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117 - It's Not Conditioning, It's Getting Sexy
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Your athletes hear the word "conditioning" and the intent dies before the first rep. So stop calling it that.
In this episode, Tex shares the full presentation he gave at the Soldiers to Sidelines [@soliderstosidelines] Endurance Coaches Summit, a real-time breakdown of how he reframes fitness for high school athletes to actually get buy-in, raise intensity, and build something that matters beyond the stopwatch.
You'll hear why knowing who your athlete is matters more than your programming, the difference between work capacity and work efficiency (and why most coaches stay stuck in one), and three specific purposes of conditioning that filter every drill, every rep, and every decision on the field.
If your conditioning sessions feel like punishment disguised as preparation, this episode is the reframe you didn't know you needed.
Your job isn't to punish them. It's to prepare them to compete.
Soldiers to Sidelines: https://soldierstosidelines.org/
Education - Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction & Presentation Context
00:00:00
Speaker
Are we rolling? Action! Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast, week's four the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host, Texan Quilkin, and today we've got a special episode because I'm highlighting a presentation that I just gave for the Soldiers to Sidelines Endurance Coaches Summit.
00:00:21
Speaker
Soldiers to Sideline is a wonderful organization. I've been very fortunate to speak a couple times for them. This time they called me in for an endurance presentation because one of their keynotes had dropped out due to unforeseen circumstances so last minute call from my buddy Nate Palin to step in and present alongside wonderful people as soldiers to sideline and could including the founders Harrison Bernstein so my joke to Palin when he asked me endurance what do we mean like eight eight hundred meters
00:00:55
Speaker
And along the way, just joking, lacrosse is an endurance sport, even though it's up and down, it's fast, it's slow, it's all that.
Soldiers to Sidelines: Mission & Objectives
00:01:06
Speaker
He was in.
00:01:06
Speaker
So my my presentation that I pitched for him, it's not conditioning, it's getting sexy, reframing fitness for high school athletes. i wanted to dive into what i did for my high school athletes one from a programming perspective and two getting them to buy in because conditioning as soon as they hear that word and it's not playing their sport the intensity goes down the intent goes down so how do we frame fitness conditioning for these athletes in a fun way so this is the presentation that i gave
00:01:42
Speaker
I'm going to put the slides for my my show alongside this so I got my um Starter slide here. So this is the title slide. It's not conditioning. It's getting sexy. And you can see the Soldiers to Sideline logo there. I encourage you to check them out, soldiers2tosidelines.org. Wonderful organization that helps take military people, whether on their way to retirement or they're retired, take the tools that they've learned from service and then apply them to coaching through some education and some certifications.
00:02:19
Speaker
They also help with placement of coaches. So that's an awesome organization. Check them out, especially if you have served our country. One, thank you. Two, go to soldiers to sidelines.org. Check out what resources they have for you.
00:02:34
Speaker
and All right. So let's get into the presentation here. Not conditioning, getting sexy. Okay, here are my learning objectives. Every presentation that I give, I aim to anchor it in three learning objectives, empowerment promises, and for this sort this CERT presentation, i decided to call it three things that most people learn the hard way.
Understanding Athletes' Needs & Conditioning
00:02:56
Speaker
But there are simple learning objectives. Number one, finding out and identifying who your high school athlete actually is. What they want versus what they need.
00:03:08
Speaker
When we are applying our strength and conditioning tools and passions for our athletes, it's very biased. So we need to understand who they are, what they're training for, and how we can apply the tools appropriately for the right person.
00:03:23
Speaker
Number two, condo, understanding what conditioning is, what conditioning isn't, and why you're probably doing too much. I want to reference, there's an old... um University of Texas baseball head coach that had a two mile conditioning test for his baseball players.
00:03:42
Speaker
yeah Not connected to the sport, but he won a national championship. So what are we going to say? Anyway. All right. So objective three, what this looks like at practice. my I gave my perspective on conditioning and then how I applied it to my practices as we let up two games. And I talk about how I adjusted it once we started to to do games in season. All right.
00:04:05
Speaker
Let's get into it. What you see here, this is the NYU Invitational Cross-Country Meet from September in 2004 for colleges, Division one Division two Division three Okay.
Personal Experiences in Sports & Team Dynamics
00:04:21
Speaker
When I went to go play college lacrosse, spring sport, arrive in the fall, and we started to compete against each other, captains practices, scrimmages out on the field, just seeing who's who. Freshmen showing up, seniors meeting the freshmen, seeing what the team is made of, beating up a little bit.
00:04:42
Speaker
and I saw the skill gap between what I had and my whole team. I picked up a stick for the first time when I was 16. I played for about 18 months before committing to college, and here I am actually on campus and seeing the awesomeness that was my incredible teammates to start my career and fear set in okay i cannot compete with these guys i could put in more work but there's there's a factor of there's a fear a real fear that i might not make this team
00:05:15
Speaker
So what I do, everything in my power to make this team, including joining, reaching out to the cross-country coach and joining the cross-country team at Marymount University. Not a lot guys would do that. So September, mid-September is the first meet.
