Read This Before Hitting the Gym This Off-Season

Here's to season 2016!

Quality 80's Scanlon Footy Card Pose!

After finishing on top with only the single loss for season we disappointingly went our in straight sets! To make matters worse I hyperextended my knee in the last round and missed our 2 finals games so I was pissed!! I've missed probably 5 games tops in my entire career through injury and I miss 2 with "my' best chance of that elusive premiership.

I frequent the health and fitness board on www.bigfooty.com and a couple of weeks ago a posted put this up:

"...Hi guys, I'm looking for some inspiration for a new routine. At the moment I'm still doubting between a push/legs/pull split (5 day cycle) or a push/pull split (3 day cycle with a lighter session every 3rd cycle). Does anyone have experience with this?..."

Here was my response:

Here's a few options:

Option #1 - train everything (movement/muscle) everyday doing 1 exercise for each muscle/movement at moderate to high intensity but low to moderate volume. 

Sample: 

Military Press paired with Front Squat 3 - 5 x 5 - 8 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your last set
Bench Press paired with Deadlift 3 - 5 x 5 - 8 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your last set
DB Row paired with Bulgarian Split Squats 3 - 5 x 5 - 8 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your last set

* repeat every training session

Option #1 is a great option for easing your way back into training in the early off season. You could do the same exercise each session or 1 variation for each session of the week.

Option #2 - train everything everyday but do 1 exercise for moderate to high intensity and high volume in each session

Sample:

Military Press 8 - 15 x 1 - 5 leaving 1 rep in the tank on your final set

Front Squat 2 - 3 x 3 - 5 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your final set
Deadlift 2 - 3 x 3 - 5 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your final set
DB Row 2 - 3 x 3 - 5 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your final set
Bulgarian Split Squats 2 - 3 x 3 - 5 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your final set

What you end up with is 1 lift exercise being the main focus of the day and the others are simply there to fill between sets of the main lift and to give them so extra volume but performed at an intensity that won't fatigue you for the main lift. You'll also notice that bench press has been taken out of this day as it is a competing lift with the Military Press as it uses the same muscles.

When planning this day out decide how many Military Press sets you'll do then spread the other exercise sets among them.

Option #3 - is the same as option #2 but you have 2 focus lifts per session at a slightly lower volume but the other lifts staying with low volume and moderate to high intensity.

Sample:

Military Press paired with Front Squat 6 - 12 x 1 - 5 leaving 1 - 2 reps in the tank on your final set

Deadlift 2 - 3 x 3 - 5 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your final set
DB Row 2 - 3 x 3 - 5 leaving 2 - 3 reps in the tank on your final set
* can add in some biceps and core on this day for filler exercises

Option #4 - use a variety of rep types (not ranges) like isometric, eccentric, drop catch, rebound etc and rotate through them throughout the week. You can either do a full day of the 1 rep type or do 1 exercise for each rep type per session.

Rep Types - isometric, eccentric, pliometric (traditional rep style), high velocity, deadstop, drop an catch, rebound etc

So you could choose 4 - 6 rep types and do 1 exercise for each of them on each day

or

Choose 4 - 6 exercises and do 1 rep type for 1 exercise like this:

Military Press - High Velocity
Front Squat - Eccentric
Bench Press - Isometric
Deadlift - Pliometric
DB Row - Deadstop

Then rotate the rep type for the same exercise list the next training session.

So before heading off to the gm and doing your chest day have a look at what's above here and see how this could work for you.

Video on Program Development

In my last post I outlined my mini pre-season I'm currently doing along with the other stuff I'm working on. I was my Thursday workout up on the whiteboard yesterday and thought I'd shoot a quick video of how I structure a workout that has a lot of different components in it with the aim to make it as time efficient as possible. 

It's a pretty crappy hand held video shot on the spot with no planning but you should get something out of it...hopefully!

