MY 2018 PRE-SEASON BY THE NUMBERS

Round 1 tomorrow for my team and I so I thought I'd have a peek at my full off/pre-season just to see actually work I've performed.

It started all the way back on Aug 30, 2017...

# 226 Training Sessions

* 44 Days Off

# 1 Sick Day

* 84% training rate

# 116 Gym Training Sessions

* 40 Sprint Training Sessions

# 21 Non-Running Aerobic Training Sessions

* 6 Running Aerobic Training Sessions

# 8 Footy Team Training Sessions

* 2500m of Acceleration Sprint Distance (5 - 6 meters per second)

# 1965m of Max Velovity Sprint Distance (6 - 10 meters per second)

* 4465m of Total High Speed Sprint Distance (5 meters per second or faster)

# 1360m of Lactic Running Distance

* 5825m of Total Bodyweight Sprinting Distance

# 1330m of Total Resisted Sprinting Distance (4 - 60kgs)

* 7155m of Total Sprinting Distance

# 10.3kms of Total Aerobic Training Distance (100% Max Aerobic Speed)

* 42.6kms Biking Distance (Low End Aerobic)

# 9.6kms of High Speed Biking

NOTES:

 - I'm 40 this year

 - I play out of the square 85% of the time during games with the odd run at half forward and on the ball

 - I'm a sprinter/power athlete so I aim to maximise that in my training while reaching an average/above average level on aerobic markers

- Weather Forecast Tomorrow: Pissing With Rain

LEARN HOW TO ACTUALLY LEARN

Some time ago I came across some writings from Olympian track coach Stuart McMillan who coaches Andre De Gassi, the soon to be fastest man in the world (not ever though!).

This year he introduced a weekly collection of random thoughts of his titled "A Very Stable Idiot" which includes topics from athletics to learning to politics to whatever else you can think of.

A lot of the stuff is over my head but I still look forward to this every week.

A couple of weeks ago in the week 13 edition and he discussed a podcast called The Art of Manliness by Dr. Peter Brown on learning how to learn.

I haven't exactly nailed down how this can be related back to football but if you;re a coach who something who wants to learn about anything, then this stuff should interest you.

Here were the points I made from this part of the blog:

#1 - The learning strategies that we drawn to are low-yield strategies like reading and re-reading or doing things over and over again which only feeds short term memory so they're great for cramming before an exam but as soon as you;re done then the information easily falls out so it's ordinary fr long term memory which is what skill aquistion is.

#2 - Constantly making material/skills easier and clearer to learn seems like it;s working but the brain isn't really being challenged enough to learn anything new, or a new way of learning and if it's an easier learning method then what you're accustomed to then learning via easier methods don't always stick.

#3 - Even if you intend to learn something and make it a priority this also won't guarantee learning as new learning needs to be connected to some existing knowledge or you won't learn it

#4 - There's also no evidence that a personally preferred method of learning is optimal but it will result in you sticking to the learning process for longer, giving you more chance for the information for the be sent to the memory bank.

#5 - If you want to make learning stick then practice getting it out of the brain and not into the brain, so after you're read it a time or 2 then put it aside and asl yourself what are the main idea's of this, how does it relate to what I already know and then out it in your own words

NOTE - This is what I've been doing for 15yrs!

#6 - Practice recalling the information later when it's harder to recall which strengthens the connection of that material in the brain and your ability to recall it.

#7 - When it feels like you;re not making progress then that's probably when you are.

#8 - Moving learning from short to long term memory occurs during sleep and long term learning is an actual physical change in the brain which is why it takes time

Let me know tour thoughts on this.

IN-SEASON TRAINING DO'S #3 - TRAINING RESIDUALS

Perhaps the 1 training ideology that has the greatest implications on in-season programming is training residuals.

Training residuals refers to the time it takes for a specific quality that once trained to adequate level, starts to deteriorate without direct training.

This is a huge concept to implement at this time of the season because training time has been decreased as you now need 1 - 3 days to allow for recovery from games.

You can still training during the recovery stage, but with the focus being on recovery and regeneration, you are not stressing the upper thresholds of your abilities and as the old saying goes - use it or lose it.

Obviously with less training time, you know need to find a way to at least maintain what you've built in the pre-season (speed, endurance etc) but more importantly you need to find the resources and time to fit it all in.

You can't train everything at 100% all the time and if you do, you're probably one of those players that tears up the track but average at best on the field.