00:05:31
Speaker
Couldn't tell you, I don't remember how long I was practicing with the team, but coach threw me and another teammate into the fire and we went up to and NYC and I'll call it competed. That's air quotes for our listeners there.
00:05:44
Speaker
So my slide, I have a beautiful picture from the race. It's this wonderful course in New York, Manhattan University Invitational, and the track. Again, I don't know how long a male cross-country events are. I think it's 8K.
00:06:01
Speaker
But what you see here are the top 10 results. So somebody from Wesleyan University finished this in 26 minutes. And you see the top 10, 26, 26, 27. And they absolutely crushed it, these dudes. So good on these guys for getting after it for this Invitational.
00:06:21
Speaker
Next slide. I will highlight my name, where I finished. I went to the website. I can't believe it still exists, but scrolled all the way down to the bottom, and I got in the top five, top five from last, and finished 238. You can see my teammate right above deejay I often reference DJ in my presentations and podcast because he is the absolute baller that did not quit the team because he hated our coach so much. He wanted to spite, compete, and spite play.
00:06:56
Speaker
So in order to get back at our coach, he did more work and joined the cross-country team with
Coaching Strategies & Athlete Motivation
00:07:01
Speaker
me. So coach threw us into cross country coach threw us into this invitational and we were basically competing not to get last. You can see our times there. DJ got 43 minutes in 57 and a half seconds.
00:07:15
Speaker
And I finished the AK in 44 minutes. So just that last breath was a sprint between he and I just having fun.
00:07:27
Speaker
And yeah, at least we didn't get last, right? but 238th market. From there, I retired from cross country, not practices,
00:07:39
Speaker
just meat i mean that was a long bus ride and not fun experience so basically told coach hey i'm a lacrosse player i'm 185 pounds i'm squatting 400 benching a whole family i'm doing this for lacrosse i am not doing this to compete as a cross-country athlete unless there's some arm wrestling involved this is not going happen So I continued to train with the cross country team, but that was my last meet and you can see why.
00:08:11
Speaker
So the the first learning objective that I handed off to the soldier coaches was know your audience. this The cross-country coach put their biases, they wanted so bad, because I was competitor, DJ and I, to turn us into cross-country athletes. And we did have another teammate, Ben, who continued to actually compete cross-country for the remainder of his college career.
00:08:35
Speaker
So good on Ben. So I guess her her her approach worked, but not for me. So you got to know your audience. You can't apply your biases, your love for endurance, your love for hybrid athlete training or functional fitness training and giving it to your athletes if it's not the appropriate piece.
00:08:56
Speaker
So the teenagers are going to see right through that. So you got to know your audience. So here's my guide. Who is this kid? Number one, from my experience, when we're working with sport athletes, then the applying strength and conditioning, they're there to,
00:09:12
Speaker
to hang out with their boys. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Their friends decided to play the sport, so they're going to play this sport. There's only a handful of really, really good people on each team.
00:09:25
Speaker
So the majority of your bell curve, they're going to there hang out with their boys. Number two, lift weights. They want to feel strong in a slow down, casual environment. So they're going to train at their own pace, pal around. There's more joking around here.
00:09:45
Speaker
So that way the conditioning may take away from the fun of all this and be demonized and turned away because, hey, weightlifting is more fun. There's downtime. We can joke around. We can push.
00:09:57
Speaker
And then we can chat. With conditioning, there's no time to chat. So understand what are the benefits from the casual weightlifting or even the competitive weightlifting nature of that of a football ah training program.
00:10:13
Speaker
and then what can we carry over into to make conditioning more fun and then number three they're there to to play their sport and get really really good at it or they're there to play their sport and have fun if they don't see themselves playing in college well i'm going to coach them a hell of a lot different knowing that their athletic career is going to end at varsity if their athletic career and their aspirations have have pointed towards college, well, I'm going to really push them. And then weightlifting conditioning becomes a different beast because we're preparing them for college.
00:10:53
Speaker
But I need to have the bandwidth as a coach to understand, are they there to compete and play and push or are they there to hang out with their boys?
00:11:04
Speaker
Are they training are they just working out? Are they there to play their sport or are they pushing and going towards the next level? And this filter also works at the college level because there's guys that are playing division three.
00:11:21
Speaker
It's probably everybody to hang out with their boys. Division three, division two, division one, that they're there to hang out. They know they're never going to touch the field, but they want to be a part of something more because it could be an alumni network that presents them an opportunity to work in finance.
00:11:36
Speaker
Then the lifting weights, that that is camaraderie 101. So now with conditioning, how do I take the camaraderie of the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears of lifting and carry it over?
