STRENGTH & CONDITIONING Pete McKnight EIS/UKA Strength & Conditioning Coach

Introduction “The human body is an adaptable living organism. It is nothing more than an interdependent matrix system that communicates with and amongst itself all day long through electronically charged molecules-you are an ever evolving and fluctuating organism that is self- regulating and supercompensating-you are nothing more than a bio-electrical field that is hell bent on one function--SURVIVAL!” Buddy Morris

The Five Rings Model Movement SkillsTechnical/TacticalPsycho-Behavioural Skills Physical Conditioning Lifestyle & Support

Strength Characteristics Isometric force: time curve indicating maximal strength, maximal rate of force development, and force at 200 ms for untrained, heavy-resistance strength-trained, and explosive-strength-trained subjects (adapted from Häkkinen et al., 1985 a, b).

What is Strength?  The ability to exert a force against a resistance. F=ma (Newton’s 2 nd Law of Motion)  Dynamic strength is defined as the maximal ability (capacity) of a muscle to exert force or torque at a specified velocity (Knuttgen & Kraemer, 1987)

What is Strength? Force-velocity curve showing how power can be related to these qualities

What is Conditioning?  Capacity for training  Building blocks for future work  ‘Prevention’ of injury  Physical preparation  3-D Training  Lower level training – pre-strength  Auxiliary training – parallel to strength

Planning & Organising “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”  Programmes  Loading patterns  Periodisation cycles  Priorities

Priorities “Be careful over emphasising qualities that are not specific to the primary components or objectives of the training cycle, because you will have too many qualities competing for the draw on the nervous system.” Charlie Francis  Neuromuscular demands  Metabolic demands

Priorities  Demands of the event?  What really matters  How strong is strong enough?  Strengths vs. Weaknesses  Biggest gains – best use of time  Time of year/periodisation cycle  Level of athlete/training age

Aspects of Programming 1. Strength 2. Movement 3. Conditioning 4. Power / Speed

Planning a programme  Strength  Fundamentals e.g. Olympic lifts & variations  Squats  Dead lifts; RDL’s  Supplementary exercises  Upper body  Lower body smaller muscle groups

Planning a programme  Warm-ups  ‘Core’ conditioning  Drills  Plyometrics  Hurdle work  Lifting technique  Injury prevention / muscle balance  Assisted running / jumping (Ritzdorf, 1998)  Decreasing the external loads when performing jumps is a good stimulus to develop the velocity component of explosive strength.

Strength  Typical rep range 1-5; multiple sets  Unilateral leg  Bilateral leg  Posterior chain  Hips  Upper body press  Upper body pull

Movement  Dynamic flexibility (walking; floor work)  Crawling  Drills  Hurdles  Lateral stepping; Carioca  Jumps; landings  Agility circuits  Reactive drills  Coordination drills

Conditioning  Functional conditioning  Unilateral  Bilateral  Asymmetric  Global rotational  Trunk (static & dynamic; low load & high load)  Hip / Pelvis  Hamstring  Upper body  Lower leg & foot

Conditioning Circuit Trunk ExerciseRepsSets Dead Bug102-3 Seated Med Ball Twist102-3 Front Plank30-60 secs2-3 Sit-up (with or without throw/Med Ball) Side Plank Left & Right30-60 secs each side2-3 Overhead Squat Kneeling Twist Throw102-3 Hip Bridge10 each leg2-3

Conditioning Circuit Foot Conditioning Drills – Hard Surface/Mat Based RepsSets Dynamic Ankling10m2-3 Ankling Walks10m2-3 Foot Fires & Powers20 each2-3 Heel Walk10m2-3 Toe Walk10m2-3 Intrinsics (clawing on mat)1 length2-3 Lateral Boarder Walk10m2-3

Hamstring  Eccentric to decelerate lower limb  Isometric during stance phase  Impacts choice of exercise  Biarticular nature of hamstring

Trunk Conditioning  Internal obliques  External obliques  Rectus abdominis  Quadratus Lumborum  Multifidis  Transversus Abdominis

Power/Speed  Olympic lifting exercises  Squat based power exercises  Medicine ball / Powerbag throws  Power Jumps  High level of force, less focus on velocity  Reactive Jumps  Small amplitude, high speed of contraction  Resisted Running  Rotational Power  Upper body power

Transfer of Training  Coordination exercises specific to movement patter of event  Strength and coordination  Speed and coordination

Other Considerations...

Single Leg Progressions  Cyclic nature of running  Balance/proprioception – static/dynamic  Hopping – SSC  Landing  Strength  Max strength  Power  Coordination – bounding/step-ups

Choice of Exercise  Must serve a purpose  Must be executed correctly to maintain emphasis and function  Phase dependant  Speed dependant  A assists B; B assists C; C impacts performance

Importance of Warm-up 1. Volume of conditioning 2. 3-dimentional conditioning 3. Teaching movements/motor patterns 4. Warming up muscles – specific preparation for lifting weights (moving through full ROM) 5. Technical development of exercise

Good Coaching/Good Training “Repetition is the mother of learning” Latin Proverb “Precise repetition is the mother of excellence”  Quality is better than quantity, but a larger quantity of quality work is best  Intent

Intent  “Intension to move the bar quickly rather than the actual speed of the bar is the goal” (Young & Bilby, 1993)  Better recruitment of motor units  Synchronisation  Muscles activated at higher frequency  Transfer of force  “You can’t push rope...”  Focus

Monitoring  Strength diagnostic tools - KMS, BMS, Tendo, Musclelab  Record keeping/training diary  Monitoring  Load  Metres  Minutes  Contacts  To build Work Capacity

Monitoring Monitoring Directs Training  Monitoring on a regular basis could be important in helping the coach to determine which component is deficient so that training can be implemented to address the deficiency and to provide motivation to the athlete.

Monitoring Year 1Year 2Year 10 Volume Load (Kg) Acceleration 0-50m (m) Speed m (m) Speed Endurance 150m + (m) Drills (m) Plyometrics (contacts) Conditioning (minutes)

Testing  1RM Strength Tests  Speed  Acceleration  Vertical Jump  Key Competencies  Goal setting  Motivation, structure, planning  Direct Training

Performance Indicators  Objective measures of progress  KPI’s  Goals/Targets  Standards of excellence  Correlations  Normative Data  Physics / biomechanics

Performance Indicators Time (s) Exercise Flying 30m sprint (s) m sprint (s) m sprint (s) Standing long jump (m) