In strength training, it’s worth noting that slow eccentric and isometric training methods are highly effective for developing potential. The stronger you become, the more force you can apply, translating directly into improved power and speed.

However, it’s crucial to understand your sport’s specific demands first before partaking in conditioning. Tailoring your training regimen to the constraints and requirements of your sport is vital.

The goal of your training should be to amplify, not hinder, your performance on the field or court.

Choosing the Proper Conditioning Program

When choosing a conditioning program, developing what you specifically need for your sport is essential.

For example:

• If you are a football player, understand the time you have as rest between plays and what type of power you need, from just a few reps to endurance.
• If you play soccer, understand how much time is spent walking, jogging, and sprinting.
• And the same goes for hockey and basketball.

It is essential to understand your energy systems and your sport so you can hone in on your training. Athletes often do training programs they don’t need that are detrimental and diminish their performance, like a baseball pitcher doing a CrossFit program.

• First, understand what systems you primarily use.
• Secondly, understand how you use your power and speed. Once you know the process, you can condition it.

Here are some excellent and general ways to condition your speed and power.

EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute)

These workouts can be valuable to a power and speed conditioning program. They provide a structured format that can help improve both power and speed when appropriately designed. EMOM is just a method. You can adjust the time and reps according to your sport or position.

When designing an EMOM workout for power and speed conditioning, consider the following:

Exercise Selection

Choose exercises that target the specific aspects of power and speed you want to improve—plyometrics, sprints, Olympic lifts, etc.

Repetition or Time

Do you want to do 5-10 reps or choose and use 10 seconds? Choose how many sets you want to do—for example, 10 seconds EMOM for 10 minutes.

Speed, Power, or Agility

Choose a lightweight if you want to develop speed. Or a heavy weight for power.

Overall, EMOM workouts can be a valuable power and speed conditioning tool when thoughtfully incorporated into your training program and tailored to your needs and goals.

Sample Programming

1- Start with Olympic Cleans for power, doing five reps every minute for 10 minutes.

2- Kettlebell swings for 10 seconds every minute for 15 minutes.

3- You can alternate Olympic Cleans and Kettlebell Swings every other minute for 15 minutes.

French Contrast Training

Elite athletes often use it and involve exercises designed to maximize neuromuscular adaptations. French sports scientist Gilles Cometti created and popularized this training technique. It is sometimes called “contrast training.”

The French Contrast Training typically consists of four phases, each focusing on different aspects of performance.

Heavy Resistance (Strength Phase)

The first exercise produces post-activation-potential, PAP, to supercharge the nervous system and generate high force using 85-90% 1RM. It primes fast-twitch muscle fibers. Remember, the first exercise only stimulates, not fatigues. If fatigue kicks in, your movement goes from highly stimulated to inhibitory. You must understand this, or PAP will not work for you and affect the second exercise.

Bodyweight Exercise (Speed Phase)

The second exercise is a plyometric one that uses potential produced from the first. The elevated response from the first exercise makes the plyometric exercise more explosive than normal. Perform five reps.

Explosive Resistance (Power Phase)

The third exercise is a weighted plyometric movement or a weighted movement at about 50 percent 1RM. This is the phase where you use explosive power in a fatigued state. Perform 5 reps.

Assisted Phase

The fourth exercise is an overspeed-assisted plyometric or plyometric exercise. An assisted plyometric helps you to stay explosive and fast in a fatigued state. For example, use a resistance band to help you do a pull-up, jump, or run downhill. A movement that allows you to maintain speed with assistance. Perform five reps.

If you don’t feel explosive in the second exercise, use the third as the second and the second as the third. Switch them.

The fundamental principles and benefits of French Contrast Training include:

Potentiation Effect: The transition from heavy to explosive resistance is designed to take advantage of the increased neural drive and muscle activation created by heavy lifting. This can lead to greater power output during the explosive phase.

Time-Efficient: French Contrast Training is efficient because it combines various training elements in one session, making it ideal for athletes with limited time.

Adaptation: It helps challenge the neuromuscular system, improving strength, power, and speed.

Sport-Specificity: This training method can be tailored to the specific needs of individual sports, making it an effective tool for enhancing athletic performance.

The idea behind French Contrast Training is that the heavy resistance exercise “potentiates” or primes the neuromuscular system, making the subsequent explosive practice more effective.