00:11:48
Speaker
thats And then playing your sport, there are walk-ons on every single Division one university football team that know they will never touch the field.
00:12:00
Speaker
So theirre their game day, their their Super Bowl is every single practice or scout team. So if I know those, I'm going to treat them a hell of a lot different than I am these stars. So this is a filter, a walkthrough, an understanding.
00:12:15
Speaker
And I'm not going to get mad if they're there to just do any of these things. If they see themselves as a backup on Varsity, awesome. I'll do everything I can to help them change that and aspire for more.
00:12:28
Speaker
But I'm also going to respect where they see themselves and know that their their values, their push, their drive is somewhere else. So I got to understand who this kid is. To help understand that, here's some tools.
00:12:40
Speaker
I'm going to turn a lot of conditioning into games. We are going to keep it fun and have that environment. When the environment is right, athletes go as hard as possible without ever having to ask them.
00:12:53
Speaker
So I know who the kid is, and now going start to frame conditioning. as a fun experience. And I'll reference back to Jeremy Frisch's podcast, Captains and Coaches podcast.
00:13:06
Speaker
And we talked about all about gamifying strength and conditioning. And he shared his strength and conditioning program development for the youth And one of which example he gave where he put a catapult, one of those tools that measures your distance covered and your heart rate during a workout. He put it on his own son for fun. And then he asked son play pickle.
00:13:29
Speaker
So in the short span of eight minute pickle game where his son was it, where his his buddies were throwing dodge balls at him as he was sprinting but between two cones that were about eight yards apart, his son covered 500 yards of of distance in a dip, dive, duck, dodge environment where he's being an athlete.
00:13:53
Speaker
He covered 500 yards in eight minutes. That's wild. Going full speed. And if Jeremy had told his son, hey you're going run a 500-yard shuttle, maybe five here, ten there, and going back and forth, what would the intent have been for his son?
00:14:12
Speaker
What would the intensity look like for the run? Certainly not of what it was when somebody was trying to kill him and beam him with a dodgeball and getting after it.
00:14:24
Speaker
So how can you take this principle, this idea behind conditioning and covering ground and carry it into our work even at the high school level? Okay, and also getting to know our guys within practice, within sprint, certain types of sprint work, even between warmups, there is some downtime, an opportunity for us to converse. So if I want to get to know my guys' goals, I stick to the three H's. And I had a podcast on this not too long ago.
00:14:55
Speaker
But asking them hero, hardship, or highlights. And this is just one-on-one, powing around, asking who... who Who showed up for them as kid? Who are they aiming to be?
00:15:06
Speaker
This tells me a lot about what their values are by sharing who their hero is. If it's mom, if it's dad, okay, then I dig a little deeper. What about them? Cause them to be her, what do they do for you?
00:15:18
Speaker
And then we're just getting to know each other. This going to be valuable valuable information for how hard I push them in conditioning because if they're striving to be big brother that went on to go you know to to West Point to to be a cadet or play ball somewhere, then okay, when the going gets tough, I can reference back to who the hero was and remind them, hey, this is what...
00:15:43
Speaker
You know, your brother did three years ago for me or whatever it may be. This is aiming to help make connection so they can aspire for more when they go and get stuff. Then hardship, knowing what they have carried.
00:15:57
Speaker
Some guys, I'm umm fortunate throughout my career to work in different high schools that have very vast so socioeconomic ranges. So now, if we're able to share hardships across the board, then the guys that are at the higher end can listen and hear You know, if I ask, if I learn something about the lower guy and ask them to share it with the team, now we're going to treat each other differently. We're not going to bark and yell at each other negatively during the conditioning sessions. We're actually putting them in a position to learn about each other, hardships, and then come together and as a team carry the burden, the load of conditioning and come together. You're going see how all this plays out later on.
00:16:41
Speaker
Okay. And lastly, highlight, like, what are you super proud of? Like what lights them up? This again is going to be a a constant reminder or ah if they don't have any highlights, highlight the hard work that they're putting in conditioning. Show them and reinforce the great habits
Redefining Conditioning: Lessons & Practices
00:16:59
Speaker
that are there. so Still love the three Ps for finding out who my team is as individuals.
00:17:07
Speaker
And certainly, so then that puts me in a great position once I can lead the mental and emotional state of each individual to then lead the mental and emotional state of the team.
00:17:19
Speaker
All right, so what is conditioning? This is the perspective that I apply to my sport. It's not cardio. It's not punishment. It's not, hey, ah they had a bad practice.
00:17:31
Speaker
Punish them. There was a fun call. This is when I was at the college level. Anybody that's been a college strength conditioning, you got the call. If strength training was after practice, go ahead and anticipate just erasing half of your plan. But there was a call that came down from coach.
00:17:49
Speaker
Hey, guys couldn't put it together today. They ran two miles. Stay off their legs. Click. Okay. Yes, sir. No problem. So then we got to rework our our strength training post-practice to still get some work in.
