It's the off-season, so people start doing resistance training. And resistance training means strength training, right? Well, that's a part of it. But you should also include power training and speed training. So, you need to be training all 3- strength, power and speed. And your strength training should also include isometric (holding still) and eccentric (lowering weights), not just concentric movements (lifting weights).
Our sport, like most sports, requires power, not just strength. For power training, you use slightly lighter weights (50-80% of 1 rep max.) and move them more quickly and do just a few reps. 2-6 reps. You can do more sets, but keep the reps down so the movements are done quickly. Examples of power training include Olympic lifting and plyometrics.
For speed training, you use even lighter weights (20-50% of 1 rep max.), so the movements are quick. You are training your muscles to move quickly continuously, so you can go higher on the reps. For example, see how many reps you can do in 20 seconds. Or, time yourself for 15 seconds and see how many reps you can do.
In the triphasic training method, you start out by building strength. You work on eccentric strength first for a couple weeks, then work on isometric strength for a couple weeks, then move to concentric strength for a couple weeks. After the strength phase, you start the power phase for a couple weeks, doing multiples sets of 1-4 reps fast.
Then, finally, you move to doing speed training. Use light weights for 10-30 seconds each set. I like to pair the speed training with plyometrics since they both involve fast movements and the plyometrics works the entire range of movement, whereas in fast weight training, there is a momentum effect, so sometimes part of the range of movement isn't fully trained. Plyometrics takes care of this by working the entire range of motion.
It's important for your conditioning be specific in terms of the speed of the movements. If you train slowly all the time, you are conditioning your body to move slowly. So, your body will be used to slow movements and won't move fast in the race.
Most people only concentrate on strength training, and only on concentric strength training. Instead, work on eccentric and isometric strength training, and also work on power and speed so the training is more specific- done closer to the speed of the movements in a race.
xlathlete.com has more information about triphasic training including videos of hundreds of different exercises and different conditioning programs for many different sports. xlathlete.com
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