Sample Program Lower Body

• Squats
• Vertical Jumps with Dumbbells or Cleans
• Box Jumps
• Resistance Band Squat Jumps

Sample Program Upper Body

• Bench Press
• Plyometric Pushups
• Dumbbell Presses
• Pushups

Here are some other effective conditioning methods.

Interval Training

Interval training involves alternating low and high-intensity efforts for recovery. This can be applied to running, cycling, or other activities to improve cardiovascular fitness, power, and speed. Examples include High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Tabata.

Fartlek Training

Fartlek, a Swedish term meaning “speed play,” is a training method that combines continuous running with interval training. Athletes vary their pace and intensity throughout the workout, incorporating speed and power.

Hill Sprints

Running uphill forces the body to exert maximum effort, improving power and speed. Hill sprints are an excellent way to build leg strength and cardiovascular endurance.

Plyometric Training

Plyometrics includes explosive exercises like box jumps, squat jumps, and depth jumps. These exercises focus on generating maximum force in minimal time, enhancing power and speed.

Complex Training

Complex training combines strength and plyometric or speed exercises. For example, performing heavy squats followed by vertical jumps. This approach leverages the post-activation potentiation effect, improving speed and power.

Olympic Lifting

Olympic lifts are excellent for building power and speed. However, they require a learning curve before you start lifting a weight explosively from the ground to overhead in one motion. They are perfect for developing power and speed.

Shuttle Runs Drills

Sprint drills can include various distances and rest intervals to challenge different speed and power aspects. Focus on short, long, and lateral shuttles.

Recommended Reading

Check out my INSTANT STRENGTH book for total strength, speed, and power programs and more Contrast Training routines.

To maximize stability, mobility, and flexibility, check out my book, THE BALANCED BODY.

To see great exercises, methods, and techniques videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel, BALANCED BODY.

Based on our coach’s “speech” in the locker room after the game, we knew we were in for a rude awakening at our next practice. Sure enough, when we got on the ice, the coach set a bucket in the center of the rink. He called it the “puke bucket.”

Inevitably, a few of my teammates and I made a trip to the bucket after rounds of sprints that made us feel like we were starring in the movie Miracle.

Is this a wise coaching tactic? Well, that’s for another article.

At some point in your athletic career, you’ve probably lost your lunch—or at least you felt like you might. It probably came during a tough practice, a long game, or an intense workout. Regardless, it’s never convenient, and it’s always kind of embarrassing.

I know firsthand.

Why Do We Vomit from Intense Exercise?

Exercise is designed to push your body to its limits. Whether you lift heavy weights in the gym or perform sprints after practice, the idea is to challenge your body, causing it to adapt and make strength, size, power and/or endurance improvements.

Sports are different; they aren’t meant to cause improvement. You’re simply trying to succeed in whatever event you’re participating in. But this inherently causes you to push your body to the limit.

During intense activity, many things can happen in your body that might cause what’s technically called exercise-induced nausea, which can result in vomiting. We’ll focus on the two main causes.

Your Blood Flow Changes

Your muscles do a ton of work during a workout or game. Knowing this, your body puts your muscles on a VIP list so they have the resources needed to perform at their peak. In this case, the resource is blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients to your muscles.

To supply your muscles with extra blood, your body shifts blood flow away from your stomach and intestines, which slows down digestion. If you ate a poorly timed meal before starting an activity, the food just sits there, causing an upset stomach. At a certain point, your stomach might reject the food, and you will feel nauseous or worse, vomit.

A 2001 study confirmed that eating a meal immediately before a high-intensity workout increases exercise-induced nausea.

According to Dr. Joel Seedman, an exercise physiologist and owner of AdvancedHumanPerformance.com, this most commonly occurs during full-body workouts. When you use several muscle groups, more blood pools in your muscles and won’t be available for your stomach and intestines. You might also experience higher levels of nausea from leg workouts, because the muscles are so large.

If you do vomit, you usually feel better almost immediately. Despite the gross taste in your mouth, you can continue playing your sport or working out.

Your Lactate Levels Increase

You know when you perform a tough exercise and feel “the burn”? This is a sign that levels of lactate—a byproduct of energy metabolism—in your body are increasing. Lactate is used to create more energy, but if your muscles produce more lactate than they can handle, it accumulates in your blood. At a certain point, you reach the maximum amount of lactate your body can handle. This is called the lactate threshold.

As lactate levels increase, acidity levels also rise in your body. Your brain senses this as a toxic environment, and as a defense mechanism, it wants to get rid of the toxicity by causing you to vomit.

