"Conditioning."
A word feared by so many athletes. Yet pushed to the limits by coaches.
Look around at the coaches at all levels, of all sports. What is the common theme we see? Back to back errors, "Take a lap." A mental blunder leading to a turnover in practice, "On the line!" We have built a negative cloud around the word "conditioning." From the perspective of an athlete, many see it as punishment. I am here to explain how we can get more out of our athletes by taking a different approach to conditioning. Understanding how and why we condition a certain way will help coaches, parents, and athletes become more successful.
The Science
This can get complicated but bear with me as I try to put this in understandable terms. There are 3 major energy systems worth noting. These 3 energy systems have major implications on an athletes performance from training to games. Lets take a look:
The phosphagen system is also known as the ATP-PCr system. This is the system utilized by the vast majority of athletes. This system is fueled mainly by creatine phosphate. This is where creatine supplementation comes into play. Having more creatine readily available improves your output in the first 10 seconds of a maximum effort task. Full recovery of this system takes around two to three minutes. If you go all out for 10 seconds, in order to fully replenish the system, an average athletes will take a couple minutes. Take a max effort sprint for example. In 10 seconds maybe you make it as far as 80 yards. We see this "burst" system in baseball when legging out a base hit. In Football when breaking a 20 yard run. In basketball on a breakaway. Many sports will show an average all out effort of less than 10 seconds.
Fast glycolysis is also known as the anaerobic glycolysis system. This system lasts from approximately 10-90 seconds of work. This energy system does not require oxygen to produce force and runs off of carbohydrates that are readily available. Full recovery of the anaerobic glycolysis system can take up to an hour depending on the intensity and time spent on that task. We see this system utilized in athletes such as basketball players at certain times, soccer players and certain swimming and track events.
The oxidative system is long term. This can normally be seen in our long distance athletes such as cross country runners, rowers, swimmers and occasionally soccer players. This system requires oxygen and is held at a much lower intensity. A cross country runner can't sprint out of the gate because the ATP-PCr system would deplete leaving an excessive amount of fatigue. A more moderate pace will allow these athletes to excel as they try to enhance their oxygen consumption. This system takes over after approximately 2 minutes of a moderate paced task and can last as long as the body has the glycogen stores to keep it going. The oxidative system lasts efficiently up to about 2 hours and can take as long as 48 hours to fully recover.
There is the science in basic terms. Now that we understand the energy systems our body uses, we can look at how to train them. Don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer of being a well-rounded athlete. Having the ability to improve your oxidative system and overall endurance can serve as beneficial to any athlete if supplemented correctly. There is nothing wrong with taking a long run once a week in the offseason. Overall conditioning and endurance can go a long way in an athletes longevity. But what I want to attack is sport specific conditioning to improve the performance of an athlete in their specific realm.
Our Approach of Attack
You can get fancy and bring a stop watch to games and look at how long an athlete averages a segment of play. Or you can think of it logically/look it up. A volleyball player is almost never going to have to perform at max effort for more than ~8 seconds. In baseball, triples and inside the park home runs are rare. Most of the time we see sprints on a double/single, or tracking down a fly ball. Times may vary from ~4-8 seconds with almost a minute to recover. In football, an end around sweep for a 30 yard gain may push the limits of the ATP-PCr system but still leaves a good amount of recovery time. Anything more than these scenarios are few and far between. So after practice 3-4 days a week (sometimes as punishment), why do we do exhausting long distance sprints with minimal recovery? We are taxing athletes in a way that is unnecessary for their body and sport.
Instead, try to look at "conditioning" as speed work. Get the buy in from your athletes that this is not punishment. Give me 100% and I promise that you will improve. The best time to do your speed work is after a good warmup and before practice starts. This can be done before practice because it should not be overly taxing on the team/athletes.
Example: Your team is still in preseason for baseball. Get to practice, get a good warmup and sweat in. Try to time it out so that you can complete 5-8 max effort sprints. This can be a mix of legging out singles or doubles out of the box. You hit a single in a game, you probably get over a minute to recover. Utilize that idea. Leg out a single and recover for a minute while other guys go. Same goes for doubles. But EVERY sprint should be max effort. Early in the offseason is the time where you can utilize after practice conditioning of longer distance if that is you feel is necessary for your team.
From the example above, you can pretty easily relate that speed work to other sports. For my coaches, parents, and athletes I emphasize:
It is imperative that you sprint!! It is by far the best plyometric and speed/power developer that you can do.
The Problem
We see conditioning done too frequently at the end of practice and used as punishment. Long, slow, and exhausting! Finding purpose in this style of conditioning is a daunting task. Remember to always put the athletes performance first. If you do not see the benefits that can result, look to improve your approach. We make strides on a daily basis in the world of athletic performance. Coaches and athletes that lag behind in this world of knowledge are held back of their success. It is our job as strength and conditioning coaches to help fill the gap between training and on field performance.
An athlete needs to train their body to meet the demands of their sport. The bottom line is:
Train slow, play slow. Train fast, play fast.
Feel free to drop your email and any questions you may have on the contact page!
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