My 'Mini" Pre-Season During the In-Season

OK, so we played the top team who were undefeated up to that point and we smashed them taking us to the top of the ladder. We have the most points for and the least against so I was sure we were the better team anyway but we gave our first game to them back in round 2 which was shite.

Anyway with a premiership literally in reach for us (and me - #44 above), I'm dedicating the next 3 weeks to a mini pre-season to set me up for the finals. I will leave no stone un-turned and leave nothing to chance that I can control.

I'm 37 for god's sake and this might be the last chance I get for that elusive premiership!

So I actually started this last week, and have 2 games before a bye which fits perfectly as I can train pretty much everyday for 10 or so days.

The truth is I could probably keep doing what I'm doing and play alright but like I said, I'm not taking any chances.

Anyway this is what I've got laid out.

Week 1

Day 1 - 20mins of steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + High Resistance Intervals 10 x 10secs keeping heart rate between 160 - 170bpm then resting until it's back at 130bpm

Day 2 - Tempo Runs - 8 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70%

Day 3 - 20mins of steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + High Resistance Intervals 10 x 10secs keeping heart rate between 160 - 170bpm then resting until it's back at 130bpm

Week 2

Day 1 - Tempo Runs - 8 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70%

Day 2 - 25mins of steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + High Resistance Intervals 10 x 10secs keeping heart rate @ 165bpm then resting until it's back at 130bpm

Day 3 - Tempo Runs - 10 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70%

Week 3/4 (Bye Week)

Day 1 - 10 to 20mins of steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + High Resistance Intervals 12 x 10secs keeping heart rate @ 165bpm then resting until it's back at 130bpm

Day 2 - Tempo Intervals 10 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70%

Day 3 - 30mins of steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + High Resistance Intervals 10 x 12secs keeping heart rate @ 165bpm then resting until it's back at 130bpm

Day 4 - Tempo Intervals 8 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70% + Threshold Training 3 x 5mins @ 170bpm

Day 5 - 10 to 20mins of steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + High Resistance Intervals 15 x 10secs keeping heart rate @ 165bpm then resting until it's back at 130bpm

Day 6 - Tempo Intervals 8 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70% + Threshold Training 3 x 5mins @ 170bpm

Day 7 - Cardiac Power Intervals 5 x 90secs w/ 3mins rest

Day 8 - 10 to 20mins steady state activity @ 130 - 150bpm + Tempo Intervals 12 x 10secs every 60secs @ 70%

Day 9 - High Resistance Intervals 12 x 10secs @ 165bpm resting until it's back at 130bpm + Threshold Training 3 x 5mins @ 170bpm

Day 10 - Cardiac Power Intervals 6 x 90secs w/ 3mins rest + Tempo Intervals 8 x 12secs every 60secs @ 70%

I should finish this up on the Wednesday or Thursday of the week after the bye.

For steady state activity I've made up some circuits for glute hip extension, foot/ankle stiffness, core and I'm also doing a mini blitz for hip thrusts so they get trained 4/week at the moment.

High Resistance Intervals are done through very high intensity boxing, treadsled, high tension bike and high tension cross trainer.

Tempo Intervals are simply up and back runs in the studio with 2 turns per set.

Threshold Training will be done on either or a combination of cross trainer or outside running (weather dependent).

Cardiac Power Intervals will probably be done on a cross trainer.

The idea is to limit impact on my almost 37 year old legs but I will be able to throw some impact stuff in during weeks 3 and 4.

I should mention that I got these training idea's from Joel Jamieson from www.8weeksout.com.

UPDATE - I managed to drop my resting heart rate 3 - 5 points during this mini training blitz which was a great result coming into finals.The fatigue build up wasn't an issue as the game I played after finishing the blitz on the Thursday I kicked a career best 8 goals against a team vying for finals - with plenty of trash talking between all 8 of them!

All was looking good and we just had to survive the next week against one of the bottom teams to secure the double chance for the finals and to stay injury free but this was the day I did my knee 5mins before half time and ended my season right there.