When this occurs depends on your conditioning and type of activity. If you suddenly do a crazy intense workout that might be beyond your ability, there’s a decent chance you might feel nauseous. Even a short break from training can cause unexpected nausea.

“If you take a few weeks off from a workout, your strength will not be impaired. In fact, it may increase. However, your body’s aerobic and anaerobic systems detrain within a few days,” explains Seedman. “So what happens is you’re able to stress your body to the same levels, but it catches up to you quickly because your body can’t keep up.”

Seedman says that a strength workout with high reps and short rest intervals (often seen in muscle-building routines) can be a culprit, even if the workout doesn’t leave you gasping for air. In this style of workout, lots of lactate is produced with little time between sets for your body to process it.

What Should You Do?

A lot comes down to genetics. Some people are able to avoid exercise-induced nausea better than others. And just because you vomit doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of shape or less tough.

However, there are some things you can do to reduce your chance of vomiting during a workout or game.

Properly Time Your Nutrition

According to sports dietician Leslie Bonci, it’s critical to time your food and fluid intake before a game to maximize your performance and prevent stomach issues. She recommends following this schedule:

• Drink 20 ounces of fluid an hour before.
• Eat a small snack (about 100 calories) an hour before.
• If you eat a meal, do so about three hours before the game.

Increase Your Lactate Threshold

The second strategy is to improve your conditioning. Increasing your lactate threshold will reduce the likelihood of vomiting from a workout—unless you push yourself beyond what you’re capable of. To do this, you need to train at a high intensity, such as with intervals. Here are five drills that can increase your lactate threshold.

You Don’t Need to Puke for a Workout to be Effective

Vomiting occasionally from a workout is OK. It’s not fun, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. However, there’s no need to make it a habit when you work out. That just means you’re not training intelligently and within your work capacity. If you consistently feel nauseous from your workouts, it’s time to reassess them and maybe scale them back a bit.

If you vomit during a workout or sporting event, make sure to rehydrate with an electrolyte beverage such as a sports drink. This replenishes the lost fluid and nutrients that were in your digestive system and can prevent performance issues later in the session.

RELATED: Water or Sports Drink – What to Drink When?

Especially in the world of youth athletics, an athlete’s true motivations can dictate how long the sport is continued, the rate at which they can develop, and could even affect their chances of success.

When considering an athlete’s motivations we can divide them into two categories, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivations. Intrinsic motivation is based on having the athlete motivated by the activity leading to personal joy or satisfaction. It is a reward from within.

Extrinsic motivation is caused by outside factors such as seeking reward, the desire for a trophy, or another tangible reward. This motivation could also be from seeking to avoid punishment.

Motivations are not as simple as being good or bad. Much like exercise, motivations need to be appropriate to the individual and situation. We see professional athletes chase extrinsic based motivations every year, whether it be individual or team-based titles or contracts. Though when considering youth athletes those missing the intrinsic motivation will suffer in their sport. Along with longer participation periods, higher intrinsically motivated athletes will have a happier and healthier relationship with the sport, leading to more physical activity and increasing the likelihood of happiness in other aspects of their life.

Extrinsic motivation factors can play a role for the youth athlete as well. While extrinsic factors are not as sustainable, it is okay if an athlete wants to be the best or have their team win the championship trophy at the end of the season. Even for youth athletes, having these goals can be positive and healthy if not taken too far.

It is the far extreme side of extrinsic motivation that is problematic and can be dangerous to the athlete’s self-esteem. If a youth athlete defines their worth as a person in winning and winning alone, that creates an unhealthy relationship with sport and negates all of the previous positives listed.

Parents and coaches have the greatest impact on youth athletes and must understand these motivations to better educate and prepare our athletes for on and off the field of play. This can be a difficult conversation that coaches and parents need to have not only with the athletes but with themselves! Youth athletes notice more than you think and extrinsically motivated athletes may just be participating in sports to appease their parents or do what they believe is expected of them. Instead of playing the sport for themselves and they are playing for you the parent.

Coaching can also go in a similar direction. Personally, I’ve had athletes avoid me because they didn’t do as well as what they felt was acceptable and didn’t want to disappoint me! Even without knowing it, we can dramatically affect how these youth athletes view and feel about themselves.

There are a few strategies parents and coaches can do to attempt to provide a more understanding and healthier relationship with the athlete during this time.

