Strength Training
As always make sure you are able to perform these exercises. Don’t do strength work if you are injured, you will only make it worse. Touch base with your physician before starting any workout program.
4 Maxims for Strength Training.
You do not have to lift heavy to get stronger
Strength is a process and takes time.
Think movement patterns not muscle groups
Proper form and technique are essential
It is great if you can workout at a gym, but that is not always possible. You can do a lot at home with minimal equipment, and you can do fine with body weight workouts. You just have to be a little more creative.
I am going to assume little or no knowledge about strength training so we will start very basic.
Sets and Reps
Reps stands for repetitions and mean doing a particular movement pattern 1 time.
Sets are the number of times you perform an exercise or exercises.
Example: Let’s say we are doing pushups. Doing a single pushup down and up is one rep. So, if you do 3 sets of 8 reps, you are doing 8 pushups in a row, 3 separate times.
Many times you will do 2 or 3 exercises together as part of a group of exercises. For instance, you do push ups and sit ups together 3 sets of 8 reps. first, you do 8 pushups, and then you follow with 8 sit ups. That would be the first set and you would do the same thing 2 more times to get all 3 sets in before moving on to other exercises.
Movement Patterns
I take no responsibility for this concept it all belongs to Gray Cook. He is in my opinion one of the best authorities out there. He founded the Functional Movement System and here is a link to his website where you can learn more https://www.functionalmovement.com/ My favorite concept from Gray is, if you cannot perform a movement correctly don’t load it. There 3 basic movement patterns:
Pushing— pushing resistance away from you body.
Pulling— pulling resistance towards your body
Rotation— This is an important one. These are movements where your upper body rotates in relation to your lower body and vice versa.
That is it. You can push or pull with both your upper body or your lower body. For example:
Upper body push horizontal: Bench press, pushups
Upper body push vertical: Some version of an overhead press
Lower body push: Squats, lunges
Upper body pull horizontal: Rows
Upper body pull vertical: chin up, pull ups
Lower body pull: dead lifts, Romanian dead lifts
Add in your rotationals and the workout is already coming together.
Core Strength: I have not talked much about core strength in part because that is a part of all strength work. If you are using proper technique and form your core will be getting a workout as well. I usually add a couple of core exercises into my workouts that sometime overlap with rotationals or other exercises.
Daily Plan
A daily plan usually concentrates on 3 of the six movement pattern with some auxiliary movements added in. Add some core and rotational work and you have a daily plan.
Technique Is Key
You need to do an exercise correctly. Training flawed movement patterns only reinforces bad movement patterns, and can lead to injury.
Programs
Strength Days
Depending on who you talk to strength training should happen 3 to 4 days a week. I shoot for 3 days a week and mix in the other areas I talked about in the Let’s Get Started post.
After I get done I will do some sports specific running for about 10 minutes to finish.
Non-Strength Days
These days I work on SAQ (speed, agility, quickness) and sports specific skills. Remember, you need to hit all of the areas I outlined in the Let’s Get Started post so don’t leave them out because they are not your favorite. Finally, I look at strength training in 8 to 12 week phases. You will go through a phase doing a varied daily workout and then at the end you see where you are at and then adjust to some new goals.
Example:
I go from lacrosse tournament to tournament with my training. I play in August and in January. After the January tournaments, I will assess my movement patterns make some corrections, start light and then gradually build towards August. About a month before, I will put in more work on my dodging and running, and taper my strength work slightly going into my tournament. This year I did body weight only workouts in the 6 weeks leading up to the August tournament. I was in great shape and it showed in my play.
This a lot to process. If it is too much, don’t hesitate to reach out. I can get you going with a training plan that is affordable. Click below to get more information about working with me.