Training Max Velocity Speed in the Gym (It Can Be Done!)

Today I tested a low-ish HRV so I needed something somewhat gentle for the lower body and came up with this contrast circuit. Now most players and would head to the gym and develop their program based on muscles of the lower body, using regular tempo reps (2 - 3secs down then 1 - 2secs up). 

This type of training has it's place no doubt (early off-season phase) but unfortunately in an actual game of footy, gym lifts performed in a straight, up and down manner with slow contractions won't really get it done.

If you want to train to perform then using movements that train multiple force vectors (I've posted about this before) is a must as footy is a 360 degree sport.

Here’s how I developed this training session.

Step 1 – Decide on the aim of the session which was to train the lower body and as I’ve just completed a strength block I wanted something to assist with max velocity sprinting.

Step 2 – What components of the lower body do you need to train train to reach the aim of the session. With max velocity being what I wanted to train over acceleration (which I did on Tuesday), I decided that the components that I could train indoors were: 

Intramuscular Coordination 
Achilles Tendon Stiffness 
Vertical Reactive Power   
Horizontal Reactive Power

·                                                                    

      Coordination is the ability to sequence the right muscles to fire at the right time and in the case of sprinting, we’re talking hip extension of 1 leg while simultaneously going into powerful hip flexion of the opposite leg. The added component of this is that sprinting is also horizontal in movement nature so a perfect exercise for this is the Bosch Clean which as you can see below, is a perfect replica of human locomotion.

For Achilles tendon stiffness I wanted something to overload the movement with minimal impact so I opted for donkey ankle jumps which allow me to jump to higher then I could in a normal ankle jump thus overloading the Achilles upon impact far greater than normal.

      For vertical reactive (ballistic / up and down movement) power I went for trap bar jump squats which has been shown to result in as much, if not more power then any of the Olympic lifts which a far lesser learning curve in regards to technique.

      For horizontal reactive power I went for reactive long jumps with cable resistance which decreases the impact upon landing on each jump yet probably increases explosiveness from the resistance dragging you back as you jump.

       I did 3 circuits of these and went home.

      As you can see there is a huge difference between general and specific training and to really train optimally you need some form of specificity to get true transfer over to your performance.

      The thoughts of getting bigger and stronger is probably making your on field performance much better really as in the end you're getting better at training in the gym, not on the footy field which makes programming ultra important.

      Stop wasting your time and efforts in the gym and actually make an impact in this years finals series while you still have time to do something about it by following these steps:

       #1 - Click the Paypal icon at the top of the blog

       #2 - Send $20 to lange_troy@hotmail.com

       #3 - In the message part of the transaction type in your goal or glaring weakness in your game being  as specific as possible ("...I'm a full forward so I need to get faster over the first 5m of a lead from a  standing start..." for example)

       #4 - Give me 60 - 90mins per week x 4 weeks of your time

       #5 - Dominate on the field

       I only have limited places for this as I've been doing each program manually so get in before my  time runs out!

Hit the Finals in Peak Condition for $20

This week I finished up my little 10 day strength block. I was focusing on squats for this block using a little known exercise called belt squats.

It's as big a bitch to set up and perform as it looks don't get me wrong but it's great for max effort type loading with out spinal compression which should be minimised where it can during the season especially. It's handy to have a 5yr old mini-me to help too!

I did other strength stuff in this block so here's the full program I completed with a few changes as I went along cos you gotta be flexible:

I actually started some of these exercise the week prior doing Belt Squats @ 75kgs x 5 reps + T Bar Deadlifts @ 105kgs x 5 reps + Bench Press (BP) @ 75kgs x 5 reps w/ a 5 sec eccentric each rep

Saturday - Game

Monday - Belt Squats (BS) x 4 reps @ 85kgs + T Bar Deadlifts (TBDL) x 4 reps @ 115kgs*

Wednesday - BS 95 x 3 + DB Chest Supported Row (DB CR) 4 x 12 @ 22.5kgs...BP @ 80kgs x 4 reps w/ a 3sec isometric each rep + Lataral Squat (LS) 2 x 5 @ 10kgs

Friday - BS 105 x 3 + Push Up (set 1 - drop and catch / set 2 - plyometric singles / set 3 - drop catch plyometric) all x 8 reps + Rows (set 1 - stability / set 2 - sa chest supported / set 3 - db row) all x 8 reps @ 30kgs

Monday - LS @ 12.5kgs x 5 reps + BS 115kgs x 3 reps + LS @ 12.5kgs x 5 reps

Wednesday - BS 125kgs x 3

Thursday - BP 85kgs x 4 reps + DB CR 4 x 12 @ 25kgs

Saturday - Game

* I had planned to do both BS and TBDL for this block but I couldn't load the t-bar with more then 115kgs so I took them out.