00:18:05
Speaker
But that that those are the type of calls. All right. So if it's it's not reactive, we want to be proactive and plan what our conditioning is. And if we do have to react to what the sport coach has to say, this three look filter will put you in a position to succeed. All right.
00:18:23
Speaker
So a fun story that I got this from Charlie Francis's book. um It's got a clock on it. I can't recall it right now. But anyway, so Charlie Francis is a a sprint coach from Canada. And in his book, he shares about the Russian hockey program and the Canadian a hockey team that would lose to them and get outskated in the third period every single Olympics.
00:18:50
Speaker
During the Cold War, and they still had the the Winter Olympics, the Canada team was preparing to play and compete against the Russians by hammering extra VO2 max training on a bike, preparing to have a better the best VO2 max in the world, better than the Russians, so that they could skate with them during the third period.
00:19:12
Speaker
Cold War was still going on. You had no idea how the Russians were training. And then, guess what happens? Canada loses to Russia. I'm not sure if this is the 1980 Olympics that the the USA was was successful in.
00:19:27
Speaker
But anyway, so Canada loses again to Russia, gets outskated in the third period, iron curtain lifts, and then finally all the Canada sports scientists were begging to get the data on the Russians. And their VO2 max scores were 10 points less than the Canadians, but they were still able to outskate them.
00:19:50
Speaker
So the next question began, what are they doing not in their training? what are they doing in their practice? And they were skating to the best of their abilities at game speed during practice. They were training fast.
00:20:03
Speaker
So that is a big part of this purpose. We're going to limited window for specific endurance or conditioning training at practice. But what do we need our drills to look like? A very intense speed push.
00:20:20
Speaker
Intensity in 10 cities on purpose when we are going fast. There is no walking on the field. if we're in a drill, we're moving as fast as we can, aiming to get maximum velocity speed. So match the training to the demand of the sport is the big lesson here.
00:20:37
Speaker
Okay, another major lesson that I wanted to hand off to the the endurance coaches is helping them understand. And with the soldier coaches, a lot of them, they're transitioning careers. They're stepping into from an interest in fitness, strength, conditioning, or coaching into now a profession of coaching.
00:20:53
Speaker
So I pulled out two big buzzwords to help them clarify and understand. Number one is work capacity. We're going to build an engine. This is the first few weeks. This is the first phase of our preseason training where we're building general physical preparedness. We're getting in shape to then get in sports specific shape.
00:21:15
Speaker
So we're just building an engine. This isn't a catch all term. It's a very specific time in season that we're aiming to get into this. So this is and the first month of season, two, three weeks, depending on how you have. We're building an aerobic-based common motor learning patterns. We're learning the basic skip and sprint drills and hammering those and using those as a general physical preparedness and building an opportunity for our bodies to restore. So getting in shape to then get into practice shape.
00:21:51
Speaker
So we're training work capacity first, but we never stop there. And it's not a continuous turn. It's not a sport of fitness that we're applying to our athletes. It's not a sport of work capacity. It's a specific phase of preparation in training so to prepare us to then practice really intense like the Russians.
00:22:14
Speaker
Okay, we want to lead to work efficiency. So within work capacity, we can do a conditioning test to test what they did in the off season.
00:22:25
Speaker
But now that becomes less relevant and we're more focused on work efficiency. So how quickly and accurately can our nervous system call upon the strength, power and speed play after play? So more repeatability of our abilities during this. This is specific to central nervous system, neuromuscular, muscular systems to display and replicate force under fatigue.
00:22:53
Speaker
This is what wins games. So as we transition in our preparation, in our specific run types, now to more of a work efficiency.
00:23:04
Speaker
Instead of longer runs where we're building the aerobic base, now we're getting into sprints and focusing on decreasing recovery time between sprints, gaining more efficiency within our work.
00:23:17
Speaker
So that way we can call upon it and then, oh crap, there's a turnover. We got to call upon it again real quick. All right so differentiating those two terms. Now I introduced my three purposes of conditioning that I apply to to my guys. All right, this is not a laundry list. It's three things that are s very ah deliberate purposes. Purpose number one, develop mental toughness and team camaraderie. If I'm working with individual athletes like like so swimmers or sprinters, really lean into the mental toughness side of things.
00:23:53
Speaker
who For my guys though, it's going to be building and leaning in on each other as a team. So this is shared suffering, intentionally designed to build trust. It is a lot of running together, but it also makes in a lot of isometric holds and pillar work.
00:24:11
Speaker
This way it slows it down instead of me, them running away from me and me watching and observing. Now it's specific to, okay, we're under stress together in an in earshot, and I'm listening to how they're they're leading.
00:24:27
Speaker
Do guys disappear up their own ass and go into their pain cave? Or are they quitting? Or when I walk by, do they drop down and look around and hope no one sees them when my back's to them?