Communication:

A simple conversation can carry a lot of weight. Being direct with kids and their motivations for sport before the sport actually begins can better prepare you both for the season ahead. Whether you’re a parent signing your child up for the sport or the coach responsible, it’s important to set expectations and guidelines. Things such as attendance, effort, listening to the coach, and finishing what was started are all good learning opportunities for the young athlete.

Discussing these things up front will help better understand their true motivations for the sport and can be revisited during the tougher times throughout the season. You don’t need to go into the details of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors, but you do want to promote intrinsic-based ideas such as gaining enjoyment from personal development, and even highly committed athletes need to respect this mastery process.

Process > Outcome

Athletes should be praised for the process and not the outcome. Regardless of how dominant a win or how crushing the loss, comments or praise should be on the process that was taken to get there.

If an athlete had a great game over the weekend at their basketball tournament, congratulate them on all of those extra shootarounds and one-on-one sessions paying off rather than the win itself. There are of course, several variables to what led to the victory, but you want to make the connection of hard work is positive, not necessarily winning. They will not always win but should be expected to work hard always.

The same is true in defeat. If an athlete comes in and is upset about not doing as well in a game, yet their previous actions don’t match this commitment, then it’s important to take this difficult conversation and break it down.

That if they wanted to be as great as they claimed then they are going to have to give more than what they’ve been previously doing. If an athlete just wants to play sports for fun and practice the minimum, that is okay! Though they shouldn’t be upset with themselves if they’ve done the minimum, expecting the maximum.

Focusing on the process rather than the outcome helps athletes find more value in the work done to get them there, falling in love with the process and intrinsic values as opposed to chasing a trophy or more extrinsic values.

Encourage Multi-Sport Involvement

Youth athletes should start by participating in as many sports as possible. From a strict athletic perspective, this will help them build a well-rounded and robust base. The more various sports that are played the more motor patterns and situations they will be exposed to, helping them build upon in the future. Then once in the future, they can begin to specialize in a single sport with a much greater potential of athletic ability to pull.

From a social perspective playing multiple sports will allow kids to have experiences and meet people they wouldn’t otherwise, similar to athletic abilities, but for social skills and abilities.

This is beneficial in helping an athlete’s motivations because it will allow athletes time to explore and find what they prefer in a sport. Pressure isn’t as high if they are trying a new sport, and they can focus more within than on the world around them. If an athlete is obsessed with baseball, that is great but taking a month or two out of the year to play recreational park basketball that will give them a break from the sport and benefit their athletic and social skillset.

Conclusion:

Sports can be one of the best things you can give to a young kid. Though if their motivation is in the wrong place, we could already be setting them up for failure. Setting intrinsically focused motivations can help youth athletes maintain a healthy and long relationship with sport. It’s important to understand extrinsic motivation isn’t evil but is not a sustainable source of long-term motivation.

Utilize these three strategies of early communication, becoming more process than outcome-based, and encouraging them to participate in as many sports as possible. These strategies will help an athlete discover their true motivations and a healthier, happier relationship with sport.

What is the best option? Opinions differ. We spoke with two high-level hockey experts to get their thoughts and help you choose what’s best for you.

Rick Bennett: Why You Should Sit on the Bench

Rick Bennett is the head hockey coach at Union College, whose team won the 2014 NCAA National Championship.

We’ve come full circle with this. We used to be a stand-up team, but now we mostly sit on the bench. I learned that from my pro hockey experience, where all the guys sit down. You rarely see NHL guys stand up, unless maybe it’s in the last few minutes of a game.

You can focus on taking in some deep breaths and relax after a tough shift. Plus, you can clearly see the entire ice, which is especially important for line changes so we can be organized, see who’s next up and not take any too-many-men penalties.

Everyone can see each other sitting down and there is a bit of camaraderie.  The players can talk about what they did last shift and how they are going to improve next shift, which is critical for chemistry.

From a coach’s perspective, it’s definitely easier to get your point across when the guys are sitting down. You can kneel down so you’re at their level and go over things quickly on the dry-erase board. They only have to turn their head a bit, instead of completely turning around and potentially getting in the way of someone changing.

For the fourth-line guys, or someone who’s not getting a lot of playing time, I always tell them when to be ready for the next shift. If there’s a TV timeout or a break in the game, they may stand up or quickly skate around near the bench, but that’s it. They’re not doing Push-Ups or Lunges.

Every team has a different philosophy. For example, Boston College was a stand-up team, and they’ve obviously had great success. And, at times our guys do stand up, but for the most part, we find sitting to be the better option.

