Tagged as: sports conditioning

Improve Your 2km Time Trial

    With the AFL season fast approaching and preseason underway for most players, I thought I’d share one of my favourite workouts for improving your 2km time trial.

    This workout works best as part of a weekly schedule which incorporates a longer runs (3-5km) and some strength work for running economy and stability.

    In 2018 Jacob Kennerley (drafted by Geelong) set a new AFL combine record for the 2km time trial with an effort of 6.04min. Whether you are in Jacob’s league, or just keen to improve your 2km time and catch the coach’s eye – this training set will help you towards your goal.

    This session is designed to teach your body to run faster than it is accustomed to.

    WARM UP

    Theraband Glute Activation:

    • Clams 2×10 each side
    • Banded Hip Thrusts 2×15

    General Active Stretches: Ankle, Calves, Hamstrings, Quads, Hips, Glutes, Back, Shoulders

    RUNNING DRILLS

    A Skip 3x20m with walk back recovery (WB)

    Figure Four  3x30m WB

    Strides 5x100m WB

    WORKOUT

    10x200m with a 200m walk (or 200m slow jog) between reps

    The aim for each 200m rep is to achieve it roughly 2-3s faster than your target time.

    EXAMPLE

    2km Target Time: 6.04min ie the average time per 200m is 36.40s (6.04min/10)

    Target Time for 200m reps is 33.40s

    VARIATIONS

    I love to play around with this session. Once I can hit my training targets with a 200m walk between reps, I like to experiment to push myself further and maintain the target time but reduce the recovery by walking only 100m between reps. On one occasion I also “played” with dropping the recovery to a 50m walk between reps but found I was unable to still hit my target times. This is a speed endurance oriented session… when you can’t maintain the speed you are no longer working that aspect of the activity.

    Give it a try and GOOD LUCK

    For more information on how Strength and Conditioning programmes can help you improve your sporting performance go to www.damnfitsc.com.au/strength-and-conditioning

    The Ageing Warrior – Fighting Speed Loss

    We can’t avoid age. However, we can avoid some aging. Continue to do things. Be active. Life is fantastic in the way it adjusts to demands; if you use your muscles and mind, they stay there much longer.

    Charles H. Townes

    If we loose our sight our other senses develop further to help us cope.

    If we injure our hip we change our gait to be able to keep moving.

    If we lose running speed our brain adapts and uses our experience to improve our game sense so we are able to anticipate better and still compete

    These amazing adaptations however can be a curse on the sports field.

     

    As we age, we slow down and our body adapts to keep us competitive. This often causes us to accept the fact that we are slower. Rather we should ask 2 questions:

    1. Why am I slowing down?
    2. What can I do to prevent/decrease the decline?

    COMMON CAUSES OF AGED RELATED SPEED DECLINE

    • Our lifestyles become more sedentary- we sit more, we are less active more often
    • We put on weight and in particular we put on fat
    • Our muscles get smaller
    • We produce less growth hormone which decreases our muscles ability to grown and strengthen
    • We produce less Creatine Phosphate which decreases our ability to reduces our ability to work at high intensity
    • We have less time to spend on recovery techniques especially sleep
    • Our flexibility and mobility decrease

     

    WHAT CAN I DO?

    • Weight train… regularly. For team sport players 2-3 sessions per week will help increase muscle mass and strength
    • Eat a well balanced diet, ensuring that you take into account your need for protein for muscle building and carbohydrates for energy
    • Try to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night
    • Train mobility daily to ensure range of motion is maintained and improved
    • Train at high intensities for 2 sessions per week
    • Design a training programme which allows full recovery

    Our body is incredibly adaptive. It will adapt to our ageing but it will also adapt to the new demands we place on it if we create the right conditions.

    For more information on how Strength and Conditioning programmes can help you improve your sporting performance go to www.damnfitsc.com.au/strength-and-conditioning

    12 Month Transformation

    Last weekend one of our athletes, Fran, won Gold at the Victorian Masters Athletics Championships. That victory in the 60m came after a Silver medal in the 100m the previous day.

    These achievements are, by themselves, noteworthy and to be celebrated.

    But behind the triumphs is a story much more worthy of celebration (as there often is with athletes).

