A new school year is around the corner. All over, there will be in-season coaches trying to condition their athletes to be ready for game time and out-of-season coaches trying to get their athletes faster, stronger, and tougher before the season begins.<\/p>\n
A new school year is around the corner. All over, there will be in-season coaches trying to condition their athletes to be ready for game time and out-of-season coaches trying to get their athletes faster, stronger, and tougher before the season begins.<\/p>\n
Lots of effective exercises, cone-drills<\/a>, and conditioning schemes will be assimilated. But if the right things aren\u2019t done in the right way, with the proper rest<\/a>, timing, and compatible exercises, the program will be working against itself<\/a>.<\/p>\n What few coaches consider is whether the improvements their athletes make come despite their efforts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This improvement is a phenomenon that author, Nassim Taleb<\/a>, calls \u201cteaching birds to fly.\u201d<\/p>\n The wonderful thing about training adolescent athletes is that they have a lot of biological momentum, which pulls them towards being stronger and more athletic. It\u2019s hard to mess that up.<\/p>\n Additionally, they are exceptionally resilient<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Even the most ridiculous training programs will tend to make high-school and college-age athletes stronger and better conditioned. But could the program get them more bang for their buck? Could they see more of the desired adaptations? Almost certainly.<\/p>\n In over a decade working with sports coaches, I\u2019ve noticed that it is startlingly rare for coaches to make any distinction between different power training<\/a>:<\/p>\n Coaches are often confused about the purpose behind their drills. The majority want tired athletes. \u201cIf it is hard, it is good<\/strong>.\u201d I’ve heard more than once. You can\u2019t blame the coaches, though.<\/p>\n This motto is the tradition that is passing down in almost every sport<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But this needn\u2019t be the case. You can get athletes optimally faster, better conditioned, and even tougher in the same program if you understand a few simple principles.<\/p>\n It all boils down to understanding the basics of energy systems\u2014concepts so simple and essential that every coach should know them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The body is an adaptation machine. It tends to respond predictably based on the type of stress that it is experiencing.<\/p>\n When the body is called upon to do an activity, it utilizes three energy systems<\/strong>:<\/p>\n While every action initiates all three systems, one system is often doing the bulk of the work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Understanding how to train each system best is crucial for determining how you should prepare.<\/p>\n *Note<\/strong>: No one else calls the ATP\/CP system the power system<\/em> or the glycolytic system the burn system<\/em>, but this will be easier to remember.<\/p>\n Think of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP<\/a>) and CP as dynamite. It is very explosive energy:<\/p>\n But you cannot effectively train these harmful elements without ATP and CP<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Here is the rub. ATP and CP are like an 18th-century musket. When you decide to use it, boom, it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n ATP and CP only last about 6-7 seconds<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Then you\u2019re losing power. Even Olympic 100-meter sprinters at the top of their training game will be decelerating before the end of a 100-meter sprint. They\u2019ll hit top speed and then start to go slower because ATP and CP are gone.<\/p>\n And ATP and CP take a while to re-load<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Specifically, there is anywhere from a 1:12 to a 1:20 work to rest ratio required to make an all-out effort and then do another. For better power training results, err towards 1:20 or more.<\/p>\n That means if your speed training has you running max-effort 20-yard sprints that take you three seconds, then you would ideally rest for 60 seconds in between each. If you only rest 30 seconds, guess what. You aren\u2019t getting faster. You\u2019re getting tired.<\/p>\n When strenuous efforts extend beyond six seconds or are repeated with little rest, the burn system tends to take over<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Coaches love the burn system because it burns, it’s hard, and an all-out effort.<\/p>\n But this is not<\/em> an effective way to train speed, agility, power, and strength, those elements that are most destructive in almost every sport<\/strong>.<\/p>\n When your speed training becomes burn training, it is no longer speed training. When you do box jumps<\/a> to train explosive power<\/a> and repeatedly do them with little rest, you aren\u2019t getting more explosive.<\/p>\n You aren\u2019t training power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Furthermore, this sort of training also tends to beat the hell out of the central nervous system and the muscular system required for the practical training of any power system goals.<\/p>\n For this reason, I recommend avoiding burn-specific training (other than while playing sports) until within a few months of the season and limiting this training while in-season.<\/p>\n These generalizations do not tell the whole story, but they are the basics that everyone should know<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For a more in-depth look at all three systems and how they work in your training, this article<\/a> in The Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism<\/em> does a great job clarifying sport-specific conditioning demands.<\/p>\n The myth of more is better<\/a> pervades sports. Many coaches would look at the distinctions between energy systems and conclude that their sport requires the development of all three systems and try to find time to train everything, all of the time.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that you can get a fixed amount of training adaptation out of the body<\/strong>:<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve stated, the burn system has a way of counteracting speed, agility, plyometric, and all power system training\u2014the qualities that are most destructive in sports.<\/p>\n Training should be done with sufficient rest for optimal power system training results, without too many reps, and before more fatiguing work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n It would be better to avoid any traditional conditioning on days that focus on training the power system. But, of course, you will eventually want to introduce other variables as well.<\/p>\n Many different training goals have to be balanced and coordinated over a training year<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Some goals go together better than others; each has its benefits and costs and will depend on the sport and the training phase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I\u2019d recommend focusing on quality movement and gradually building the power system early on, with a bit of gradual mobility and aerobic development for most sports. Over time, you can build up to greater intensities and duration of work.<\/p>\n This focus alone will develop a lot of capacity in the burn system without explicitly targeting it. As always, training needs to include appropriate recovery<\/a>. A couple of months before competitions begin, start to integrate a bit more sport-specific interval work gradually. But his approach runs contrary to what is typical.<\/p>\n Most coaches want to begin their off-season with hard conditioning gauntlets and as many exhausting gut checks as possible<\/strong>.<\/p>\n While I understand the value of establishing standards<\/a> of work ethic and developing mental toughness<\/a>, it is important to recognize the costs of this work. I like to approach building mental toughness in a manner that aligns better with my other training considerations.<\/p>\n Rather than starting off-season with a few weeks of puke-bucket-workouts and then easing into a more effective training philosophy, I recommend starting with a fanatical emphasis on executing exercises with proper technique<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the same time, clarify all your disciplinary expectations<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n
Energy Systems Made Simple<\/h2>\n
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1. The Power System<\/h2>\n
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2. The Burn System<\/h2>\n
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3. The Aerobic System<\/h2>\n
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Practical Implications<\/h2>\n
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Train Mental Toughness<\/h2>\n
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