A Letter From a Concerned Strength Coach: Regarding Team Sport Conditioning

​    Long distance running and long duration high intensity cardio have long been a staple in team-sport training and preparation. I am talking since before the days where Rocky Balboa through on on his grey sweat suit and ran up those historic stairs in Philadelphia. Like anything, times change and so must the way we prepare and train athletes. I am writing this mostly because I am concerned and because it is time to make a statement. I have seen too many injuries to the lower extremities of young athletes who are also left tired and abused from improper conditioning. So here is my final stand. I am going to make this quite simple. I will break down the different energy systems of the body, discuss which are used prevalently in sports and then finish up with my favorite ways to train team-sport athletes when it comes to conditioning.
 
The Energy Systems of The Human Body
 
  As Humans we arrange activity into three basic categories of energy, which are alactic  (anaerobic), lactic and aerobic. Here is a breakdown of each of them and when they are used.

• Alactic (without lactic acid)
  • The alactic or anerobic energy system is our initial system and covers short maximum intensity bursts under 15 seconds.
  • This could include a jump, short sprint after a ball or any maximum intensity activity that lasts under 15 seconds in a sport.
• Lactic (energy system used during high intensity conditioning tests such as timed multiple mile runs)
  • The lactic energy system involves moderate bursts of activity at high intensities. These are longer build-ups of time at high intensities when the body is no longer be fueled by ATP (prominent in Alactic state). Think of the lactic state as the time where your muscles start to burn. WE RARELY EVER SEE THIS IN TEAM SPORTS.
• Aerobic
  • This is the long-term energy system and it is used during continuous activities at low intensities.
  • Most importantly, the aerobic energy system refuels ATP (main driver of the Alactic/Anerobic system).

 
Systems Most Commonly Used In Team Sports
 
            Essentially all major team sports are performed in the alactic (anerobic) and aerobic energy systems. That is, rarely does a team sport athlete exert themselves at maximum intensity for longer than 15 seconds (intense and short sprints, jumps, force production or shots) . If they are continuously active it will be at lower intensities (think basketball players jogging around in a half-court set, soccer/hockey players passing a ball/puck amongst teammates etc.). That is, a team sport athlete will rarely ever perform their sport in a lactic state (higher intensities for continuous durations). So, you can begin to see why it would be pointless to train in this manner.
 
The Wrong Way To Train Team Sport Athletes (Along With My Alternatives)
 
            I’ll keep the first part of this brief. In a nutshell, it is wrong to train athletes at higher intensities for long periods of time. This can include multiple mile runs, long sprints etc. Now, here are my favorite ways to train the alactic/anaerobic and aerobic systems. Note that a combination of both in a program is most effective.

• Alactic/Anaerobic
  • I commonly train this system via sprint training, plyometric work and higher intensity (low repetition) sets with compound movements.
  • Find the best exercises for your athletes based on their sport. For example, a baseball player is better off doing acceleration (short sprints) work while you may focus on addition top speed and longer sprints for a football player. Either way, these are great to train speed as well as anaerobic power output.
• Aerobic
  • Tempo Runs: Tempo runs are great for athletes to not only increase their aerobic capacity, but can also be used to work on sprinting technique in a lower intensity setting. Essentially, use their best time on a maximum intensity sprint and simply use roughly 65-85% of that time for their tempo runs.
    • For example:
      • Athlete 1: 4.5 second 40-yard dash
      • Athlete1: 4.5 x 1.75= 7.875 seconds
    • Use 30-90 seconds of rest between bouts.
  • Prowler Tempos/Bodyweight Circuits
    • I use these in a 30/30 interval fashion as an easy way to build aerobic capacity. I simply have an athlete perform a circuit of bodyweight exercises or push an unloaded prowler at about 75% intensity.
  • Assault Bike Tempos
    • I love using these for my hockey players as I structure their active and rest periods based on the length of a shift in a game. They’ll perform 35 seconds followed by a 1-minute break. I will usually start with 10 rounds and progress them weekly.

 
     As you can see it is quite simple to understand why the conditioning practices that are still seen today are wrong and detrimental to athletes. It is imperative that we assess the sports being trained for so that we best understand the structure and needs that go along with it  in terms of anaerobic and aerobic training.