00:24:40
Speaker
Or are they fighting and staying up and bringing their teammates up? So different things. They could also be fighting and standing up and bringing their teammates down by yelling at them and being negative.
00:24:51
Speaker
So This is all forms of conditioning, but I'm ah also observing body language and how they're communicating to their teammates. Developing mental toughness, if we do different forms of 300-meter shuttles, how are they resting after?
00:25:07
Speaker
Are they resting on their knees? Are their hands on their heads? So I'm starting to coach up their their posture and their position and listening to how their their teammates are communicating to them as well.
00:25:18
Speaker
Because if they don't know that they're resting on their knees or they don't they're not aware of their bad position, then they're not in a position for purpose number two, which is being coachable.
00:25:29
Speaker
So the purpose number two of conditioning is enhance our coachability in chaos. Can they listen to coach's voice when their heart rate is jacked?
00:25:42
Speaker
Can they execute a task when their brain is telling them to stop? These are trained skills and we're using conditioning as an opportunity to do that.
00:25:54
Speaker
It's simple as get off your knees or stand up, oxygen's up here. Can they listen to that or can they just, ah they are are so internalized they can't control their body. It's easy to stand up. I don't care what the research says about the oxygen efficiency at the knees or above the head or whatever it is. Stand tall. And my joke to them is this.
00:26:15
Speaker
If you cannot control yourself, if you can't not sit on stand or rest on your knees or hands above your head, well, you're just showing me that you need more conditioning. and I'm happy to add more reps onto this.
00:26:29
Speaker
That's a good thing. I want us to be in shape. So they're fighting the urge to rest on their knees because that means more reps. Simple, stand tall. Rest in the ready is one of the cues I throw out there. So we're enhancing coachability in chaos. That's a big purpose.
00:26:45
Speaker
Okay. Number three, this is probably the most measure measurable and and closest to what you're used to. That is to decrease recovery time between maximal velocity efforts.
00:27:00
Speaker
Most coaches, they're only focusing and using a conditioning on measuring a VO2 max or seeing if our guys did work or developing mental toughness. Conditioning is not about making them tired and tired alone. It's about making them recover faster so that they can go hard and fast again.
00:27:20
Speaker
ah example i want to use, I've got two great examples. The first one, old school Oregon Duck football with Chip Kelly at the helm. where they were running a play an average of every 14 seconds.
00:27:35
Speaker
So play would be dead, get back up the line, next play, maximal velocity. Could they run as fast as they could in the third quarter as they could the first? Absolutely not. But they were running as fast as they could.
00:27:47
Speaker
So they were able to run an up-tempo practice, and they were able to get in sports shape by practicing this way. And the defense had the illusion of speed. The offense had the illusion of speed because they were in just such fantastic shape between and we could recover quickly before maximal velocity efforts.
00:28:09
Speaker
And then guess what? They had the illusion of speed, which then when they were able to recruit speed and then keep it going. They were practicing with that Russian intensity and were putting on a great product on the field.
00:28:23
Speaker
So then their their work capacity, excuse me, their work efficiency was then able to attract and recruit speed. And then when that speed became efficient, man, that was a beautiful, fun time at college football.
00:28:39
Speaker
And then, I mean, it truly changed the game because everyone in... change to that up tempo ball especially in the big 12. so fun fun stuff there another great example is going to be boxing okay we have our our our set round time how and then our efficiency one loss within the boxing ring is how many punch land, not how many punches thrown, right? So this is the argument against work capacity versus work efficiency.
00:29:08
Speaker
It's not how much work I did in the boxing ring in that round. It's how efficient and accurate was my work. So now if I'm conditioning, guess what I can do? I can give maximal efforts one, two, one, two, three, four, and then I'm going to recover.
00:29:25
Speaker
I can dance around the ring. If we're working with heavyweights, we just hug it out. Just kidding. So now I'm recovering before my next opportunity that I see of one, two, one, two, three, four.
00:29:37
Speaker
And then recover. So aiming to decrease the more time, the better shape I am, the more opportunities I can push for to get more points on the scoreboard for that to to work.
00:29:50
Speaker
So simple boxing analogy there, but decreasing recovery time. Within the sport of lacrosse, it's a fast-paced game. I need to be able to get off the field, recover, get back on the field, and put my team in a position to win and execute.
00:30:06
Speaker
So this this is the aim. All of my conditioning tools, they filter back to one of these one, two, three purposes in that. If I can't align it with one of these purposes, I don't care how good the science is, it's not making my team better. We can't sell the guys and give them
Innovative Conditioning Methods
00:30:23
Speaker
some purpose here. All right.
00:30:25
Speaker
So last thing i'm going to cover within the the the specifics of conditioning and running is the difference between running fast and sprinting.
00:30:37
Speaker
Sprinting is not running fast. Sprinting is running as fast as you can, period. So in the conditioning block, sometimes I have speed days.
