Tag Archive: coaches

1. Are you fit enough to play in the Champions League Final?

   20th May 2018 9:20 am 3 Comments

   Only the fittest will prevail.

   As the world’s top footballers prepare to meet in the Champions League Final this weekend, we explore what it takes to make it at the highest level.

   Advances in Sports Science have revealed the highly energetic demands within the modern game, what we as coaches then do is help you get ready to play and meet those demands.

   What is football fitness?

   Modern footballers run about 10km within a 90 minute game. One Champions League Final saw Barcelona’s Xavi cover a distance of 11.95km.

   Due to the length of a football match, roughly 90% of energy release is aerobic ⁽³⁾, with the average oxygen uptake (VO²) for elite footballers measuring roughly 70% of maximum ⁽¹⁾.

   However in addition to sustaining effort for the full duration of a game, the ability to repeatedly produce rapid short bursts is vitally important.

   Being able to run at speed and change direction quickly in order to beat an opponent to the ball or evade a tackle will give a player a significant advantage.

   Top class players perform between 150-250 brief intense actions during a game, accounting for roughly 30% of activities within a game ⁽¹⁾. The distance covered during high intensity efforts varies by position ⁽²⁾ and is shown below.

   How can I get fit for football?

   It is clear that footballers need the ability to work at high speed, to repeat the high speed activities regularly throughout a game and to continuously work at low intensity in between efforts. So how do you train all of these components together?

   Before trying to increase the quantity of high intensity work in training, it is first necessary to train the quality of speed.

   This will involve training straight line speed to improve the ability to run faster as well as agility to change direction at speed.
   

   Changing direction is a very energy consuming movement, and the ability to do so efficiently will save energy which can be utilised later on.

   Once the foundation of quality has been set, the quantity of high intensity work can be increased to improve speed endurance. Exercises such as shuttle runs and repeated sprints can be used to train speed endurance. However to more accurately mirror the demands of the game, football specific drills can be utilised.

   (We are currently working with 3 members of the England team preparing for the Paralympics. Their game is different, but we use the same principles to help them get fit for intense competition).

   Conclusion

   To maximise the effectiveness of these training strategies, speed and speed endurance work should be done regularly and when the players are not fatigued.

   Devote 10-15 minutes at the start of technical/tactical training sessions to speed and speed endurance work: this allows quality to be developed.

   The lower intensity work can follow this and will provide the base for the continuous work capacity needed to sustain effort for the duration of a game.

   This allows players to practice skills in a fatigued state, preparing them for a game situation. It is also important to monitor fitness through testing.

   If you want to get fit for football without getting injured, then why not start now with our Sports Training System?

   Matt Durber 

   References

   1)      Bangsbo, J., Mohr, M. & Krustrup, P. (2006) Physical and metabolic demands of training and match-play in the elite football player, Journal of Sports Sciences, 24 (7), 665-674.

   2)      Bradley, P.S., Sheldon, W., Wooster, B., Olsen, P., Boanas, P. & Krustrup, P. (2009) High-intensity running in English F.A. Premier League soccer matches, Journal of Sports Sciences, 27 (2), 159-168.

   3)     Hoff, J., Wisloff, U., Engen, L.C., Kemi, O.J. & Helgerud, J. (2002) Soccer
   specific aerobic endurance training, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 36, 218-221.

2. From the ground up: how to get fit for netball part2

   11th March 2015 2:23 pm 2 Comments

   How do I get fit for Netball?

   In part 1 of this article we looked at the demands of the game and the different positions. Today we will look at how to train for Netball.

   Netball is primarily a female sport, which due to their anatomical construction are prone to knee injuries in sport before adding in the complications of landing, jumping and multi directional movement.

   Netball is a game of high impact and stress, resulting in injuries occurring in:

   • Lower limb (ankle, knee)
   • Lower back/ Pelvis
   • Shoulder

   Typical types of injury are ligament strains and sprains, these can occur during training or competition especially if you are de-conditioned (Physio’s perspective here)

   Improve the quality of movement first

   If you move badly, you are slower and more likely to get injured. By improving how you move first, you can then look to improve how much you ove afterwards.

   You can improve movements with 5 minutes practice a day, done for 5 days a week, 50 weeks of the year this equates to 20 hours annually.

   For netball you need to improve lower body strength, postural strength both static and dynamic and shoulder strength.

   It is best to start with simple exercises before progressing to more complex ones when you are competent at the basics.

   The exercises can be done outside of a netball session, as part of the warm up, as a break for netball drills or in the cool down.

   Simple progression of 5 exercises:

   Basic Exercise	Progression
   Squat	Squat with overhead press
   Lateral lunge	Clock lunges
   Walk Out	Walk out press up
   Superman	Single limb lift in press up position
   Single leg squat	Step to single leg squat

   Many players returning to netball will work all day, this can have an adverse affect on their ability to do basic movements. For example, if you are sat down all day your hamstrings become shortened and pelvis may tilt, this could lead to poor mechanics when squatting which in turn will lead to bad landing technique and injuries.