Essentially your burning through all your "game resources" during the week and have little to give come game day.

You can probably name a player you currently play with, or have played with that fits this description.

There's no embarrassment if you are either, I was one of them in my younger days, because training residuals is a very little know concept outside of elite competition.

So here's the information you need to put this in action.

SPEED

- Max speed performance will stay with you 2 - 8 days
- Needs to be trained optimally once every 5 days

AEROBIC CAPACITY

- Max aerobic performance will stay with you for 25 - 35 days
- Needs to be trained optimally once every 30 days

ANAEROBIC CAPACITY

- Max anaerobic capacity will stay with you for 14 - 22 days
- Needs to be trained optimally once every 18 days

MAX STRENGTH

- Max strength performance will stay with you for 25 - 35 days
- Needs to be trained optimally every 30 days

BODYWEIGHT

- The maintenance of bodyweight is a game to game proposition as you'll lose different amounts of fluids each game, plus take in different amounts f fluids each game as well.
- Aim to get back to your pre-game bodyweight as soon as possible and by the next morning at the latest.

As you can see above you can now sit down and literally fit all the training in you need on Tuesday and Thursday training nights, and fitting each strength/fitness quality in before it starts to deteriorate as well.

You also need to ensure that when you do train what needs to be trained that it is trained at literally 100% intensity.

You can maintain performance with as little as 30% of the training volume it took to build that quality, so long as intensity is 100%.

If you fail to reach the intensity required then the intensity/volume trade off gets out of whack and now your training with fat too volume at moderate intensity and your performance will decrease.

Remember failing to plan is planning to fail.

IN-SEASON TRAINING DO'S #2 - PRIORITISE WHAT YOU NEED

With the in-season training model comes less training time because of game soreness, fatigue and unfortunately, a bit of softness when the weather takes a turn.

When there is less training time then you need to prioritise what HAS to get covered, what would be ADVANTAGEOUS to get covered and what is a BONUS if it gets covered.

"HAS" CATEGORY

There's a couple of ways to decide what should go in this category so here are your options.

#1 - The things that you focused on during the pre-season (skills, tactics, speed, endurance etc) must be at least maintained during the season.

The main reason for focusing on these aspects is that you've already invested a lot of time and effort to build these qualities, so to just let them slip away seems a waste of time.

Another reason is that these aspects will be your players' strong point (more then likely), so to win games and play at the best their abilities, they'll need to be able to express these aspects throughout the entire season.

#2 - You can look at less specific factors and replicate them at training such as training at speeds that are faster then a game, thus making a game sub-maximal compared to your training speed which will more often then not result in better skills and decision making during games if they can be displayed at high speeds at training.

Personally a bit column 1 and column 2 is the way to go in my opinion.

After you're prioritised what you need, and a list of 1-to-whatever is a good way to do this, then you need to look at how to set up your training in the short and long term, to make sure what HAS to be covered does indeed get covered.

In future posts I'll delve into how to set this up but by taking a lot of other things you probably don't even know about, that can negatively affect how this all comes together.

Here are the priorities of my own training baring in mind that I only train with my team when work allows (1/week at best but probably looking at 2 every 3 weeks going forwards I reckon).

#1 - Speed (Acceleration/Max Velocity)
#2 - Team Footy Training
#3 - Aerobic Capacity
#5 - Lower Body Strength

In the past I've used specific training blocks to train these physical aspects where 90% of my training goes into that specific trait x 2 - 4 weeks and then I'll let it recover and move to something else.

The premise there is to train that capacity very hard to the point where my performance might even drop in the short term for example my speed might drop by 5 - 10%, which is then time to let it rest, recover and regenerate to an even greater level, if done right.

The other way to go about it is to train 3 - 5 things all the time, which is more of a top up/maintenance type set up which is something I might do if I start team training regularly.

IN-SEASON TRAINING DO'S #1 - IN-SEASON TRAINING MODEL

Some round 1's have been completed and some are still to come, so it is now time to look at the in-season training model.

During the pre-season you have all the time in the world to train everything you need to.

Even better, you can dedicate all the energy resources you want to your training as there are no games, or mini-peaks, that are required each week.

Your room for error is greater as there is time to change things up if something is not working.

Your have greater time for experimentation as well because again, you have tome to alter your plan as needed without affecting short term performance.

During the season you have pretty much none of these luxuries.

