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Archives by Tag 'Lacrosse Conditioning'

3 Exceptional Drills to Improve Your Quickness/First Step

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, March 12, 2013

For many lacrosse players across the country, mid-March means its preseason time, a period to get prepared and conditioned for the regular season. To work on that first step and improve your overall quickness this spring, look to implement these dynamic conditioning drills led by renowned fitness expert Rob Rose.

Ball Drops

The following drills focus on proper form and technique of a linear first step. You can eventually progress to angles and lateral movement from here, but the first drill we cover is a good launching point.

The goal: Be as efficient as you possibly can. If you can’t do this on a hard surface like a basketball court, you probably won’t be able to use hard balls and may have to go with using your hands. In terms of equipment, look to use two lacrosse balls.

Set 1: Ready Position

Start in a nice low ready position. Your feet should be side by side and wider than shoulder width. You should always be on the balls of your feet. Goal: Get the ball before it bounces twice. The goal for the coaches is to challenge the players. Make sure that the players don’t step back when accelerating to catch the ball.

The coach should bounce the ball. As soon as he/she does, the players are off and getting to the ball quick. Accelerate out and go through. Do not step back. While it may seem quicker, it’s inefficient. Instead, try a drop and push technique. As you get better at it, you will get quicker. Get a quick arm snap too.

Tip: Make your first step a small one. Otherwise, you will be off balance and won’t have the power for your second.

Set 2: Rapid Fire

Now it’s time to really challenge your players. When in ready position, have your players move their feet quickly (while in place) before accelerating to the ball.

Set 3: 180′s

Stay with the rapid fire, but now let’s get into a 180 position. Every time the coach yells “TIME,” the players will turn and do a 180. After doing it straight on, move into 180s at an angle.

Look to perform this drill at a distance of 5-7 yards

Tip: If you don’t have any balls or a hard surface available, then make the goal for each player to get to the hand of the coach before the other player does. Go two players at a time.

The previous workouts are featured in Championship Productions’ DVD “Complete Conditioning for Lacrosse” featuring Rob Rose. To check out more videos featuring lacrosse drills and exercises, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse Newsletter • Tags: Agility, conditioning, Conditioning Drills, Inside the Crease, Lacrosse Conditioning, Quickness, Rob Rose

Conditioning Tips and Core Workouts Perfect for the Preseason

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, February 12, 2013

With the 2013 lacrosse season getting ramped up, it’s now a perfect time for players to focus on conditioning, strength training, and getting into game shape. Follow along with Syracuse University Strength & Conditioning Olympic Sports Director Veronica Dyer as she leads you through a variety of core exercises and conditioning tips that are particularly effective for lacrosse athletes.

Conditioning Tips

Lacrosse is a dynamic sport and you need to have a good base of aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. At the beginning of a season, it’s important for athletes to establish a general base of fitness. At Syracuse, players are required to do some basic testing when they arrive on campus, including a mile run and three 300-yard shuttles within a certain amount of time.

Meanwhile at Syracuse, Dyer makes sure that early season training is geared toward conditioning so the players can focus on other strength and conditioning areas for the rest of the year. The training will begin general and then get more complex as the year goes on.

For instance, early training sessions may consist of longer runs and interval training. As the team gets more conditioned, the training staff will lower the time goals and implement shorter intervals and shorter rest time — all while increasing the speed to accomplish each one.

Closer to the beginning of the regular season, the staff typically knows that players are in game shape so it’s not necessary to tax them too often. While some conditioning is still important, the bulk of work is now geared toward the games. In season, it’s usually left up to the players to work on their conditioning.

Abs & Core Exercises

Core development is imperative in lacrosse. In these exercises, we will incorporate bars to simulate lacrosse sticks. Players start out with their backs on the floor, knees bent, and feet flat on the ground. The sticks are held out over the stomach/chest area.

1) Overhead Sit-up

Start with the bar straight up over your head. Crunch up and do a full sit-up, extend at the top, and then come back down. Keep your movements nice and controlled and keep your arms up. Make sure that your core area is engaged during each rep. Go for 10-15 reps.

2) Flutter Kick and Press

Start with your back on the floor and legs straight out. Get your arms up over the chest. While raising the bar up and down, make a flutter kick motion with the legs. Keep those legs straight and be sure that the motion is coming from the hips. Every time you press the bar, that’s one rep.

3) Jackknife

Get one leg straight up in air. Meanwhile, hold the other leg straight out and just an inch or two off the ground. Your arms should be straight up. The goal here is to reach up to your top toe. Keep that leg straight. After 10-15 reps, switch legs.