00:30:48
Speaker
Depends on the day. So to differentiate, I apply intensity sprints and volume sprints. Volume sprints would be more akin to the traditional style of conditioning, where we're running, pushing ourselves,
00:31:04
Speaker
to a specific distance and then timing it and then resting three times, four times as much as it took us to get there. And then guess what? We're on the line.
00:31:15
Speaker
So in our our pre-season, this work rest ratio is very high, one to four. However long it takes, 15 seconds to run 100 meters, we are going to rest 45 seconds. But then as we get closer to season, I just decrease that recovery time.
00:31:33
Speaker
Now we're working on one-to-one, whether it's 100 meters, whether it's 80s, whether it's 60s, whether it's 40s, we're just measuring within volume sprints, the recovery time and bringing it down, but we're still aiming to run to our our maximal velocity.
00:31:48
Speaker
Now the other side of this coin is intensity sprints, running as fast as you freaking can. It takes a lot of rest to recover from a maximal sprint, so we don't do a lot.
00:31:59
Speaker
Mainly we don't do a lot because I don't have a lot time to operate during our conditioning. sessions here. So if I aiming to have a 10 minute block, a 10 minute window to do sprints, I'm just talking two, three, four reps and then resting between each as much as we can.
00:32:19
Speaker
Unfortunately, sport coaches, they don't like rest. So what do we do during the rest times for the intensity sprints? Do more pillar holds, isometrics, or skip sprints patterning drills for us.
00:32:33
Speaker
Is this the the optimal way? No, but I'm not training track athletes. I'm just training dudes on the field to be fast in this particular time. So not perfect here, but I do differentiate these three. One is running fast and getting in shape. The other is sprinting.
00:32:52
Speaker
Different. Okay. All right. So my big reframe for the dudes is all the work that we're doing. We're not conditioning. We're getting sexy. And this is a line from one of my teammates. His name is John W. Hart. Rest in peace. He's in the Arlington Cemetery right now. But he came back as a 24-year-old freshman for my team when I was a junior from Iraqi Freedom. So this dude was a freaking Marine, tatted up, driving a BMW, just blowing all of his his freaking... ah
00:33:25
Speaker
Military money on school and cars as it should be so now We're working hard and I'm doing my best to just be positive motivator And he drops this one-liner that I will never forget. He just turns around Reframes it.
00:33:41
Speaker
It's not conditioning boys. It's getting sexy and here we go again. So RIP John Hart. Thank you for the amazing one-liner number 37 on our team so on ah on our team so This is a hell of a lot easier to sell to our guys.
00:33:57
Speaker
And it's it's also more intelligent because it's connecting to an aesthetic. Anyone that's aesthetically driven on your team, hey, we're leaning right into that.
00:34:09
Speaker
So if they're not one of the performance guys that is aiming to to push in their performance is the goal, well, maybe we can apply to some aesthetics and get in here. And there's certain conditioning days that are very intense. Any 300 meter shuttle day is going to be intense. Not intensity sprints, very emotionally intense.
00:34:30
Speaker
So during emotionally intense days, sometimes I have some empathy and sympathy and we can take our gear off. If our gear's coming off, but we're still working hard, that's a win.
00:34:41
Speaker
Then I encourage them, hey, tarp's off. Shirts are off here. And you can help see the progress the progression in their physique as it develops over the course of a season because they go from the big put on weight, slow football style to actually true conditioning, playing a sport that is an endurance sport, physically enduring.
00:35:08
Speaker
And now they're starting to get in good shape. And you can call them out for... They're freaking the the abs that are starting to show up or the traps that are starting to show up. So we're highlighting the physique that certain guys are going after. So it's playing into the motivation of not just going through the motions or grunting and grinding through this. No, I want you to attack this because it's going to work. Whether that goal is performance or if the goal is physique, let's freaking Tarps off.
00:35:38
Speaker
So getting sexy. Okay, winding down, this is the real-time application. I had no gym access, no weight room, just a field, a whistle, and freaking 40 dudes just ready to to to train hard and get after it. So the constraint at high school practice, this is a reality. I got 90 total minutes.
00:36:00
Speaker
to practice so we're talking a 15 minute window to warm up 60 minutes of lacrosse depending on if they're having a good day or a bad day if they're having a bad day it's going to be a lot more because we have to rinse and repeat rinse and repeat and no weight room available.
00:36:19
Speaker
Okay, so this this is the reality you're gonna have to work with whenever nugget is given to you. So I had 15 minute warmup or 10 minute conditioning at the end of practice.
00:36:33
Speaker
How I did this is break it up. So we hit our dynamic warm up. If it was an intensity sprint day, we did that right after our dynamic warm up before going after skill.