   To help correct this you can look at your posture at work/ home, train and stretch regularly and warm up and cool down sufficiently at training and matches.

   Improving agility

   Every position requires agility, whether it is moving around the court or evading the opposition in the circle. When looking to improve agility we first need to look at strength, if we don’t have the movement efficiency we cant improve agility.

   Once able to perform basic movements we can look at more dynamic movements, for example, progressing a squat to a double leg jump forwards, then to zig zag jumps forwards and then to single leg jumps. Technique is priority to start:

   • keeping knees in line with toes
   • looking ahead
   • pointing toes forwards 

   This is the first step of our 4 step progression to improving agility.

   
   

   Improving work capacity

   The rules of netball state players need to be able to play at least 15 minutes before substitution, they also need to change speed and direction.

   Due to limited time with athletes, we need to be smart to improve work capacity, this involves working with netball coaches. Small sided games can be incorporated in to training to target different intensities, with all small sided games we need to give sufficient rest.

   Type of game	% max heart rate	Single game duration	Work: rest ratio
   Medium intensity	85%	5-10 minutes	1: 0.5-1
   High Intensity	85-95%	5 minutes	1: 1-1.5
   Maximal intensity	95+%	Up to 2 minutes	1: 1.5-3

   Jogging should be avoided: it just makes you tired and rehearses incorrect running techniques. Instead think 4 Rs

   • Run Well
   • Run Fast
   • Rest 
   • Repeat

   Summary

   With the intermittent high impact nature of netball players need to be proficient in movement.  Correct jumping coaching can address part of this issue during Netball specific warm ups. This will help to reduce injuries and improve the players’ enjoyment of the sport.

   Complete training plans can be found in our ebooks Jump Higher and Get Stronger

   James Marshall, Duncan Buckmaster      

3. Dangers of sedentary work- and how to combat them.

   11th December 2014 9:24 am Leave a Comment

   Avoid the dangers of office life

   Recent research on US office workers has shown that taking frequent breaks from the desk leads to a smaller waistline and better heart health.

   Even those who exercised regularly, but then spent long periods sitting, had bigger waistlines and more cardiac problems than the frequent movers.

   Some suggestions from the researchers on how to incorporate this into your lifestyle at work:

   • hold meetings standing up (not a bad idea anyway to curtail their length)
   • walk to colleague’s office and talk to them, rather than email them (again not a bad idea in the interest of trying to save civilisation)
   • have communal photocopy\ printing facilities that mean you have to leave the office to get the work (again might mean you cross fertilise ideas and conversations with people other than immediate neighbours)
   • stand up for telephone calls (I always do this having read previously that it changes how your voice appears into a more friendly upbeat tone). 

   For further tips on how to get fit for the office worker, read our free ebook 

4. Grantham Sabre Camp

   10th December 2014 5:05 pm Leave a Comment

   Sabreurs’ fitness 

   Last week I had the pleasure of working at James and Ian Williams’ summer sabre camp in Grantham.  There were about 30 fencers there, from aspiring juniors to top ranked seniors. My role was to support the coaches by delivering group and individual fitness sessions. 

   The fencing “season” usually means that a summer layoff is followed by a week long camp in preparation for competition season in the Autumn.  This, combined with the long days of training and competing on the camp, meant that my sessions had to be balanced between work and education. Too much intensity on a camp like this means an increase in injury potential, too little and there is minimal training effect.

   I was working with Stephen Chappell who is a Royal Army Physical Training Corps (RAPTC) instructor at Headley Court. Together with James and Ian, we tried to get the balance right. As the week progressed, Steve got busier with massage and treatment. Hydration, fuel and recovery (including ice baths) were emphasised and made available.

   Agility for fencers

   My first session was based around multi directional agility: with specific emphasis on hip projection. I started with the “lunge n’weep” series I got from Joe P at GAIN this summer. This requires movement in 3 planes, with the lower and upper body working in different directions.

   Then I moved to a “wheel” drill starting with single leg squats, steps, lunges, hops and finally sprint actions in 6 different directions.  I was trying to show the fencers that trying to move fast without a solid foundation of balance, stability and strength will be unsuccessful.

   I finished with a reaction drill where the fencers had to try and wrong foot their partner by seeing how they were balanced and sending them in a direction they would find difficult (video here).  I.e if their partner was shifting to one side (common in fencers) then send them in that direction. Two things happen then: either the partner is “frozen” or they have to do a false step to move.

   Having fun

   On the last day, with bodies and minds tired (the competions were running to 2200 on the previous nights) Steve and I arranged a fun team session.

   First up was seated volleyball and then a command task with a “casualty” being carried over an obstacle course in the gymnasium.  It is always interesting to see how individual sports people co-operate (or not) as a team!

   As I noted on my previous work on this camp, the professionalism of the RAPTC is second to none and I hold them in high regard.  The fencers I worked with asked good questions and seemed keen to learn and improve.  The discussions I had with the coaches and the information they shared about fencing fitness will help my work with the SW fencing hub.

