Strength And Conditioning

Philosophy

Our Strength and Conditioning Program provides a dynamic process that considers every aspect impacting an athlete’s performance. A continuous evaluation of progress toward specific training goals and physical analysis, determines special needs and demands, as well as identifying strengths and limitations. The appraisal of these factors will allow the prescription and implementation of an integrated training program tailored specifically to achieve the goals of team and each player.

Our philosophy will provide each player in the program the following objectives:

•A consistent, safe and productive way of physical training

•A system following basic physiological principles of training using a direct, simple coaching approach, measuring efforts daily

•Help guide the players to reach their potential by setting goals and monitoring progress at all times where accountability is a constant

•Maximize performance on the field

•Monitor athletic performance gains through percentage grading

Program principles

Train smart

Have a plan. Our program is based on a periodization-training model that divides the year into phases. Each phase has a specific purpose and incorporates different activities, different volumes, and different work intensities. Periodization training helps you make consistent gains, prevent injuries, avoid burnout, and give your best effort when you need it –during the season.

Train hard

Attack your workouts! We will focus on getting better in all areas, with good discipline, positive attitude and lots of hard work. Always try to use good technique and give 100% during your workouts.

Train consistently

Avoid extremes in training by training at a reasonable level consistently. This will allow the body time to adapt to the stress of training and develop a solid fitness base. If a few days of training are missed, a few extra days of hard training will not compensate the loss of conditioning. Instead, the athlete will overstress the body and will be more predisposed to injury.

Cost to benefit ratio

For every exercise that is incorporated into the program, the benefit of that exercise must outweigh the potential for injury. Each exercise in our program will meet these criteria.

Progressive overload

Start slowly and be progressive. We will improve during every training session. Overload happens when the body has to respond to training loads that are greater than normal. Intensity and volume are the key factors used to progressively increase the load. Remember these three rules: Core strength before extremity strength, body weight before external resistance and fundamental movement skills before sport-specific skills.

Develop core strength

An athlete is as strong as his weakest link. The center of all power and strength in the human body originates from the core. The core acts as a shock absorber, stabilizer, and represents a link between the legs and upper body. Weak core muscles limit the athletes’ ability to perform at his maximum.

Ground-based exercises

Most sport skills start with your feet on the ground. The more force you can apply against the ground, the faster you will run and the more effective you will be. For best results, we will do complex movements that cross multiple joints (squats, lunges, step-ups, step-downs, split squats, push-ups), require that at least one hand or foot be in contact with the ground. This will improve our athletic performance such as coordination and the ability to generate force.

Specificity

You get what you train for. Know what you need and train to get it. The majority of sports are based on speed, reaction and power, not aerobic endurance. Although it’s important to develop an aerobic base early in the off-season, we will switch to interval sprints to improve speed, power and aerobic capacity. We utilize sport-specific exercises.

Rest and recovery

No matter how hard you work, you don’t make gains during workouts. Gains are achieved during periods of rest and recovery. Recovery is one of the most important and most ignored principles in training. Training without adequate recovery yields poor results and injury.