So why did I choose Squats?

I had a couple of reasons with the first one being that initial acceleration and quad strength has a pretty good correlation and that I hadn't done anything nearing max effort for the lower body since early March so without needing to be 1005 for Saturday I could wear the body down a bit if I needed to.

If I didn't go away for the long weekend I could have done another BS session and gone heavier but there's no premiership medals being handed out for squat strength is there?

Since last August I've done 2 rehab blocks (knee + back), 2 speed blocks, 3 aerobic conditioning blocks and various other "bit" blocks as well.

As you can see I've covered pretty much everything at various times and for the rest of the season I'm yet to plan out what to do next. We have a run of 5 games in a row against teams in the bottom bracket so I could embark in some extra training and I also seem to be pulling up better from games that's for sure.

For most of you it's the half way mark of the season and the peak condition you might have been in earlier in the season has been slowly worn away a little bit which means you need to go again to be at your peak when you really need it - finals time!!

So if you have a glaring weakness then for $20 I''ll tailor make a 4 week program that you can simply plug in to your current training with minimal effort. Whether your speed is lacking, your endurance needs work or your strength levels are down from not hitting the gym like you did in the summer - you let me know what you need and I'll deliver.

The theme for this is 1 problem - 1 solution.

This isn't the time to be trying to set personal bests in everything. Choose 1 thing and let's concentrate on it to get the best, and fastest results.

All programs will be delivered via email with accompanying videos and any notes you need to carry out the program .

Hit the Paypal button below, send your payment to lange_troy@hotmail,com and I'll respond pretty much immediately. In the message bit put in your goal being as specific as you can in regards to how it holds your performance back, what you'll be able to do with it after the program has finished and what time/equipment you have to put into the program.

I'll do the rest!

I'm not sure how many players I can take on for this so get in early before I get overwhelmed and have to stop taking people on for this.

5 Ways to Make Your 2nd Half of the Season Better Than Your 1st

The Queens Birthday weekend is here signalling the half way mark of the season I suppose and backing off from last week's post "Mid Season Grading and Goal Setting".

I'm heading back to Warrnambool in a minute so this will be a quick one so here we go.

#1 - Start Heart Rate Variability Testing

I've written about this extensively in the last year or so and I couldn't think of any reason why you wouldn't be doing it but for those that aren't then follow these instructions:

- download the HRV4Training on your iPhone (it's not android as yet) where it will cost you maybe $10
- test for 60secs every morning as soon as you wake up in  fully rested state
- look at the correlations between how you actually feel and the training advice it's giving you to see how you respond to different stressors which will help you plan your week

You're only going to get more fatigued as the season goes on so this becomes very important as you want to be playing your best football in August / September.

#2 - Personal Weakness Training Block

If your team's ladder position allows then set up a training block aimed at improving a quality that you know you NEED (not want) to improve to help your team.

It may takeaway a little from your on-field performance so I'd let your coach know what you're doing beforehand in case it does. He'll be more then happy to accommodate you if you're doing outside training for the betterment of the team and if he doesn't then send him my way!

#3 - Get Stronger

As the season drags through winter and fatigue builds up then you need to continue to build resiliency throughout the body to avoid soft tissue injuries. You can't do too much about contact injuries but you should continue to lift relatively heavy throughout the entire season as it feed endurance and speed as well.

#4 - Get Faster

Speed NEEDS to be trained every 5 - 8 days. A game doesn't train maximal speed as it has been shown that you'll only reach about 90 - 95% of maximal speed during a game. To increase actual maximal speed (the holy grail of sport by the way) you need to train it specifically.