00:36:45
Speaker
The rest of these we reserved because they're more traditional conditioning. If there's any technical skill change of direction, that was also before skill stick work. But now, lot of stuff I'm going to drop here, it was done at the end of practice, post-practice. I would love to do this mid-practice, but what I was given was 10 minutes at the end of practice.
00:37:07
Speaker
So tool number one, keeping it fun and keeping the intensity up, partner tag. Everyone loves a good foot race. So finding ways to to add constraints to tag, what I could do is say on a football field, this is your five yard lines. If you're going from goal line to the five yard line, you have to stay within that, but you have the whole width to operate and work together to play tag. Okay, 30 seconds, partner roll up, one is up, shortest partner, you're going first. Ready, ready, go.
00:37:41
Speaker
So spreading them out. So adding spatial constraints and then time constraints in there and getting them. Another constraint could be foot tag. So then I really shrink the box, say I'm only working with the defense and the offense is off ah doing something else. Okay, now we're playing foot tag where you just got to tag and tap each other's feet with your toes.
00:38:03
Speaker
That's another fun way. And Jeremy Frisch, he threw this one out there, pool noodles. So now, trying to avoid different pool noodles that we're getting after there, that is a fun way. Our heart rate is jacked. We're working hard. We're covering ground.
00:38:19
Speaker
And we're not in the lull of just going through the motions of conditioning. So in all these, I'm looking at how they're changing direction, what the body positions are going in. Are they weak? Are they strong? How's their lateral movement? How's their rotational movement?
00:38:35
Speaker
How's their agility? All that good stuff. So I'm watching this stuff and making sure the fun is up, but also we're improving our agility and athletic ability. Okay, number two is going to be pursuit drills necessary for the sport of lacrosse, basketball, football. Also, I see as requirements, volleyball for sure.
00:38:55
Speaker
So different pursuit drills where... Different ways to do this. Easy one is we're starting in push-up position. One guy is tall, one guy's in push-up, the front guy's in push-up, the other guy is tall. So as soon as they see them sprinting past, then it's a so push-up sprint and we're aiming to to catch them.
00:39:15
Speaker
That'd be one, so more reactive. Another one would be ah pursuit angles. So i have imagine I am on the sideline of the goal line, and I've got to run a straight line, just like the NFL Combine does 40s, running a straight line for 20 yards. We've got a cone at the 20-yard line.
00:39:36
Speaker
Player one starts on goal line. Player two is 15 yards away. Now we're creating a triangle. We both have to run to the cone. But even though we're both starting on the goal line, now this is a little bit of a math problem.
00:39:51
Speaker
I'm 10 yards away. We've got to get to the 20-yard line. How long do I have to run? That's a geometry problem. No idea. But I give them the choice. If this person that is player number one, player number two is slower than them and they know it,
00:40:07
Speaker
Well, they can move up five yards. So now they're on the five yard line or, you know, give or take one or two yards and they're still going to run to the 20 yard line. Is that 20 yards? It's probably closer to 20 yards now, but they got to beat them there.
00:40:25
Speaker
Or if you are just going to talk the ultimate trash and the ultimate insult and you know you are faster than this guy, then you minus yards. So you're starting behind the goal line. You're giving them ground and there's a pursuit angle and more distance to cover.
00:40:41
Speaker
Those are always fun to see. So they have to calculate. Okay, I got to read. I know this guy. He's fast. He's not faster than me. And I'm able to see also when guys just, they're not, their head is not in it because they just line up and get, except getting beat.
00:40:56
Speaker
So now I'm coaching them up to not only, hey you made a bad judgment on your pursuit angle or you don't care or hey, You made a bad bet. That guy is faster than you.
00:41:07
Speaker
You can't afford to make a mistake like that on the field. So yes, it is conditioning. and We're getting a lot of reps in, but we're also coaching above where they need to be.
00:41:18
Speaker
So lots of different variations there. Another one is a rabbit drill. Imagine a 5-10-5. What I give my guys is different cones that are set up. So imagine a cone on goal line, cone at 5, 10, 15, 20.
00:41:33
Speaker
ten fifteen twenty The cone at one is the conant five yards is cone one, 10 is two, three is 15, and four is finish.
00:41:44
Speaker
So they all they can do a rabbit where, okay, I just check to see if my teammates are ready. Are we ready to sprint? Okay. So then I line up and I start.
00:41:57
Speaker
I don't tell them ready go. i just ask if they're ready to go. And now they got to chase me. And I decide which cone to change direction on. Could be cone one, two, three, or two or three.
00:42:09
Speaker
But it's always minus five yards and finish. So if I choose to sprint to cone two, I plan to cone two, change direction minus five to cone one, and I finish, then okay.
00:42:23
Speaker
They know where I'm going. So if they react quick, okay, he stops at cone two, they can beat me to cone one and beat me to the finish line. That's why I want to see. Don't just dog it and finish behind me because I'm leading.