We still finished top, got the double chance and went out in straight sets! I'm obviously the elder statesman in our team and especially our forward line and pretty much organise from the center to our goal line and we were dis-organised in the forward line during the finals as dictated by kicking 2 of our 3 lowest scores for the season.

We also had played a team in the preliminary final whose senior team had already made the grand final the week before only to drop 5 players back for their reserves to make the grand final, only to get flogged when they went back up the next week but if we took care of the business the first week of the finals then we might have gotten the "second rate" team in the granny. Anyway they've gone up to the next division now now so there's no revenge to be had there but by geez I'll drag this team to a grand final myself if I have to this season!!

Be Explosive for 4 Quarters

There is a saying in sport that goes "you can be fast, but can't be fast for long"...or can you?

The ability to repeat your top speed, or close to, is pretty much the golden requirement for AFL hopefuls these days, with short bursts of play alternated with short bursts of rest on the bench.

A quick energy systems lesson first.

There are 3 main energy systems being alactic, lactic and aerobic.

The alactic system (a short, full intensive sprint) is improved by increasing the amount of creatine phosphate that your muscles can store and use which might mean you can sprint faster for the same distance, or maintain your top speed for a longer distance.

Now we probably know that its our fast twitch muscle fibres that do the job for fast and explosive movements but did you know that your slow twitch, endurance based fibres, can also assist in these endeavors.

Your slow twitch muscle fibres can actually produce as much force as your fast fibres but they don't do it as quickly.

If you're fast twitch dominant then you might be able to run flat out for 40 meters before you start to slow down. If you are extremely fast twitch dominant (like me fortunate and unfortunately) it means that you're speed will drop off very quickly once your fast fibres fatigue.

If you develop your slow muscle fibres which as mentioned above are as strong as your fast fibres but take a little longer to hit their stride, then once your fast fibres start to fatigue, the slow fibres can take over and you'll be able to maintain your top speed, or close to, for longer.

Another bonus of increasing your slow twitch fibre size is that your muscles will improve their ability to work aerobically. When you're also anaerobic dominant (again like me but a lot better this year!) then you'll have a great first effort sprint but you'll gas out very quickly and take a while to recover. When your muscles get better at utilising oxygen as an energy source then you'll improve your repeat speed from faster recovery, you won't use as much energy during your most intensive efforts and you'll also improve your ability to use fat as fuel which can also improve body composition. All sorts of wins there!!

OK, so to train for this you need to use the tempo and explosive method in the gym which I've got from Joel Jamieson (there's a 4 week conditioning program on that home page I did in the off season that cut my 2.4km time by 30secs!). I've been running this for the last month and have used bodywieght squats and jump squats.

For the tempo method you do sets of 10 reps but each rep is 2 seconds down and 2 seconds up which means you'll purposefully have to slow the movement down as you want it to be "even" and controlled the entire time.

For the explosive method I'm using jump squats which are done for sets of 10 - 15 seconds.

Here's the program Joel prescribed for this:

Week 1
Day 1 - Tempo 4 x 10 with 45secs rest between sets + 8 - 10mins active rest + 4 x 10 with 45secs rest between sets (remember 2 secs up and 2secs down!)
Day 2 (3 days later) - Tempo 5 x 10, 45secs rest btw sets

Week 2
Day 1 - Tempo 4 x 10, 40secs btw sets + 8 - 10mins active rest + 4 x 10, 40secs rest btw sets
Day 2 - Continuous aerobic work (boxing etc) x 15mins @ 120 - 160 beats per minute
Day 3 - Tempo 6 x 10, 40secs rest

Week 3
Day 1 - Explosive 4 x 10secs, 40secs rest + 8 - 10mins active rest + 4 x 10secs with 40secs rest
Day 2 - Continuous aerobic work x 20mins @ 120 - 150bpm
Day 3 - Explosive 5 x 10secs, 40secs rest