Ideally you'd do this on your own before Tuesday training after 3 days of rest from Saturday or during team training. If you can't do it pre-training or your team doesn't really train speed (good luck!) then do it Monday pm

#5 - Recover like an Elite Athlete

As mentioned above fatigue will build up as the season goes on so it becomes increasingly more important to ensure that your are partaking in some form of recovery post game, and training if need be.

Eat meat protein instead of pies and chips.

Drink protein and water instead of beer.

Cool down properly.

Introduce recovery training days above doing nothing at all.

OK I'm out but if you need more information on any of these points then hit me at the Facebook page.

Mid - Season Grading and Goal Setting

With the Queen's Birthday weekend coming up most leagues will have the week off signalling the middle of the season which is the best time to take some time to sit back and have a decent look at your progress this year.

This can be hard to do during the season as it can be all encompassing but you have some time to reflect and make informed judgments on your season to date without any emotion which can skew results.

From a team point of view we have dropped 2 games we believed we could win resulting in a win loss record of 5 and 3 compared to last years 7 and 1.

I can honestly say that we won't have our best or near best team on the park until the back end of the year with a few mid year holidays keeping some blokes out for extended periods of time so we have only probably been at 70% full strength tops so far this year.

We haven't played everyone once quite yet but there seems to be a top 6 or 7 and a bottom 5 so we should still play finals once we get everyone back in the team. Obviously the aim is to finish in the top at least get the double chance come September.

As a team we are little undersized in the midfield so we need to really work out our structures at stoppages so we don't have to fight and scrap with blokes bigger then us in tight. We play on a small ground so we like it in tight but a smaller midfield can get tired from battling against bigger opponents all day.

This has also resulted in average disposal coming into the forward line as we not getting a lot of clear takeaways from stoppages (of which there are plenty on reserves football!), and a lot of entries being kicks out of packs or under pressure.

We also haven't scored anywhere near as heavily as last year with a total score of 472 vs 809 this time last year. Defense is about the same with 354 vs 304.

Personally I've under-performed compare to last year with only 8 goals so far this year compared to 21 at the same time last year. As a tiny forward the average entries haven't helped my cause but I've also kicked more behinds then last year, especially from set shots which I'm usually very good from.

My knee injury has taken a bit off my performance unfortunately as I'm not quite as fast as  used to be and I can't quite jump as high either which crucial at 168cms!

There's still minor actions I can't do 100% but there is no pain in the knee at all so I'm hoping it's still just a little protectiveness from the brain that will hopefully release over time.

I'm recovering better from games now compared to the earlier rounds which is great as I can get more training in during the week and my HRV baseline and daily readings have improved as well so I'm handling more volume better which is a positive sign.

My goals for the rest of the season is to hot the scoreboard every week (I've only missed 1 game without scoring a goal so far this year) and I need to present more if only to create space for our other forwards to work in and I'm no chance of getting the ball.

I'll need to get some goal kicking in during the week too so as not to go back to kicking behinds, especially from set shots. I've been good the past month with those though so hopefully I'm past the little case of the yips I had earlier.

Training wise with the week off I can dedicate this week and half of next week to some good old fashioned strength work. I haven't really lifted an appreciable load for 2 or 3 months now, not that you have to all the time, but it's time to top up my strength levels while I can train with a high workload without having to be fully recovered by Saturday.

Haven't Played in Years? Wanna?? Prepare Like This!

I'm a regular over at www.bigfooty.com in the health and fitness forum bit and a couple of weeks ago a bloke posted about wanting to return to playing footy next year.

Here was what went down.

ORIGINAL POSTER:

'...Decided to put my lazy strength training to use and get back into footy next year

Got a pretty strong understanding of strength and conditioning... read alot. Love CptKirk's work and his blog. 

As far as where I'm at right now, I'm 210 pounds/95kgs @6ft1... Carrying I'd say about 8-10 kilos of fat that'll need to go for me to get in game condition

My bench is somewhere on that long journey between 2 plates and 3... My goal is to get to 3 plates, possibly rep it multiple times

As far as what program I'm doing for that/have been doing for that for ages.. Just a basic texas method type volume/recovery/intensity 3 day a week

Haven't done deads or squats in about 8 or so months.. Kept restraining a hamstring squatting (lowbar/flat shoes).. and have been real lazy since. I was squatting around 405/180kgs and was intermittent with deadlifts so no clue where that was, but it was definitely in the 405+ territory... 