00:42:36
Speaker
this This is an excellent drill and a test for me. i like to see it. Who's going to be a better offensive player dictating? Are you faster dictating or are you faster reacting?
00:42:48
Speaker
So yes, reaction to this is a skill and their efficiency and change of direction. I agree. But if there's a guy that, okay, I see it. I can slow down quickly. I can ah accelerate quickly faster than you.
00:43:01
Speaker
That guy's going to be a great defender. I would argue. I'm biased though. I'm a defensive guy. You may find him on the offensive side, but hey. I want to get where a guy is going. It's a reaction. So pursuit drill there.
00:43:14
Speaker
Okay. Next is going to be chaos training. This is where I'm freaking hammering them with 300 yards or i don't tell them where we're going. Or one of my favorites is red light, green light, where I blow the whistle and we sprint.
00:43:30
Speaker
And the second whistle is you break down and hold an athletic position, but you don't know when it's coming. It could be a 20 yards, could be a 25, could be a 20 seconds. Nobody knows, but you're reacting and you're reacting into a good athletic position.
00:43:43
Speaker
I also love to use chaos training to incorporate my sport coaches that are working with me. So I apply this chaos training where we're sprinting, we're doing up-downs, burpees, whatever it may be. We're lunging, we're getting our heart rate up, we're challenging them, and then the coach yells at them to get into a formation.
00:44:01
Speaker
So they got to be in duress and stress and scramble all over the place and get into a formation. um I did a ah podcast with UTSA strength and conditioning staff, UTSA football, and I got to observe one of their summer training practices, and they did an amazing job at chaos training. highlighted that episode with Coach K. Go ahead and check that out.
00:44:24
Speaker
It may be 34. I'm not sure, but UTSA, Captain's Coaches podcast. It's awesome. Coach K is the man. Okay, so finding different ways to incorporate the sport coaches in now, whether you're in calling formation, calling plays, or calling which end zone or cone to run to, that's that's what it's going to do. Or we get heart rate up and they have to solve a problem or do something that is fun. That's going be a form of chaos training. The world is your oyster. Bottom line, Can their heartbeat rate be jacked? Can they listen to the coaches and execute some form of task?
Sample Training Regimen & Podcast Conclusion
00:45:01
Speaker
All right. So here's a sample five day that I throw out. No game day in this scenario. Monday, we're going start with volume sprints.
00:45:13
Speaker
Yes, traditional strength conditioning practices would start intensity on va on Monday. However, I'm working with high school athletes.
00:45:24
Speaker
I don't know what they're doing on the weekends and I don't want to know. So we are going to volume run, gut check, mental toughness, camaraderie right off the bat on Monday. Tuesday is going to be more game time, partner tag.
00:45:37
Speaker
I'm aiming to end Tuesday practice on a high fun note because Wednesday is usually the lull. So aiming to use some fun gamification that also is agility and camaraderie and all the good stuff. Wednesday, this is going to be our intensity sprint or intensity change direction day where we are working in the rest and the pillow work and the high speed. At this stage in the week, our our bodies are tuned up. We may be a little tired, but we're focusing on executing and dosing.
00:46:11
Speaker
speed. Tuesday's, ah excuse me, Thursday is going to be tempo runs. So now we're getting into a recovery run. Work to rest ratio is set and it's 75%. So we're not sprinting 100 miles an hour to our maximal velocity like we would in volume sprints. Now we're just going, just, I'm trying to get rid of that word. Now we're going 75% and I'm the pace horse because if you tell a high schooler,
00:46:38
Speaker
75% they're probably gonna go 45 they don't know what the hell you're talking about so I'm the pace horse for the guys aiming to get relative 75% and I'm keeping a stopwatch as I'm running with them and then Fridays fun Fridays we are finishing practice with freaking chaos and getting some rowdy ah challenges to to finish the day. So that's a fun Friday. Okay.
00:47:08
Speaker
So the wrap-up slide for y'all and the soldier coaches. Your job isn't to punish them with conditioning. Your job is to prepare them to compete.
00:47:19
Speaker
All right. So thank you. That does it for the Captains and Coaches podcast. If you like what you heard here today, please like, subscribe, rate, and review. If you want more weekly insights, I encourage you to sign up to for my newsletter. That's newsletter.captainsandcoaches.com.
00:47:35
Speaker
I have a lot of strength and conditioning programs, especially for the high school level, available through our show's sponsor, Train Heroic. go ahead and check that out. I'll link those in the show notes. And last but not least, I got wonderful education and the education continues to grow.
00:47:52
Speaker
best lesson I got out there for you right now is called Why They're Not Listening, Building Buy-In, Coaching a Modern Athlete, Aim to Lean into a lot of the communication and connection principles talked about on this episode. So...
00:48:07
Speaker
That does it for the podcast and the presentation. Thank you for tuning in. i appreciate each and every one of you. And thank you for the opportunity to help you the game. Ready, ready, and see you.