FIT, FAST STRONG + POWERFUL

Fit, Fast, Strong and Powerful.

Around this time of the year a lot of teams and athletes are returning to pre- season training.

One of the first questions I ask my elite teams and athletes before we commence any type of training is, what do you feel you need to work on physically ?

There are a variety of answers I normally get back, but one of the most common is “I want to get fit, fast strong and powerful”.

This is great to hear, as these 4 attributes will go a long way in helping the individuals perform to their maximum ability, but to achieve all 4 in the same training block is pretty near impossible.

If we look at how our bodies adapt physiologically to certain training stimuli, getting fit and fast at the same time are almost diametrically opposite.

Getting fast requires strengthening the lower limbs, improving force production horizontally as well as vertically and shortening ground contact time, this is all fast twitch muscle adaptation work.

Getting fit (and let us drill a bit deeper and quantify this by saying fit for purpose; ie 70- 90 minutes of high octane running/performance) requires training the aerobic system to be able to continue to regenerate oxygenated blood to pulse through the body on numerous occasions over the course of 70-90 minutes, this is mostly slow twitch muscle adaptation work.

So the notion of getting fit and fast in the first 4-5 weeks of pre - season is not really feasible, Managers/Coaches/Fitness trainers may get a better return if they prescribe fitness and conditioning programmes to be more position specific.  Most teams have a need for some of their players to do the hard donkey box to box work, these players may be best served focusing on aerobic type activities in pre-season, whereas the goal scorers and goal stoppers; ie strikers, inside forwards and the centre backs and tight marking defenders would be better served working on anaerobic work, as this replicates more what they do in matches/performance.

The same principle can also apply to the strength and power work. Athletes who wish to improve power output will totally contradict this adaptation if they are doing a lot of aerobic conditioning work in conjunction with their power block. The body starts to think “hold on a second here my power work is looking to recruit my fast twitch muscle fibres and then when I hit the aerobic training I am dipping more into my slow twitch”. 

This phenomenon is regularly described as cardio confusion. The body is not quite sure what you  are asking it to adapt to. A better marriage would be to train strength with aerobic work and power with anaerobic/fast work.

Pre - season can sometimes be a minefield when attempting to get groups of athletes to a level of readiness for the forthcoming season, with a bit more individualisation, and position specific programming I feel you can get a better return on the work invested in your athletes when the competition phase begins. The traditional practice of working on all the physical qualities required for competition in a short training block and expecting your athletes to be good at everything is no longer feasible. Training smarter and more importantly training the appropriate energy systems is a more progressive approach to how we condition the modern day team/athlete.