Week 4
Day 1 - Explosive 6 x 12secs, 35secs rest + 8 - 10mins active rest + 6 x 12secs, 35secs rest
Day 2 - Tempo 4 x 10, 35secs btw sets +  8 - 10mins active rest + 4 x 10, 35secs rest
Day 3 - 6 x 10secs, 35secs rest

Week 5
Day 1 - 8 x 15secs, 30secs rest + 8 - 10mins active rest + 8 x 15secs, 30secs rest
Day 2 - Tempo 5 x 10, 30secs rest + 8 - 10mins active rest + 4 x 10, 30secs rest
Day 3 - 6 x 12secs, 30secs rest

Week 6
Day 1 - Explosive 5 x 15secs, 20secs rest + 8 - 10mins rest + 5 x 15secs, 20secs rest
Day 2 - Explosive 5 x 12secs, 20secs rest

I've just finished week 4 with a big week 5 coming up - it will be near death that Monday session!!

UPDATE - I'll be doing these again in the coming months as part of my own pre-season training.

Nat Fyfe Transformation

Like most of you, I salivate when Nat Fyfe is on - I believe he has over taken Garry Ablett Jr as the games best player. H e was drafted as  68kg-er!

I actually remember when he debuted as I heard a whisper he was a goer and traded him into my Supercoach team.

Still pretty skinny after his first pre-season with the Dockers, he took one of his trademark pack marks for his very first AFL goal. As hard as he tries to, there's still not much to actually flex at this time!!

It was probably his third year that I started to notice his body changing rather dramatically, relative to his previous body, which was wiry and thin.

The bulk he put on through his hips and upper legs was extraordinary, as evident below:

If you're a budding footballer and you're looking to bulk up in the off season, this is what you should focus on. Instead of having 3 upper body days, do 3 lower body days.

You'll get faster, increase endurance, increase injury resistance ad be able to handle physical pressure in close quarters during a game.

It also shows that if you really knuckle down for 2 - 3 off season's then you can really make all the muscle gains you need. You don't want to be heavy that you can't cover ground like you normally do but you don't want to be so light that you can't compete in 1on1 contests and be pushed off the ball easily.

In-Season Training Musings

If you remember back to earlier this year I had a what I thought was minor blow out of my lower back. As it turned out it got progressively worse and resulted in me not being able to run, sprint and jump, as well as pretty much next to zero leg work in the gym, for around 6 weeks.

It only came good for practice match number 1 in mid March so I've spent the last 10 or so weeks trying to get myself back to the strength level I was at pre-back blow out.

So from that I have needed to alter my training to fit where I'm at physically. We're 5 games in with the 6th tomorrow and the back has been fine for the most part in each game but it can pull up a bit stiff in the days following games. Oh, and I'm almost 37 and not the spring chicken I used to be!

So my aim is now to be as fully rested for game days as I can be so my training is sub maximal at best and even when my HRV app says I can train intensely, I will only train with "intensity" on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

With all of that in mind, here's what I've been up to:

Rehab - for my lower back rehab I started using a technique that I'd been reading about for a while now but had never actually performed called Be Activated which is a muscle activation technique made popular by a South African physio Doug Heel. I'll probably do a long winded post on this very soon but you can read a bit about here. He's just come to Australia for the 1st tome this past April so it's very new to Australia but of course Jonny-on-the-spot (me) had his dvd's prior to that as I couldn't attend any of his courses. Anyway they're pretty fantastic and now serves as much warm up for training and games.

Lower Body Strength - so even though my lower back came "running/sprinting good", it has taken a lot longer to become "gym good", especially in regards to deadlifts and squats. The back just wasn't feeling spinal loading that well  so I had to find some alternatives. So to train the deadlift pattern I opted for romanian deadlifts after working up to those with 1 dumbbell deadlifts off a step - an exercise I use with 1st session beginner clients in the studio - that's how little loading I could use initially. I worked these up pretty slowly and have just "maxed out' this week on those. The 2nd alteration I had to make was to get rid of back or front squats and use a modified landmine / belt squat which worked sensationally up to a point.