   Sabre fitness 2014

5. Top 5 tips for Cricket fitness

   24th November 2014 3:09 pm 2 Comments

   With the Ashes about to start all eyes will be on the England Cricket team and their desire to beat the Aussies in their own back yard. 

   I am currently working with a lot of young cricketers and there are some common themes that run through their training.

   1. Warm up properly– the warm up should be structured and purposeful, it should not include boxing drills, football matches or any other faddish activities 
   2. Ensure that both sides of the body are worked evenly. Developing cricketers especially tend to grow like weather beaten trees- they lean off to one side through repeated overuse of technical work only. This can lead to things like patellar pain in the plant foot of fast bowlers and pars defects in the back from repeated rotational and lateral work on one side only.
   3. Take time off from the nets. Skill can be developed through basketball matches, volleyball and soccer. Fitness and speed can be improved through cycling, tennis, swimming and judo.  This is especially true in under 16s where the variety and depth of skill acquisition will be improved by participating in something different. More cricket is not the answer long term.
   4. Work contralateral movements in running, crawling, resistance work and agility work. Dumbbell swings, one arm get ups, over head lunges, bear crawls and H shape agility drills will all help the overall athleticism of the cricketer.
   5. Work the whole body as a unit. The “core” is not a separate entity. there is no use doing single plane movements on machines and then doing circus tricks on a stability ball or wobble board. Instead get the whole body moving under control and then perform those movements under load.

   In short lets help create a generation of young cricketers who don’t keep breaking down and who can help keep the Aussies Ashes free.

   See more on cricket fitness here

6. 10 Fitness Tips and Myths for Rugby: Simon Worsnop

   13th May 2014 8:55 am 11 Comments

   

   Top level rugby is a complex multi faceted sport.

   Rugby union has more individual position specific requirements than rugby league.

   At top level training will need to reflect this e.g. static strength and neck strength requirements in scrimmaging forwards that are not required to such an extent in rugby league. 

   Why have I said at “top level”? This is because this specific type of training should only be a small fraction of training time once a player has achieved basic fitness across a wide range of attributes.  

   Too much icing and not enough cake: players/coaches wanting the latest fancy programme/psychobabble/technology/diet etc before they have adequate rugby and fitness skills.

    The Top Ten Myths

   1. All singing all dancing circus programmes e.g. doing dumbbell curls whilst standing on a “sit fit” will NOT improve performance. Choose multi joint exercises and WORK HARD; this will make you strong. Work on your individual weaknesses using predominantly dumb bell and body weight exercises.
   2. Liberal use of the word “strong”. Field athletes are strong, weightlifters are strong; some elite rugby players are now becoming strong but many are NOT STRONG. A simple formula used by old timers for strength was 3,4,5 i.e. bench 300lb, squat 400lb, deadlift 500lb.
   3. Liberal uses of “world class” and “fit” etc see above.
   4. Lat machines are for people who are too fat to do pull ups.
   5. Excuses for poor physique e.g. “he’s young, he’s got puppy fat”- NO “he is FAT, probably caused by a combination of POOR DIET, LACK OF EXERCISE, WEAK WILLPOWER and POOR EDUCATION”
   6. There is nothing wrong with drinking lots of beer and eating Kentucky Fried Chicken, pork pies etc so long as you only want to watch sport and not participate.
   7. Moaning about being tired; players used to work for 8 hours down the pit catch a bus to training arrive back home at midnight and get up for the next shift at 6am!! 13 year old swimmers do 60 minute sessions at 5am!!  
   8. Wanting to run before we can walk, i.e. “can you do a minimum of 8 pull ups, 20 twenty press ups and 50 lunges plus 50 body weight squats and 30 crunches rest for a minute and repeat three times?” If not, why are asking for an advanced programme?
   9. Lack of general fitness; see point above plus can you overhead squat with a dowel, can you overhead lunge with a dowel, can you run at least 1300m in 5 minutes? If not you are OUT OF SHAPE in some form or another.
   10. “Off -feet conditioning”; this is often used as an excuse to avoid hard work. Players do not get fit for rugby on stationary bikes!!!

   Simon Worsnop is the Fitness Coach for the England Under-20s squad (Rugby Union)

   Read “How to take charge of your fitness training”

7. Fencing Camp

   17th August 2010 8:35 am 3 Comments

   Just came back from working on a 2 day fencing camp in Grantham with various fencers. Two of the girls I train were on the camp, so it was good to see them in action. (Jenny McGeever is pictured).

   The camp has been run in the past by Army personnel, and the two PTIs from Headley Court did an excellent job on the camp. Something you can rely on is professionalism and enthusiasm as well as being able to walk the walk.

   We spent some time discussing fencing fitness and looking at what we would expect to see. Involved were the Coaches, the Physiotherapist, the PTIs, the physiologist – all of whom have been working for some time with this group- and some new faces who were looking at things from an outside perspective.

   One thing I know is key is getting the athletes to buy in to what they are doing and to get them to do it at homework. Without the coaches or parents at a junior level it won’t happen.  

   Sabre camp and how to get fit for sabre 2014