Doug Crashley: Why You Should Stand Up

Doug Crashley, owner of Crash Conditioning (Calgary, Alberta), trains several NHL elite players, including Duncan Keith, Jordan Eberle and Mike Green.

If you think about a guy on the fourth line, he may play for five or eight minutes. So for 52 minutes of that game (assuming it’s 20-minute periods) and intermissions, you’re sitting down and not on the ice. Obviously, top guys spend more time on the ice, but they still likely sit for more than half of a game.

Sitting on the bench is intended to allow you to recover, but you may be worse off. It puts you in an anterior pelvic tilt, which shuts down your glutes and tightens your hips flexors. If you go onto the ice after you’ve been sitting and your glutes don’t fire and are tight, then you won’t be able to skate at full speed.

Also, having players sit causes all the toxins created by their muscles to pool, which can impair recovery. Standing allows for optimal blood flow and helps flush the system. I think one of the things you’ll see in the future is integrating technology that helps flush out the body between shifts with the click of a button.

We know that we warm up to prepare muscles and improve performance. Obviously you need to rest between shifts, so doing exercises is probably not ideal. And if you’re a fourth liner and aren’t necessarily concerned about recovery, you still don’t have space on the bench.

Standing isn’t a true dynamic warm-up, but it’s better than sitting on your butt. You’ll perform at a better level, skate faster and quicker and will theoretically have less chance of injury.

To take it a step further, there are actually some instances in Europe where they have a small rink behind the tunnels, so guys sitting a lot can get out there and move around a little bit. And the guys coming off the ice can flush out their system and loosen up before the next shift.

Conclusion

From a physiological standpoint, it seems like a no brainer to stand on the bench. But as Bennett points out, this isn’t always practical within the inner workings of a team and can cause more harm than good—why most NHL teams sit.

Both Bennett and Crashley say there’s no definitive right or wrong answer, and it comes down to what works better for the players and the team.

If your team sits, be mindful of your body and take time to move around if you feel tight or haven’t been on the ice for awhile. If you stand, stick to your coach’s system and pay attention to the play on the ice to avoid getting in the way of a line change or interfere with communication between players and coaches.

RELATED: 

• 6 Essential Exercises to Improve Your Skating Speed
• How to Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt
• 4 Physical Traits of Division I College Hockey Players

They will be smaller and weaker than their opponents. 

When playing a sport year-round or joining multiple teams, your athlete has no time to get better. They can have the best technique on the planet, but it won’t do any good if s/he is scrawny and weak.

I’ve had juniors in high school tell me they’ve been playing since they were 6 years old, yet never set foot in a gym. That’s nine years of developing fundamental skills without ever lifting a weight.

If your athlete follows this path, they will be smaller and weaker than the athletes s/he competes against. They may be able to dribble like crazy, but s/he will lack speed or power.

I’m not discounting the importance of skill development, but strength training cannot be an afterthought. It’s equally as important in the development of an athlete. If an athlete puts in work in the weight room, they will be much more likely to reach their full potential.

They may get hurt

At Ultimate Advantage Training, our motto is, “We Will Outwork Everyone.” We lift heavy weights and challenge ourselves each workout, but intelligently.

Playing too often with no time to recover is a recipe for an injury, especially for a developing body. Yet, parents often brag when their athletes play a crazy amount of games over a weekend. Do they think playing in a game when you’re completely fatigued is actually a good thing?

Professional teams would play more games and cancel the off-season if this were the case. With each game played, they could earn more money, so this only seems logical. However, it’s simply not the reality. Teams would be decimated with injuries, careers would be cut short, and the quality of play would drastically decrease.

They could burn out.

I’ve seen this over and over again. Athletes grind and grind all year with no real rest, and by the time high school is over, they want no part of their sport.

I worked with a girl who played tennis since she was four years old. She hit every day and traveled all over the country to improve her USTA ranking. She loved tennis, and she was good at it.

She was undefeated her freshman year in high school but eventually lost in the state finals to an older player. After the loss, she was so beat and burned out that she never played tennis again. The grind and pressure finally took their toll.

Physical and mental stress can build to the point of no return if you don’t give your athlete a break. It will become their life, and any setback will seriously derail their athletic career.

The football season should serve as an example for all athletes. You rarely—if ever—see burnout with high school football players. Why? Because they unbuckle their helmets in November and don’t put them on again until August. They spend the rest of the year working to become better athletes.