So right now my focus is on fixing my posture and mechanics with basic core work, rehab sort of stabilizer exercises around the hip and throwing lunges/cossack squats/one legged ham curls just to get my weak side/glute back up to par, along with low load bilaterial exercises like just some air squats and light high bar squats just to get the movement pattern back

Always reading alot, being active to fix this imbalance... Pretty on top with mobility.. Have followed Kelly Starrett for 4 or so years now, got band and try and clean up all my mobility ROMs especially through the hips and ankles + soft tissue myofascial foam roller work most importantly in the glutes

The sooner I can fix the weak glute/imbalance issue, the sooner I can get back to the heavy compounds and kickstart that muscle memory to get me back to where I was. Not too fussed about this, I am genetically strong squatting/general hip extension movements. In the beginning it took me only 8-10 weeks to start repping 315 squatting... Honestly I really didn't do much work or stay consistent.. I'd be on track for 2 weeks then have a week off... Looking forward to just being consistent for a whole 6 or so months.

And as far as the conditioning and body comp side of things... Been reading on the more specific sides of things for mixed energy sports... I'm understanding the whole High-Low principles and the focus on aerobic and alactic training. Not sure when i'll start doing this, but I have been researching some stuff about a guy who has combined Strength training with marathons... Concurrent training essentially. I probably could keep progressing my lifts whilst improving conditioning, but I'm a bit thin on the how to and information for that as of right now.. Just focused on fixing the imbalance and then getting the big three numbers back up. Also the fat loss/leaning period might be another issue.. Easy for me as intermittent fasting makes it so. Not sure when I'll start this as I want to first get my lifting numbers/strength levels to strong benchmarks first. 

Perhaps I can fix the imbalance, starting regaining and increasing the gym lifts, and work on conditioning at the same time, then once I've reached solid benchmark strength levels, begin to slowly lean down. Any help on how if this is all possible/how I could plan/periodize this? I got rough understandings but I'm notorious for keeping things simple..

So I guess some specific questions you guys could perhaps help me with

What's the most optimal strength based routine to get the big three numbers up as fast as possible... I've kept to the basic texas method for a long time now... Have always thought about trying a high frequency bench program like Sheiko or Smolov JR that can apparently get a 10kg PR increase in 2 months or so... 

Anyone have good knowledge on combining strength training and conditioning with the main objective to increase the strength levels, before I lean down and the priority shift to the conditioning... I know it can be done, just have a lack of knowledge and idea how to plan/cope/regulate such a thing... Based around High-Low principles? I'm not sure. it'd seem like it'd be the more time eficient thing to do instead of being lazy and waiting until I've gotten the strength and leaned down to then start conditioning...

As far as time frame.. I'd like to be cooking ready for next season... Just at amateurs so it's pretty casual.. Was playing WAFL colts a few years ago, felt I wasn't in the best condition/fitness, so I want to get back into footy, play a year in amateurs to get back in the groove, then perhaps try give WAFL level a go again. I was an elite high jumper in my teen years, got a vert that's probably high 30's at worst, perhaps 40's maxed out with solid training foundation.. Getting a bit ahead of myself, but that's the general time frame. I'm still very young, only a couple years removed from WAFL colts, so I've got plenty of youth and time. 

Also i'm a bit fuzzy/clueless on the body composition/conditioning relationship... I understand the power to weight ratio aspect, just not the former.

Long ass post.. Any help/feedback would be appreciated..."

MY RESPONSE:

"...The number 1 goal of EVERY local footballer should be body comp as it will make you faster and increase endurance simply by having to lose less mass...combine that with actually getting faster and improving endurance and you're set so you've made a solid choice first up

Strength wise for footy benching 1.25 x bw and squatting 1.5 x bw is probably enough for local footy and would be top end more then likely so once you get to those numbers then you shouldn't waste valuable energy resources going higher...that being said you do have plenty of time before next season

One thing i want you to do is think about how bench, squats and deads each affect football performance - let me know what you come up with

Hit some weighted glute bridge/hip thrusts for those glutes as they will give you a sense of heavy lifting once you load them up

