until heart rate is back to 130 beats per minute or 1 minute, whatever comes first. Do your 20 sets of intervals then continue with steady state x 10 - 15 minutes at 140 beats per minute.

Session 2 - 22 x 5 seconds at 100% + tempo intervals @ about 70% for 22 x 12 seconds with 1 minute rest + 10 - 15 minutes of steady state at 140 beats per minute.

Session 3 - 6 - 8 x 90secs as fast as you can with 3 - 4 minutes rest or when heart rate returns to 130 beats per minute + tempo intervals for 12 x 12 seconds with 1 minute rest.

You'll see I've put in heart rate zones which means you have 2 options - get yourself a heart rate monitor (I got mine off gumtree for $40 - plenty on there for memory) or get annoyed stopping and taking it yourself between sets. In other words get yourself a heart rate monitor!!

So there you go - 3 programs for you to choose from to hit the ground running when pre season starts again in 2015.

"DON'T WASTE A SECOND" - Murray Bushrangers Mantra

The Comeback Requirements of an AFL Player

I knew had this information somewhere but could not locate it for ages but I came across it this week going through some old files.

When a rampaging Fremantle Dockers outfit destroyed my beloved Swans in the 2013 finals, Luke McPharlin had only just made his return after a 8 - 10 week lay off from a calf injury.

He came straight back into the senior side without any game time in the WAFL which was thought to be a huge risk to play someone who hasn't felt actual game time pressure for 10 weeks, especially for a cut throat final.

In the grand final I watched an interview with Ross Lyon who explained their reasons as to why they thought he was ready to go straight back into the senior team. Here are the points he made:

#1 - A really heavy pre-season training load is 30 - 38kms per week depending on your playing position.

#2 - McPharlin did 24kms per week for the last 2 weeks of his rehabilitation program to come straight back in after 10 weeks out.

#3 - The Saturday before he returned the senior side he did 10 - 12km training session with 2 of the kms being sprints.

#4 - Running backman will do 1.3kms of sprints per game

As a side note he also mentioned that everyday the players come into the club they are tested for power to see where their recovery is at (heart rate variability).

Don't think that as local footballers we need that sort of training load because we don't but it does provide a little insight into what returning to full fitness really looks like and that you really can't take a week or 2 off playing and training and expect to comeback in and be right to go.

Building Aerobic Capacity

I touched on aerobic capacity, and my lack thereof, in my previous post but i'll go little bit deeper in this post.

Capacity, in regards to any energy system, refers to the total amount of work you can do at a specific intensity and/or heart rate zone.

For aerobic development you're looking at an intensity of 60 - 70% as a general figure.

OK so few easy tests are needed here.

#1 - To find your heart rate maximum use this equation:

220 - Your Age

So for me I'm 36 so 220 - 36 = 184bpm for mt heart rate maximum. 60% of that number is 110bpm (184 x .6).

#2 - The easiest way test your current aerobic fitness is by doing a basic heart rate test by placing your index finger on the underside of your wrist or on your carotid artery just under ear. If you have a heart rate monitor or watch then use them by all means. Do this upon waking while you're still in bed everyday for a week and take an average.

So back to me - I already knew my aerobic base was terrible but I decided to do a 10min aerobic based session purposefully going slow (but still trying to jog), and seeing how low I could keep my heart rate.

I failed miserably as I my heart rate measured 174bpm (by the 5min mark and held there til the 10min mark even though I was barely raising a sweat.

I should have taken my heart rate every minute which I would have done if I knew I was going to do so badly!!

Joel Jamieson of www.8weeksout.com (an MMA training website) always says "don't get stuck in the middle", meaning don't do too much work in the 70 - 90% heart rate zone.

Why?

Well it's too intensive for aerobic work as you'll cross into your anaerobic threshold at some point which builds up fatigue and performance drop (a future post). On the other end of the spectrum it's no where near intensive enough to be classed as anaerobic work.

The middle should be reserved exclusively for restoration work and game specific skill drills so you shouldn't really need to do any specific work for it - especially with limited training time us amateurs have!

So before you head off on a run you need to first decide what you're doing this run for and if it is for aerobic capacity (aerobic base in a lot of circles) then you'll need to work out what specific heart rate zones you need to stay in to make sure you get that exact training effect with your training.

This might actually result in you having to go a lot slower then you normally do but don't worry, the heart is getting the workout it requires. Look at me I'm doing treadmill walking for god's sake!

Even though it's boring as hell I am seeing progress with my 4-weekly 20min walks. I have increased the speed of the treadmill while still being able to keep my heart rate down (increased capacity right there) and my Sunday morning local walk is getting further and further watch week again while keeping my heart rate in the correct zone.

To get your head into this just remember that one of the primary functions of your aerobic system is to improve your recovery between bouts of intensive anaerobic bouts (50m chase down tackle for example) so that you can do that effort at the same intensity again very soon. That is what is getting me over line with this boring workout!

Remember the Ultimate Footy Training Manual is available for purchase via the Paypal link at the top of the page as well as online training programs set by me specifically for you. Email me if you need a hand going to the next level.