Let's Get Started
Organization
So you want to start working out. What do you do first? Once, I was in a gym and doing my training session and another person was in there at the same time. Sometimes, I will watch other people doing their workouts. This person was going from machine to machine trying out stuff. It was a few reps here and a few there. This person clearly wanted to do some training, but didn’t have any kind of plan.
At one point I was asked how to use a particular machine which led to questions about what to work on. This experience reinforced for me the need to have some idea of what you intend to do when you embark on training.
Wait
Before you do anything, you need to be physically able to perform. If you are injured follow the advise of your physician. You should consult a physician before starting any exercise program. Take the PAR-Q test I posted on my first blog Purpose of this Site and Blog That questionnaire hits the most important questions about readiness to perform.
Where to Start
Ask yourself why. Why are you working out? Set some goals for yourself based on why you are training. For instance, I play in lacrosse tournaments twice a year. My training is focused on preparing for those tournaments. That means I need to do my strength work, work on my lacrosse skills, and of course work on my conditioning. That drives my workouts.
Decide why you are working out
Establish some measurable goals
Plan your program to achieve the results you want
What Should You Be Working On
There are 5 areas that every athlete should be working on to fully prepare themselves for their sport or activity.
Training Categories
Mobility and Flexibility
Strength
SAQ
Sports Specific Skills
Energy system development
Mobility and Flexibility— This may be one of the most underrated areas of training. Flexibility is about stretching and lengthening you muscles. This helps prevent muscle pulls and strains. Mobility is equally important and I like to think of it when working joints. Ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows. How easily do you have motion in your joints and can you move that joint in a full range of motion? Your flexibility and mobility have a direct link to how well you can perform a sport specific movement. Poor mobility leads to poor performance.
Strength— Well, this is the easy one. Here the focus is on building muscle. The stronger you get the more speed you can generate, the harder you can throw, or better absorb or handout a hit. It is also a big injury prevention tool (this is probably one of the biggest benefits). As much as working out in a gym is preferable, there is a great deal that you can do without a gym. Finally, I am including core strength in this category Core strength provides us with stability, especially in the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex. Simply, it stabilizes the lower back and hips. It also allows us to connect movement patterns that involve the upper and lower body extremities (arms and legs).
SAQ—Speed Agility Quickness— These go hand in hand with your strength work. Here is the quick breakdown of these three:
Speed—simply how fast you can go. Here, not only am I referring to top end speed improvement, but also accelerating from a stop to full speed, and don’t forget deceleration, going from top speed to a stop
Agility — The ability to change direction as part of your movement. If speed is all about straight ahead, agility is about going from straight ahead to lateral movement and vice versa. There is not a team sport that does not have elements of agility
Quickness — Again, pretty self explanatory. This is about reaction time. How quickly can you respond to a stimulus. When a whistle blows to start play or reacting to a play within a game. You can train quickness!
Energy System Development —This is your cardio work. It is more than simple running. Emphasis here is on training your cardiovascular system for the sport you play. So if your sport involves a great deal of sprinting, long jogs do you little good. They will get you ready for a 5K, not so much for a run at midfield for a minute.
Sport Specific Skills —Finally, the one for which you have been waiting. Here you get out your stick and use it. But you also dodge, shoot, play defense and protect the ball. Lots to work on here, and you will likely see the overlap with the previous categories.
Those are the categories and explanations. You need to work on all of them! Don’t just go out there and shoot 50 shots into the upper left corner and call it a day. You are not getting better. Think of this like armor. If I am totally prepared but don’t protect a vulnerable part, that is the opening that my opponent can exploit. Some categories are more fun than others of course, but neglecting a category will leave you lacking. By the same token you don’t have to work on all categories at each workout. Divide them up in a logical way and plan daily workouts.
Final thoughts:
There are many good resources out there.
There are also many bad resources out there
Deciding which resource is best for you is complicated
Having guidance helps
That is where having an experienced, certified trainer is more than helpful