Also think about why your hamstring keeps going...is it mobility? is it stability? this will go a long way to fixing the problem then just trying to cover everything and hopefully it goes away

Conditioning wise it's all about aerobic capacity and alactic power and it's just a matter of how you break them up where you might go something like:

Month 1 - aecap x 2/week + alp x 1/week
Month 2 - 2 + 2
Month 3 - 1 + 3
Month 4 - 1 + 4

Something like that...remember you've got plenty of time so you don't need to rush anything and if you're gonna do footy properly such as pre-season training pre and post x-mas, then that will be enough to get you ready for that which is what the aim of your training should be now

Consolidation of stressors is something to look at which too as well as competing demands of training to get the best results with as little stress

Losing the fat will take the longest and shouldn't lose strength if doing so on "diet" if you take it slowly...there's no point getting potentially fatter when you're long term goal is to be slimmer - makes no sense

Alex Vida you mean?

Smolov won't really stay with you once it's over and it's a simply terrible program to go through - I did the jr version some yrs back - and there's plenty of ways to get 10kgs pr without tearing yourself apart

I've done sheiko too a little so if i was you i'd do that first if you're into high freq to build great work capacity which may get you the 10kg pr without the cns stress...also look at dan john's 40 day program which i also did with success and it's piss easy...i'd actually do that over shieko...it's all about getting the most from the least

Going back to competing demands of training you can train max strength and aerobic cap at the same time with minimal interference IF you keep the aerobic cap low in - like 65% max int...it has to be low...and like i said start leaning now where you only need to make 1% changes to your diet for this to happen

High/Low doesn't have to followed right now but gym would be high and aerobic cap would be low so go from there..."

What are you waiting for!! 

Mini Aerobic Block

We had this weekend off footy because of interleague play so with all weekends off I like to try and utilise the extra energy resources from not training to going harder with my training.

If you remember, last season I did a mini pre-season block going into finals only to do my knee in the last game of the home and away season and miss finals anyway.

With each year I get older I 'm finding harder and harder to get a decent amount of training in between games so this week off has come as a god-sent for me right now. I also missed our last game so it will be 20 days between games for me which might actually turn into a good thing to have a break, albeit pretty early in the season.

So looked at the schedule and I had 10 - 11 days to play with for this min block where I'll train pretty much everyday but finish up the Thursday before the next game.

I'm a natural sprinter type so like the program I did in the link above, my focus is on aerobic methods.

I settled on working on 2 portions of the aerobic equation:

1. Improving the my general aerobic conditioning as well as heart strength which leads to stronger beats meaning more blood circulated per pump which means more oxygen being circulated throughout the working muscles
2. Improving the ability of my fast twitch muscle fibres to work harder for longer and to also recover faster bouts of alactic work which to you is repeat speed/power.

For each option I am using 2 training methods for each:

Aerobic - Threshold Training + Cardiac Output Intervals

Fast Muscle Fibers - Explosive Repeats + High Resistance Intervals

I train both aerobic qualities on 1 day and then both fast muscle fiber on the other day.

Day 1 - Threshold + Cardiac Power Intervals
Day 2 - Explosive Repeats + High Resistance Intervals
Day 3 - Upper Strength
Day 4 - Threshold + Cardiac Power Intervals
Day 5 - Footy Training
Day 6 - Off
Day 7 - Explosive Repeats + High Resistance Intervals
Day 8 - Threshold + Cardiac Power Intervals
Day 9 - Explosive Repeats + High Resistance Intervals
Day 10 - Upper Power
Day 11 - Off
Day 12 - Game

Threshold Training - after finding your anaerobic threshold (the point where energy is being supplied by your aerobic system then changes to anaerobic system which the point where fatigue hits you), then you want to train at a +/- 5 beats of that number for 3 - 5mins. Rest until your heart rate returns to 130bpm and go again.

Session 1 - 5 x 3mins
Session 2 - 4 x 4mins
Session 3 - 3 x 5mins

Cardiac Power Intervals - work as hard as you can x 60secs then rest until 130bpm and go again. I'm doing shuttle runs for this for some change of direction work.