Conclusion

Your athlete can become great with hard work in the weight room, some good moves, and a little bit of luck. Don’t push your kids so hard that they come to hate their sport. Give their bodies time to recover, and bring them to a training center to develop their physical skills. They will love the change of pace and the chance to get stronger and run faster.

Read more:

• Midseason Burnout: Are You At Risk?
• Suffering from Burnout? Athletic Benefits of Cross Training
• Are You Overtraining or Under-Recovering?

However, doing a few haphazard sprints, or, worse, jogging, won’t do you much good. You need a conditioning program designed to challenge your energy systems to run, jump, sprint and perform explosive skills over and over again. And conditioning can actually reduce your chance of injury.

The conditioning workouts below should be completed after a speed and lifting session or just a speed session with lifting on another day.

Movement-Based

1. Interval/Tempo Runs

Goal: Distance or Heart Rate

Sprinting intervals can be completed for distance or for a target heart rate. The sport you’re training for will dictate the length of each interval. Time spent at “game speed” is how long you should train in a particular heart rate zone or time period.

This style of conditioning is particularly beneficial for building an aerobic base to withstand increased intensities of training.

When training using intervals, you specifically want to focus on Maximal Aerobic Speed (M.A.S.). So when performing intervals, intensity is greater than time.

Exercise-Based

2. Movement Circuit (Heart Rate/Time or technical failure)

Goals: Reinforce proper movement patterns and increase overall fitness level.

This should be used as a last resort when programming conditioning. If you are training 5-6 day per week, this can be a solid addition. If your sport requires you to run, interval running is the better option.

Training Phases

Proper training phases are important pieces of a conditioning program. At the beginning of training, start with slower intervals and work up to training short full sprints. Perform each workout twice per week and do each phase for 3-4 weeks.

Phase 1: Aerobic Development (Oxidative) – Tempo Runs – 40-Yard Sprints for 10 minutes. Walk back to the starting line.

Phase 2: Alactic Capacity – Shuttles 150 yards x 4 or 300 yards x 4

90 seconds rest

1:3-5 Work: Rest

Phase 3: Alactic Power (“Sport-Specific”) – Short sprints 6-7 seconds

1:5-10 Work: Rest

Repeat for 10-20 reps

Sample Times for Sports/Positions

Here are some sample conditioning workouts and times broken down by sport and position.

However, a cloud of confusion exists over static stretching, dynamic stretching and their relationship with flexibility, power and performance.

Traditionally, coaches start with static stretching or light aerobic work followed by static stretching. People like to hold onto traditions, and they tend to fall in love with “the way we’ve always done it!”

A second wave of confusion likely comes from studies reporting decrements in performance after performing static stretching. However, in 2011 a review of over 100 studies concluded that static stretching improves flexibility, with the caveat that static stretches should not be held for more than 60 seconds if part of a warm-up.

But often, this is where uninformed wrestling warm-ups end. Range of motion may be improved, but little is done to actually prepare the body for high performance on the mat.

This is where dynamic stretching comes into play.

Dynamic stretching includes sprint mechanics drills (e.g., Power Skips), active stretches (e.g., Reverse Lunges With Overhead Reach), calisthenics (e.g., Jumping Jacks), hurdle drills or any other exercise that takes the body through the ranges of motion used on the mat. This type of work has been shown to improve speed (2009), strength (2009), flexibility (2007) and increase muscle activity (2008).

Yes, you read that right. Wrestlers should work on sprint mechanics even though they don’t actually sprint on the mat.

The position and shin angles of sprinters are similar to the position and shin angles of a leg attack. Great open leg attackers are able to extend their hips fast. This involves coordinating the glutes and hamstrings. A sprinter must coordinate his glutes and hamstrings for hip extension, otherwise, he will be slow.

See where I’m going with this? There is much crossover from sprinting to wrestling, especially from the acceleration portion of a sprint.

In addition, before taking the mat, wrestlers should use a method called post-activation potentiation (PAP) to maximize their explosive power.

PAP is typically used during strength training workouts to maximize explosive power. A strength exercise such as a near-maximal Squat is followed by a plyometric movement that uses a similar movement, such as a Squat Jump, to trick the nervous system into creating more power.

However, it can also be used to prepare for a wrestling match.

A study out of the University of Oregon found that horizontal jump performance improved after a dynamic warm-up combined with 5 sets of Power Snatch (68-77% of 1RM). The study didn’t look at wrestling specifically, but few moves are more similar to the skills needed for wrestling than the Horizontal Jump.