4) Jillknife

Similar to the Jackknife, but this time the bar should be underneath the top leg. Reach for the bottom toe. Your other leg is just off the ground like before.

5) Superman

Put your chest on the ground and hold your arms and legs straight out. Contract lifting legs and arms off the ground with the bar. Get a nice and controlled motion going up and down. Look to hit between 15 and 20 reps and don’t forget about your breathing techniques.

6) Extended Double Crunch

Get on your back to start. Crunch up, bring your knees to the chest, and bring the bar over top of the legs before extending back out. Keep your arms straight the entire time. Also, don’t let your feet or arms touch the ground at any time.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Agility Training and Conditioning for Women’s Lacrosse” with Veronica Dyer. To find more videos offering lacrosse training and conditioning drills, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse Newsletter • Tags: Core Exercises, Inside the Crease, Issue #53, Lacrosse Conditioning, Strength & Conditioning, Syracuse University, Syracuse Women's Lacrosse

Preseason Conditioning: Key Workouts to Improve Lacrosse Agility

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, February 7, 2012

With many programs starting up preseason practices in the coming weeks, it’s important that players are working on a preseason conditioning program to get back in shape and to prepare for the rigors of a long season.

Agility is crucial for a lacrosse player, especially when it comes to cutting, dodging, changing direction, and changing pace of play. Follow along with Syracuse University Strength & Conditioning Olympic Sports Director Veronica Dyer as she leads you through a number of agility workouts that are particularly effective for lacrosse players. Whether it’s five minutes or a half-hour every day, look to implement agility training into your preseason regimen this year.

Agility Overview

At the beginning of the year, Dyer likes to make sure that players have a solid, general base of fitness. At Syracuse, athletes will do some kind of agility training every day, whether its five or 25 minutes. First, always trying to challenge your players and really work on cutting, change of direction, and change of pace. Players must be agile to get away from defenders and outrun opponents. This is a huge part of their game.

Cone Drills

This can be used as a warm-up or as part of an agility training session. All you need is one cone. Players will start by moving around the cone in a clockwise direction. Make quick choppy steps and look to get around the cone as quickly as you can. Switch directions.

Next, start behind the cone. Hop forward and back over the cone with both legs together. Go quickly when you hop forward and back. Then switch to side-to-side. After this, switch to using just one leg. Start with the right leg going forward and back over the cone. Then switch to side-to-side, working on lateral motion. Finish by going with the left foot for both.

*Note: Lateral drills can help strengthen ankles.

Finally, it’s time for straddles. Place your feet on each side of the cone and a little bit more than shoulder-width apart. You will jump, turn, and spin, ultimately facing the other direction. Go about five times like this before switching directions. The object here is to land solid on your feet and establish a good ready position.

“T” Drill

The “T” Drill is a combo of sprinting, shuffling, and backpedaling. You can use any combination of these in general. Work on sharp shutting here and getting that mobility of changing directions in quick fashion. Set up four cones in a “T” pattern, all about five yards apart. Each player will start with a sprint to the middle cone, then shuffle to the left cone and touch the cone, sprint to the far right cone and touch, shuffle to the middle cone, and then backpedal to the beginning. Start again immediately once you get back to the start.

Key: Be sharp and distinct with all movements.

“M” Drill

Set the cones up in a “M” pattern. You can do any combo you’d like, but try this one to start. Begin at the lower left cone. Start by sprinting straight up, shuffle to the middle, pivot and shuffle to the top right, then backpedal to the lower right. Walk back over to the start and repeat. Once done the second time, start again but reversing the motions.

Key: Give 100% effort on each rep. Remember, you want to train the way you want to perform.

Box Drill

Set up the cones in a simple box formation. Here, let’s sprint, shuffle, backpedal, and shuffle to the start. Then reverse the direction.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Agility Training and Conditioning for Women’s Lacrosse” with Veronica Dyer. To find more videos featuring lacrosse training and conditioning drills, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse • Tags: Agility Training, Lacrosse Conditioning, Strength & Conditioning for Lacrosse, Veronica Dyer, Women's Lacrosse

Preseason Conditioning: 9 Easy Drills to Improve Core Strength

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The preseason is currently in full swing for most college lacrosse teams across the country. Meanwhile, even some high school squads are getting back out on the field for the first time and putting together their game plans for a new campaign.

So as lacrosse players get back in shape and prepare for the rigors of a long season, it’s important to implement conditioning workouts that specifically focus on core strength, which consists of your abs, obliques, hips and lower back.

If you want to stay injury free and improve your overall performance this season, it’s vital that you work out these areas of the body on a consistent basis.

