Conditioning Should Be Specific To Lacrosse

-February 22nd, 2019-

I recently wrote a blog titled ‘The Worst Fitness Test For Lacrosse” where I stated my dislike of the 2 Mile Run test.

It is the least specific test to lacrosse that is used by way too many teams and programs as a means to measure their players Conditioning.

Never in lacrosse do you just jog at a steady state. In fact, slow steady state running will only make you slower.

Since that blog I have received a few questions about what would be a better method of conditioning than 2 or even 5 Mile runs.

Intervals obviously are the answer. Lacrosse is about your ability to recover from a high intensity sprint, not about your ability to continuously run at a slow pace.

When I say intervals most players assume I mean Suicides or basic 20-40 yard repeated sprints.

While those are Interval training drills, they are certainly not the only ones.

Personally, I prefer to make the intervals even more specific to the sport of Lacrosse.

In Lacrosse, you do not just run forwards all game. You backpedal, shuffle, constantly changing directions.

All these things are more taxing on your legs than just straight ahead sprinting so I like to incorporate those movements into the Conditioning for my athletes.

Below is a video of one of my favorite drills. It’s called Sprint/Backpedal and incorporates different movements and changes of direction. These will help to condition your body to actually play the game!

Use about a 7-10 yard distance for this drill and begin with 6 reps using a 1:1.5 work to rest ratio (if the drill takes you 30 seconds, rest for 45 seconds). Add 2 reps each week till you complete 12 reps then drop back to 6 reps using a 1:1 work to rest ratio.

This drill is extremely tiring and your legs will be burning by the end. It will also develop some mental toughness as you fight through the fatigue to complete every rep as fast as possible.

Tags: change of direction, Conditioning, Energy System Development, Interval Training