If I was a Lacrosse Coach….

*My team would be nudged into working out 6 days per week. Each workout will last about an hour at the most. Monday through Friday will include at least a half hour of skills work along with physical output work such as aerobic conditioning, speed, power, stability and strength work. Saturdays would be 45 minutes of skills work.

*I would have my athletes perform tempo runs 2 days per week to maintain their aerobic endurance. The athlete needs anywhere from 10-20 yards of running space, preferably on grass, and a stopwatch. Each run would cover 60 yards, if you only have 10 yards you would run back and forth until you have covered 60 total yards etc. An ideal distance would be 20 yards covered 3 times. The first thing we need to figure out is how fast the athlete can sprint the distance. Use a stopwatch for an exact measurement. Lets say she completed the sprint in 10 seconds; that number represents her maximum running speed. A tempo run needs to be completed at about 75 percent of her maximum speed in order to train her aerobic system (this is important). She would take 10 seconds divided by .75 and that would give her 13.3. This number, 13.3, represents the time it should take for her to perform each tempo run. A workout would include 10 tempo runs with about 30-45 seconds of rest between each run.

*Tempo runs are superior to long distance running because it allows for better running form and the changes of direction help the tissues in the ankles, knees and hips prepare for a return to game speed action.

*Tempo day is a great day to work on balance and stability. Before we run, I would have my team perform a few sets of single leg jumps to a single leg land. 2 sets of 3 jump/land is enough.

*I would have my athletes sprint and perform some explosive exercises 3 days per week. We do not know how long this whole pandemic will drag on and my athletes will lose that speed and power the more they sit around.

*On Speed and Power days, we would perform an ankle bounce, a single leg jump, a double leg jump and then sprint. The goal for this day is quality movement and plenty of recovery in between. We would perform 2 sets of 10 bounces, 2 sets of 3 single leg jumps and 2 sets of 3 double leg jumps. Keep it fresh by jumping in various directions. Each set would be followed by 1:00 of rest. The goal is to jump through the freaking clouds above!

*My team would perform 8 total 10-yard sprints on day 1, 3 total 15-20 yard sprints on day 2 and 5 total 10-yard sprints followed by 2 total 15-20 yard sprints on day 3. The goal of the sprint work is to maintain or improve speed, and that requires an all out effort followed by a full minute of rest. The last 2 to 3 sprints should involve some agility and change of direction (just scroll down to the next *)

*Sports are about perception and action so I would call on the parents for support on a few agility drills. You need 4 cones; cone 1 and cone 2 will be set up about a foot apart. This will be box 1. Cones 2 and 3 will be lined up touching each other, cone 3 and cone 4 will be set up about a foot from each other, creating box 2 The athlete sprints, the parent steps into either box as the athlete approaches, the athlete must then sprint through the open box. This drill forces the athlete to perceive and act to a changing environment, which is much more game like than any cone drills out there. Perform these drills on the final 3 to 4 sprints of the 10 yard session, the first 4 sprints of the 15-20 yard session and the final 3 sprints of the mixed session.

 *10-yard sprint workouts would be on Monday, 15-20 yard sprint workouts on Wednesday and the mixed session would be on Friday. Jumps would follow the sprint work.

*Speed work would be followed by a strength circuit consisting of a lower body exercise, an upper body pulling exercise, an upper body pushing exercise and a core stability exercise. 3 sets of each exercise would be performed.

*Obviously I am not a sports coach and I have no knowledge of the skills work that goes into planning a practice. To keep it simple, if a requires the athlete to move at a fast rate of speed for longer than 5 seconds, it is considered “High Intensity” and if it falls under this intensity and/or duration, it is considered “Low Intensity”.

*High Intensity drills would be performed before the tempo runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Low Intensity drills would be performed after the speed and power work, before the strength work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.