*Keys to Core Strength Workouts*

-Maintain good posture and alignment throughout exercises
-Focus on the muscles being used
-Don’t hold your breath

1. Extended Plank – Shoulder Touch
Get in a standard plank pose. Hold one arm down on the ground and then lift the opposite arm off the ground and touch your opposite shoulder. Keep your hands directly below your shoulders and keep your feet out wide. Place your left hand on your right shoulder for three seconds before switching. Remember, don’t let any body parts move but that one arm and keep those hips down. Finish after completing three or four on each side.

2. Extended Plank Out-Out In-In
Get in a standard plank pose. Then, one at a time, move your hands “out-out” (wider) and then come “in-in.” Your thumbs should touch when “in-in” and on “out-out”, your hands should be well wider than your shoulders. Every time you go in-in, that’s one rep. Be sure to count out five and keep those hips stationary.

3. Plank Position – Elbows to Shoulders
Start out in a standard plank position. Then go down to an elbow plank pose. Alternate back and forth between the two. Finish after going up and down five times.

4. Plank Position – Reach Forward
Get in a standard plank pose. Then, reach out one hand as if you’re about to shake someone’s hand. Then switch to the other hand. Do three on each side.

5. Elbow Plank Open Up to Side Plank
Start out in a standard elbow plank position. Then, open up and get your hips and shoulders perpendicular to the ground. Look up when you turn up each time. Remember to do three on each side.

6. Side Elbow Plank with Hip Touch
Start out in a standard elbow plank position. Then, touch one knee to the opposite elbow and switch. To do this, simply bring one knee in and have it meet your opposite elbow underneath your body. Remember, maintain proper posture and always be in control of each move. Don’t rush.

7. Side Bridge with Hip Raise
Get in a side plank position and then raise your body up from “hip to ground” to “hip to sky.” Count out five and then flip over to the other side.

8. Rocking Chair
Sit on your back. Take your hands and clasp them behind your head and keep your knees bent with feet flat on the floor to start. Next, raise your legs and connect your elbows to your knees and keep them connected, even as your coach applies resistance.

9. Target
Start out on your back. Your coach will then sandwich your knees together. Next, do a sit-up and as you are coming up, take one hand and slap the opposite target provided by the coach (which will probably be one of his outstretched hands). Your progression should go like this. Go 1 slap and back down. Go 1-2 and then down (stay up for opposite slaps). Then go 1-2-3 and down. Follow this progression all the way to six.

The previous core exercises can be seen in the Championship Productions video “130 Pro Power Strength, Power & Explosiveness Drills” featuring Alan Stein. To check out our extensive strength and conditioning library, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse • Tags: Alan Stein, Core Strength Workout, Lacrosse Conditioning

Lacrosse Conditioning: The Perfect Anaerobic Workout for the Preseason

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The preseason is currently in full swing for many college lacrosse teams across the country. With several months having passed since organized team practices last occurred, it’s common for these early season workouts to revolve around general conditioning and getting players back into playing shape.

Therefore, during this training period, it’s important for coaches to implement anaerobic conditioning, which is high-intensity, short-burst exercises ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes to promote speed, power and strength. Here’s an ideal workout geared toward those early preseason practices that will have a positive impact from the get-go.

Equipment: Cones spread five yards apart for 30 yards.

300 Yard Shuttle

Start out at the end cone and then jog down for 30 yards before turning back the other way. That “down and back” counts as one rep. Aim to go six times.

Remember, take a good jogging pace. At the end of 30 yards, make sure to plant your foot and cut off the endline before returning in the other direction.

5-5, 10-10, 20-20, 30-30

This is more or less a suicide drill. Start at the end cone before sprinting out 5 yards and then cutting back 5 yards, then immediately going out 10 yards and then cutting back 10 yards. Continue the trend until you go down 30 yards and back 30 yards. Be sure to vary which foot you use to cut off from. For instance, start by cutting off of your right foot and then cut off of your left, and so on. Never do two of the same in a row.

Jog 10, Sprint 20 ( x 3)

Jog for 10 yards. Once you get to the 10-yard mark, sprint all the way through the 30-yard mark. Be sure to accelerate hard. As soon as you get to the other end, come back the opposite way immediately and repeat.

Sprint 10, Carioca 10, Sprint 10, Shuffle 10

This time, you will sprint for 10 yards, go into cariocas for 10 yards, go back to sprinting for 10 yards and finish by shuffling for 10 more. Here, we are keeping our anaerobic endurance drills and changing them into something that has a little more change of direction.

This workout can be seen on the Championship Productions’ DVD “100 Conditioning Drills & Exercises for Lacrosse” with Rob Rose. To see additional conditioning videos, click here.