    Twelve months ago Fran contacted Damn Fit Strength and Conditioning almost as a last resort. She was carrying more weight than she wanted to be and she had been unable to sustain any meaningful weight loss. She lived constantly having to monitor a medical condition (and still does). She was plagued by injuries that she could not seem to shake.

    By way of background information, Fran has recently turned 40. During her school years she was quite a successful middle distance runner. By the end of her schooling years she had fallen out of love with running (and definitely with training) and, despite being a fiercely determined person, had learnt to avoid contests because of a fear of failure.

    We set about, with Fran, changing the way she approached training and life.

    Fran signed on as an online client, using the Visual Coaching platform to access her training programmes and to utilise her wellness monitoring diaries. During our weekly phone conversations we worked on setting goals and developing a series of benchmarks to help her achieve success.

    During this process we:

    • liaised with her physiotherapist on training and recovery protocols
    • engaged a local Exercise Physiologist to utilise their expertise in Anti G running
    • directed her towards a dietician who assisted in providing advice to help ensure she was providing herself with sufficient fuel for the training load she was keen to undertake.

    In the space of those 12 months Fran:

    • lost 12.4kg
    • added 4.2kg of active tissue mass (muscle)
    • increased mobility
    • experienced significant increases in her sport specific strength indicators

    There were hiccups along the way – mainly to do with a lack of high quality running facilities in her local area. But by co-ordinating with the various experts we were able to formulate a training programme which allowed Fran, not only to compete in her first competition in 22 years, but to excel in that competition.

    In conjunction with Damn Fit, Fran has now commenced goal setting for the next 4 years.

    For more information on how Strength and Conditioning programmes can help you improve your sporting performance go to www.damnfitsc.com.au/strength-and-conditioning

    TRAIN LIKE A CHAMPION

    PERSONALISED ATHLETE TRAINING PROGRAMMES – Online

    You will receive all the coaching, expertise and monitoring you require to take your performance to a higher level whilst training in your own environment, at times which suit you and your lifestyle

    SO HOW DOES IT WORK?

    1. STEP-BY-STEP TRAINING PROGRAMMES

    All your Strength and Conditioning programmes are delivered straight to your smartphone via our highly specialised online training platform (VisualCoachingPro2).

    Every exercise includes:

    • Video demonstration of correct technique
    • Written description of key points, muscles utilised and safety key points
    • All relevant loading information (reps, sets, bar speed, rest periods)

    Every exercise forms part of a carefully designed session that is designed specifically to use needs and the demands of your sport.

    Every training session forms part of an overall periodised plan for your ultimate development.

    2. TRAINING DIARY

    The results of every training session are entered into the online diary as you train and this information is immediately accessible to your Damn Fit SC coach. These results are monitored daily.

    Your training diary also included options for reporting injury and soreness.

    Training exertion loads are monitored using standard RPE scales.

    3. WELLNESS DIARY

    To ensure that you are always training at the optimum level to produce the best results in competition to need to ensure your health is not compromised by your lifestyle or your training.

    We provide daily monitoring of your wellness diary entries, looking for markers to indicate adaptations that need to be made to your training and/or recovery protocols.

    4. COMMUNICATION

    Interaction between you and your coach is KEY to your success.

    We provide:

    • Monthly phone/skype meetings in which we analyse with you each component of your programme, its results and your goals.
    • Unlimited email “conversations” about training and competitions
    • Phone contact as needed to ensure you stay on track to achieve your best
    • Access to our MEMBERS ONLY Facebook group where coaches and members share ideas, successes and motivation

    For more information on how Strength and Conditioning programmes can help you improve your sporting performance go to www.damnfitsc.com.au/strength-and-conditioning

    Damn Fit SC Masters 100m

    A fantastic run from a mark of 13.50m saw Steve Coulson with the Damn Fit Strength and Conditioning Masters 100m at the recent Geelong Gift.

    Coulson’s time of of 11.273 saw him hold off Andrew Drummond and Dale Jones to take the winners sash and cheque.

    Damn Fit is proud to continue to support Masters sport by sponsoring this event at the 2018 Geelong Gift. Earlier this year Damn Fit also provided support to the Australian Masters Games held in Tasmania.

    For more information on how Strength and Conditioning programmes can help you improve your sporting performance go to www.damnfitsc.com.au/strength-and-conditioning

    Copyright @ Damn Fit SC 2017