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Many coaches, trainers
and those involved in enhancing performance agree that conditioning is a
key component for athletic performance. There are different points of
view on how to develop conditioning. The traditional approach begins with
a large volume of aerobic training to develop a base of fitness,
progressing to higher intensity activities, such as various sprints and
shuttles.
Developing an aerobic “base” serves a number of purposes, such as
increasing capillary size, increasing the number of red blood cells, and
increasing the oxygen carrying capacity of those red blood cells. The
problem with aerobic training is that it primarily targets the slow twitch
muscle fibers and a slower motor pattern (jogging). This is acceptable
when dealing with slow twitch athletes, such as long distance runners, but
the majority of athletes that we work with are speed and power athletes.
Performing miles upon miles of aerobic training is doing them a
disservice. We at SBCC believe you must train fast to be fast, and train
slow to be slow. We want our athletes to be strong, explosive, and fast.
So we must condition our athletes with activities that will target the
fast twitch fibers and the same sprint pattern that is used in these
sports. There are a number of modalities that can be used to properly
condition athletes. The following are all examples of anaerobic
activities.
1. Tempo Runs - 75-85% of maximal speed runs. A variety of distances can
be used depending on the sport, and distances covered in the sport (i.e.
30-60 yards for baseball players, 20-40 yards for football players,
110 yards for hockey players). The distance
prescribed will dictate the rest. Typically a 1:2 work to rest ratio is
used (i.e. 20 sec run, 40 sec rest)
2. Shuttles - Maximal effort runs with changes in direction. Cones can
be set up at various distances to indicate when to change direction. The
important thing to take note of is that the more change of directions, the
higher the intensity. Typical work to rest ratios are
1:3
3. Games - A variety of different games can be used to develop
conditioning indirectly. Your athletes will not realize they are actually
developing conditioning because the game will be fun. Typical games that
should be used are field games, because of the continuous nature of these
games; a variety of sprints, and changes in direction.
Using anaerobic means as conditioning will result in superior results and
is much more time efficient than performing traditional aerobic means.
©2004 S B Coaches College, LLC. All
Rights Reserved
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