Session 1 - 5 x 60secs
Session 2 - 4 x 60secs (I did these Friday and we had a light training run Saturday so I did the lower volume session 2nd instead of 1st.)
Session 3 - 6 x 60secs

Explosive Repeats - using an explosive exercise that allows for a minimum of 1 rep per second, work as hard as you can for 8 - 12 secs then rest 60 - 30secs. You then rest 8 - 10mins and repeat the 8on/60off. I'm doing cable swings for this where I get 12 - 13 reps per 8secs.

Session 1 - 8secs on + 60secs off x 6 sets, rest 8mins, 8secs on + 60secs off x 6
Session 2 - 10secs on + 40secs off x 6 sets, rest 8mins, 10secs on + 40secs off x 6
Session 3 - 12secs on + 30secs off x 6 sets, rest 8mins, 12secs on + 30secs off x 6

High Resistance Intervals - work as hard as you can x 10 - 12secs then resting to 130 bpm then go again. I'm doing hill sprints for these.

Session 1 - 6 x 10secs
Session 2 - 7 x 10secs
Session 3 - 8 x 10secs

So I'm half way through as you can see from my schedule above and my HRV is improving everyday even though I;m seeing a little spike in resting heart rate which is fine, it should drop pretty dramatically for Thursday, Friday or Saturday if my planning works out!

The Queen's Birthday weekend is about 4 weeks away so I'll definitely re-post that leading up tpo that week where you can too can hit it hard while you can!

Transfer of Training Part 4 - Putting It All Together

Here's what we've covered so far:

Part 1 covered the 3 basic muscle contraction types being eccentric, isometric and concentric as well as touching on the force-velocity spectrum.

Part 2 looked at how each of these 3 muscle contractions look like in action and how they can displayed in different ways.

Part 3 gave you some insight on how to organise all the different contraction types in categories to make it easier to program.

Today we're putting it all together in conjunction with the force-velocity spectrum from earlier starting from the left side and high force/low velocity side.
 
                                    

Max Strength is a high force/low velocity action using loads of 90 - 100%. We've all done 1rm's before and this is exactly that. A slow, grinding rep that is completed irrespective of time. In this case traditional reps with no specific tempo is best used here but it should not be the only way you lift, which is kinda the point of this series!

Strength Speed is moderate to high force with low to moderate velocity using loads of 70 - 90%. Slow eccentric reps x 3 - 5secs and isometric reps x 2 - 3secs will mostly fall into this category.

Power is moderate force and moderate velocity and can be anything from 30 - 80% depending on your muscle fibre make up and training base. Again slow eccentric and isometric reps will be used at the high force end of this with some drop and catch and dynamic effort variations being used at the lower end. You could also use drop catch + isometric options in the same rep for these.

Speed strength is moderate to low force with moderate to high velocity using loads of 10 - 30%. Here we're talking dynamic effort lifting, drop catch lifts, and also weighted throwing variations with barbells and medicine balls. Specific reps in a specific time frame is also a goody here (5 reps in 5 secs etc).

Speed is low force and high velocity and is where the more sport specific stuff comes in like top end sprinting.

Looking at our categories from last week here's they look:

Stiffness - Speed
Relax/Contraction Speed - Speed Strength + Speed
Force Absorption - Max Strength + Strength Speed + Power + Strength Speed + Speed
Overspeed - Speed Strength + Speed
Force Output - Max Strength + Strength Speed + Power + Strength Speed + Speed

You'll see that all of those 5 categories all entail training in the speed spectrum where no-one really trains at all!

If we simply break it down to sprinting speed, the holy grail of sports performance, then it looks like something like this:

1st Step - Max Strength
From Step 1 to 5m - Strength Speed
5m to 15m - Power
15m to 25m - Speed Strength
25m Onwards - High Velocity

As you can see you do still need to train all aspects of the force-velocity spectrum for optimal speed development. Throughout the year you need to gradually ramp up from high force to low force and then obviously low velocity to high velocity.

Just bare in mind that each portion of the spectrum will stress the nervous system quite a bit, especially if you're keeping back of bar velocity so you can't go gung-ho and try to train them all at the same time.

In the Aussie Rules Ultimate Training manual, the yearly program is set up exactly how I have suggested things be planned in this post which can be purchased from the Paypal link at the top of the page so grab your copy today