Summer conditioning

I thought this might be an intersting topic to discuss. Stan and I discussed it some last week. Jay and I have talked about it quite a bit this summer. The more I talk about it with others and the more I read, I am definitely starting to change my opinions on the matter. Would SAQ stations provide enough conditioning until the season started? (I realize that this answer depends on how much and how intense your SAQ training is, but is it conceivable I guess is what I am asking) How much is enough? How much is too much and/ or unnecessary?

Interesting topic. So many ways to skin a cat. I will share what I have done with Norcross High School football this summer. Our schedule is as follows:

Monday - total body lift and 110's for conditioning
Tuesday - speed stations and PNF
Wednesday - total body lift and light conditioning or position work
Thursday - speed stations and PNF
Friday - total body lift and 220's for conditioning

The volume and intensity levels vary throughout the week with some overreaching and non-linear periodization. I use lighter intensity levels to focus on bar velocity. We are now at 20 110's and 8 220's on M and F. I believe there needs to be some focus on every energy system. Our speed stations are just that; we do not turn them into "conditioning stations". As we all now to acheive maximum ATP-CP usage there needs to be some type of recovery throughout the process. We use or M and F to really increase the anaerobic capacity. Our speed stations consist of 7-8 different stations that focus on open environment movements, plyometrics, core, resistance running and some overspeed linear work and a small amount of closed environment training. I am not a big proponent of closed environment training due to the simple fact that the game of football is based of reactions to actions. Please feel free to jump in on this one.

Sincerely,

Rob Livingstone MS, SCCC, CSCS
Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
Norcross High School Football

Good stuff Coach. Thanks for jumping on board and sharing some ideas. I defnitely agree that SAQ stations should not be for conditioning, quality not quantity if you will. I like your point about some focus on training each of the energy systems. Thanks again for joining the discussions.

I am not a huge believer of traditional conditioning as it pertains to football. To me, it just doesn't translate into being in football shape. I once had a phone consultation with Ian King, a prominent strength and conditioning coach from Australia, and he said that the off-season and preseason should be for getting stronger and faster. He said you should use your practice to get into "game shape". He believes, like I do, that any other types of conditioning are not going to carryover as well and could actually be a detriment to you strength and speed gains before a season.

The main reason for using our ESD methods is to reduce or eliminate any time needed during preseason practice to condition. We want our kids going in ready to compete and work on their skill and all the different installations. ESD is also and good way to reduce the amount of time needed between high ATP-CP bouts to recover. Our open environment training is used to emmulate game-type situations and movements and will carry over between the lines. When talking about things that don't carry over to the game field, I would put ladders and hurdles at the top of the list. The pieces of equipment represent predictable movement patterns, in which the game of football does not have.

Coach Livingstone,
What type of conditioning do you do in-season?

One thing you hear said about conditioning for sport, football specifically, is that you do not really get into shape for a sport unless you are playing that sport. Meaning, kids can run all summer, but until they put those 50 some odd lbs of equipment on and start moving around, they dont get into true game shape. I believe this to an extent, but I also believe that I can prepare them for the shock of putting all of that equipment on and practicing in 95 degree + heat. I know for a fact that it helps our kids mentally with the first week of full pads when they have been here all summer working out. They will say things like I am glad I was here all summer, some of these guys are dying. Things of that nature. We rarely run over 60 yards with our summer conditioning. I heard somebody say one time, the farthest you run in a football game is from the locker room to the sidelines. I realize by doing this I am limiting what energy systems get trained. But I believe that the mass majority of our conditioning should focus on short bursts and quick recovery. In the end, results on the field tell the tale. We have had great results the last two years training this way. The games we have lost have been due to turnovers for the most part, and I guess all of this discussion is for not if you dont take care of the football.

Coach Floyd,

Our conditioning during the season involves open environment training during pre-practice which is chosen by each position coach as well as some conditioning post-practice. This usually entails, 110's, gassers, etc. I use Wednesdays as a day to work solely on speed, conditioning and a thorough PNF during my advanced weight training class. We lift M,T,Th and I am going to throw out the idea of a light lift on Fridays later this week during coaches' meetings. That might go over like a wet fart in church! I really don't know.

Clay,

I agree that our job is to prepare our athletes as much as possible to be able to compete at a high level for long durations of time. Our job as strength coaches is set our kids up for success and an extensive "conditioning" program is a step in the right direction. When it comes to "running no more than 60 yards in the game of football" that is even a stretch. You will rarely see an athletes sprint more than 20 yards in a linear fashion unless running routes or pursuing. Even when pursuing, you must be able to accelerate and decelerate, cut and jump past opponents. Other than our ESD, we don't do much linear development during the summer time.

Exactly Coach, I even have some of my smarter kids ask why we run 60's for tempo runs when we rarely run that far in a game. My response is that I am working at the high end with 60's when you look at the time they are given to run them as compared to the time an average play lasts. But we usually go much shorter than that with our tempo runs or metabolic running. Again, I think there is a huge mental aspect to conditioning your kids over the summer. We just have to make sure we are not overtraining them and killing gains made in speed and strength as Jay mentioned above. I cant count the number of times I have heard our kids make comments like "they dont work as hard as we do over the summer or they havnt paid the price like we have". Mental @#$% (cant use the word, it is banned, think juice or sauce) for my kids if you will. I heard CJ Stockell use that phrase, and the mental aspect of the game is too often underestimated or overlooked in my opinion.