It's a bitch to set up and to be honest you probably couldn't get it happening in a public gym but I own my studio so I can do what I want!! I think this set is with 105kgs which I could do no worries but when I tried to amp it up to 125 it was too hard to load up and move the step away on my own - with a partner it would be fine though. No spinal loading, no worries.

Lower Body Explosiveness - there is a huge correlation between standing long jump and acceleration sprinting speed.

 
So as my pulling up from games ability has somehow left me in the last year and a bit (upsetting), I need to find alternative ways to train speed. I'm playing deep full forward out of the square this year so all my running is pretty much 90 - 95% sprints during a game so I only need to supplement that with something to assist with speed development. So I have just come off a 3 week cycle of sub maximal standing long jumps which I will retest next week. Training sub maximally means you train at around 70 - 90% and the focus is on practicing the lift but with limited fatigue build up. I did 8 x 3 at 75% of pre tested distance, 8 x 2 at 80% then 8 x 2 at 85%.

Program Design - now that I have built my strength back up I can now program for strength maintenance through speed strength and strength speed methods but also with some auto regulation thrown in to manage fatigue and to make sure that only quality work is being performed to again minimise fatigue. I've made up 3 parameters that I'll use in my training:

Speed - more reps then secs time per set (5 reps in 3secs for example)

Power - same reps in same secs time per set (5 reps in 5secs for example)

Force - less reps then secs time per set (2 reps in 5secs for example)

I haven't quite worked this out yet but I have a fair idea of what my max numbers are so I can gauge what training effect I'm after for that day (speed, power or strength) then use the recommendation from above for whatever I choose to train.

Schedule - just a quick bit on my schedule you must be aware by now that I don't train with my team because of work commitments so I can set my own schedule which so far this year has been upper body Tuesday, lower body Wednesday and Upper body again Thursday which seems to be working well as far as being fresh for game day is concerned. I can't train everything I want to train though but that can be a good thing as then I'm only including the absolute necessities and seeing as though 80% of your results will come from 20% of the things you do, making that 20% is critical.

Amateur vs Elite GPS Comparison

Today I just want to point you towards 3 articles I've come across the last few weeks.

The first one is GPS data collected from an actual AFL team over 4 quarters from a world renown strength and conditioning coach's site Mladen Jovanovic and can be found here.

It can be quite hard to read but if you click on the csv file link in the first sentence you can have a look at it in excel spreadsheet and it makes a bit more sense.

It covers 199 different categories!

Do take some time to have a good look at it though as it may just help you with your own game in regards to what you do and don't do on a regular basis.

The second and third articles are both from the VAFA (the best amateur league here in Melbourne) that shows the GPS readings from 2 of their top line players and can be found here and here.

It shows the following for each player:

Amateur Player - Jack Bull

Position –Nomatic (midfield, wing, interchange)

Total Distance – 15.06kms

Average Speed – 6.21kms/hr

25% of running time @ 13.5km/hr or faster of which 600m of that was above 21.6kms/hr which is zone 6 running (highest velocity/top speed)

Sprint Efforts – 106 @ 16kms/hr or faster

Amateur Player - Tom Humphrey

Position – utility but deep defender who goes with the best forward runner

Total Distance – 14.7kms

Zone 6 Running – 285m

Top Speed – 30.71kms/hr

Walking – 1km more then Jack from ball being at other end

You constantly here of mates saying "this bloke could have played AFL if he wanted to' but that's simply not true. "Wanting to" includes wanting to work harder then everyone else and that;s exactly what you need to do to reach some of these numbers.

These amateur blokes are reaching AFL-type GPS readings but certainty aren't playing AFL but it shows how close you can be to 'the standard" but so far away for 1 reason or another.

GPS units are becoming more common in local/amateur footy so if you have the chance to get a hold of one definitely give it a go and see how you fare.