How do you use PAP? It’s simple.

After your dynamic warm-up, perform a lift that induces PAP, such as squatting as fast as possible for 3-5 sets of 1 rep at 95% 1RM. Rest for 5 minutes after the lift before you get on the mat.

Now that you understand the concepts, here is my recommended wrestling warm-up for both novice and advanced wrestlers.

Warm-Up for Wrestlers

• Jog or Airdyne Bike – 3-4 minutes
• Light stretch (Hip flexors, hamstrings, calves, lats) – 2-3 minutes
• A-Skips – 2×15 seconds with 30 seconds rest
• Power Skips – 3×10 seconds with 45 seconds rest
• Wall-Acceleration Drill – 1×8 each leg, each exercise
• Block Starts – 5-6 with 1 minute rest
• Olympic lift (Power Clean, Snatch, etc) – 3×2 @ 60-90% max

Final word: if you’ve found a way to warm up for wrestling that improve your performance, use it and spread the word! Certainly some aspects of performance can elude scientists. You need to do what works best for you.

READ MORE:

• Upper-Body Workout for Wrestlers
• Lower-Body Workout For Wrestlers
• 4 Lifts to Build Wrestling Strength

3-Cone Drill

This is a classic football drill. You will need three cones set up 15 feet apart and in the form of a right angle.

• Start at the bottom cone and sprint to the second cone.
• Touch the ground and return to the first cone.
• Touch the ground and sprint around the outside of the second cone, to the inside of the cone to the side. Make a turn around this cone, run around the outside of both this cone and the second cone.
• Finish by sprinting past the first cone. In video game terms, you go up, down, up, around right, around and left, down.

Run for time and repeat for the desired number of rounds for the best time possible.

RELATED: University of Florida Volleyball 3-Cone Drill

4-Cone Drill

This one is a basketball drill. Set up four cones 12 to 15 feet apart, or if you’re on a basketball court, set up one cone on each corner of the painted area and foul line.

• Start at the back left cone.
• Run to the front cone.
• Sidestep to the cone on your right.
• Back step to the cone behind you, and sidestep to the cone on your left, which is the cone you started at.
• Go back the opposite way and sidestep to the cone on your right.
• Sprint to the cone in front of you.
• Sidestep to the cone on your left.
• Backpedal to the cone behind you, which is where you started.

That is one round. Run this drill for time and repeat for the desired number of rounds for the best time possible.

RELATED: Kevin Love’s Cone Hop Basketball Shooting Drill

5-Cone Agility Drill

Now we use five cones. Set four cones up in the form of a diamond about and set the fifth cones in the middle. Each of the outer cones should be 10 feet away from the center.

• Start at the middle cone with your left hand on it. Run to the right cone and touch it with your right hand.
• Run back to the center and touch it.
• Repeat this pattern with each cone at the bottom, to the left, and the top, in that order. When you touch the top cone, you’re finished.

Run for time and repeat for the desired number of rounds for the best time.

RELATED: Get Faster With Advanced 4-Cone Drills

6-Cone Wide Receiver Drill

If you play WR, you already know this one. Set up six cones in diagonal angles 5 yards apart so that the first and last cones are 25 yards apart.

• Start at the first cone and run around the outside of each cone as fast as possible without losing your balance or speed until you pass the last cone.

Run for time and repeat for the desired number of rounds for the best time.

RELATED: Cone Drills for Football Speed

Sample Program

One way to incorporate all four of these drills is to perform five of each with the goal of achieving the best time possible. Rest for one to two minutes between drills, depending on your level of fitness. That is 20 total rounds in anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes, which would work as a great cardio program or off-season routine to help with footwork.

Why Coaches Use Agility Ladders

It wouldn’t be fair to assume that every coach carries the same intention when using a ladder in their program. Still, more often than not, they are aiming to increase the speed, change of direction, and overall athleticism of their athletes. Coaches will often prescribe a series of pre-determined, repetitive drills such as the Ickey Shuffle, In and Out, or Scissor drill, hoping that the athlete executes said drills quicker. More efficiently, then they will ultimately be able to transfer these abilities into their respective sport. There are major fallacies with this thought process; however, more on that below.

Why Agility Ladders Are A Waste Of Time

Any coach worth their salt understands that competitive sports are extremely chaotic and unpredictable. In most instances, one must frequently cut, change direction, and evade or track down their opponents in the blink of an eye. These movements require immense skill and repetition to become proficient, particularly in a chaotic environment (aka practice).