Your training time has gone from a potential 60mins per day or 7hrs per week, to a poultry 4hrs and then a game.

Without a plan you're probably trying to cram 7hrs of training into 4 hrs, as well as be 100% fresh for games on a Saturday.

This does not fit and it does not work.

The aim of your in-season is to at a minimum, maintain ALL pre-season gains in strength, speed, power and endurance.

A drop in any of these categories will affect all other categories make no mistake about it.

The shitty thing is that as the season pushes on, fatigue is higher, grounds become heavier, sore spots and injuries start to mound up and motivation can waiver and all of sudden you're playing in an elimination final when you need to be at your absolute best, but your performance markers are at their lowest.

Not a great sign.

Similar to the PRE-SEASON TRAINING DO'S series, I'll be posting plenty of updates on IN-SEASON TRAINING DO'S, something is literally missing at local/amateur level.

If you're still in a pre-season training mindset as a coach or fitness coach, then you're missing the boat.

If you don't want to wait for all these updates then you can easily purchase the in-season training program I have available below and start implementing right away, otherwise sit tight.

COACHES - http://aussierulesuntouchable.com/program-inseasoncoach-2/

PLAYERS - http://aussierulesuntouchable.com/program-inseasonplayer/

PLAYER/COACHING IDEA'S PART 3

Late last year I read the book released by Paul Roos titled "Here It Is" which follows his tenure with the mighty Sydney Swans, including his 20 Points of Success, and ended with his tenure rebuilding the Melbourne Football Club.

While reading that book and almost venturing into coaching myself I started compiling a list of idea's and thoughts with part 1 and part 2 being posted over the last couple of weeks.

Here's part 3...

#21 - Make a list of stats to track against the varying opposition levels of your league for example tracking tackles against lower teams will ensure your team works hard without the ball, regardless of the opposition.

#22 - Your work ethic must exceed your talent base.

#23 - Develop specific roles for each player with some having duel roles if their skill set suits.

#24 - Manage player arousal pre-game and during the game - too much arousal too early will usually result in a fadeout come the end of the match.

#25 - Have 3 - 5 team rule per line (backs, mids, forwards) and address theme each break so everyone knows what they are being judged on and how they will help the team win.

#26 - To stop a team running, play on them.

#27 - React faster to the opposition because if you run right with them straight away then they'll stop running much sooner then if you're 5 - 10m away from them which will also cut down energy expenditure as your cutting your chase distances down from 100m to 10m.

#28 - Against bad teams you can rely somewhat on them giving the ball back to you but against the good teams you can't and you need to actually be able to win it back.

#29 - Don't be so relieved to actually get the ball that you get too defensive with it once you have it.

#30 - How can your team get easy goals?

#31 - Train more ground balls under pressure to eliminate fumbling.

#32 - A switch kick has 2 sides to it. 1 - It is usually a non-pressured kick to an unmarked teammate, eliminating the pressure and therefor should be a hit target 99% of the time. 2 - On the other hand, the pressure to hit that target, regardless of how easy it seems, is very high because real pressure comes if it doesn't work out. Think about this at training when part 2 isn't actually present and you just go through the motions with that kick.

DON'T ARGUE TRAINING PROGRAM

Apart from the high mark, the greatest spectacle of individual play in the AFL these days is the fend-off, or the "DON'T ARGUE."

As footy has become more and more congested and contested, being able to create some space, any space, to get an effective handball or kick away is of great importnace.

AFL superstars such as Dustin Martin, Patrick Dangerfield, DON'T ARGUE newcomer Sam Powell-Pepper and to a lesser extent Nat Fyfe and Josh Kennedy, also use variations of the DON'T ARGUE to free the arms or to create space in tight confines.

Those 5 players all have 1 thing in common - strength at the contest.

They also have great size but size doesn't always correlate with strength, if the size can't be utilised correctly.

The DON'T ARGUE is a product of full body strength, and that's exactly what this program will focus on.

It will also use specific exercises to target the specific muscles and actions of the DON'T ARGUE, to allow for maximum carryover from the gym to the playing field.

Bench presses are great but they are a very general exercise for footy as the action, position, load and speed of the movement is not directly applicable to footy - not even close.

This program will literally walk you through the steps you need to take to perfect your very own DON'T ARGUE.

30 sessions for $20 - you can't go wrong!

Click the link below to purchase at the $20 early bird special - available for just 7 days.

DON'T ARGUE TRAINING PROGRAM