Agility Ladders Are Terrible For Change of Direction (COD)

The main issue with ladder drills about COD or agility is that they are highly predictable and lack the reactionary element one would encounter when performing drills more akin to their actual sport. There is no doubt that athletes should drill fundamental movement patterns and master the mechanics of crossing over, decelerating, and changing direction. Still, once these tools are sharpened, they must then put them to use and move their bodies through space in a way that is as variable as the sport they compete in. By doing this, athletes will find themselves practicing in body positions and scenarios they are much more likely to see on the field or court versus reenacting something that looks more like a salsa dance on a strip of 8×8 squares

This study area is a highly dense subject that requires an understanding of how the brain and body work together in the skill acquisition process. Therefore it is recommended that coaches do their research before throwing random drills at their athletes. An excellent resource for learning more about this topic is the book titled Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition: An Introduction, by Jia Yi Chow, Keith Davids, Chris Button, and Ian Renshaw. For the young athlete who is reading this and looking for some practical advice, don’t waste your time on agility ladders for a change of direction. Get with a friend and go compete against each other. I promise you will yield far better results and save yourself some time along the way.

Agility Ladders Are Even Worse For Speed

We know that speed is defined by how fast something can get from point A to point B and is a critical component for most sports. Whether chasing down a loose ball or flying down the sideline for a touchdown. Therefore, speed and acceleration require the skill of sprinting, which can only be improved by increasing one’s general strength/power and, more importantly, their sprinting mechanics.

Proper foot striking patterns, knee drive, and arm swing mechanics are something that takes a tremendous amount of time to master and cannot be replicated on the space a ladder provides. The development of speed and acceleration is highly dependent on neuromuscular adaptation, which is best trained by sprinting drills, not the hopscotch ladder drill you saw on Youtube. Young athletes sprint fast, sprint often, and recover properly. That’s how you get faster in a nutshell.

Final Thoughts On Agility Ladders Are

While it may seem like I am an eternal hater of the speed ladder, it is because I am. Is there a time and place for it? Perhaps. One could use it in a rehabilitation setting or general fitness class to get people moving simply for the sake of doing so. Still, when a specific training target is sought out like agility and or speed, it is certainly not to the tool of the trade. My advice to athletes and coaches is to implement drills that require athletes to move, react, explode, and change direction in ways the correlate more closely with their sport.

Having one’s eyes fixed on their pair of cleats shuffling in and out of a speed ladder does little to create a better athlete. Time is limited, particularly in one’s athletic journey, so use it wisely and choose to train in a way that will produce results!

Read More

• The Pros and Cons of Speed Ladder Training
• Don’t Trash Your Speed Ladder: How to Get the Most Out of This Much-Maligned Training Tool

Volleyball conditioning workouts are more complex than people think. Several techniques can be employed to accomplish goals, many of which are high-intensity and develop strong fast-twitch muscles fibers. We all know about the basic conditioning programs every trainer uses: weight training, jump training, speed training, and endurance training. However, volleyball coaches must also consider implementing various conditioning complexes.

For volleyball, it’s important to emphasize agility and quick reaction time, strength for spiking and serving, and endurance to maintain performance throughout a match. Traditional drills improve overall fitness, but neither traditional nor non-traditional exercises and drills always simulate the moves of a volleyball game.

Below are two complexes that take into consideration the unique requirements of volleyball training.

Volleyball Conditioning Complex 1

Med Ball Slams

Med balls are a great way to improve volleyball conditioning and help build explosive strength. Med ball workouts are designed to increase the strength of fast-twitch muscle fibers and build overall strength in the legs and core. Most med ball routines are high-intensity and will increase lean muscle while reducing fat.

Plate Pushes

Plate Pushes can be done to activate the quads, improve the strength and mobility of the ankles, and build muscular endurance post-workout.

Sprints

Sprints are one of the most popular and effective conditioning exercises. Their anaerobic nature challenges your muscles, improves your ability to maintain explosive speed and reduces body fat.

Volleyball Conditioning Complex 2

As you will see in the next video, I like to combine agility drills with explosive plyometric movements, creating a technique-specific complex. This one focuses on the ability to quickly explode upward to hit, spike or block the ball.

Finally, if you are wondering whether we do any weight training, the answer is yes. However, I get many high school girls coming for summer training who are not accustomed to structured strength and conditioning programs. It’s my responsibility to let them have fun while teaching them the basics.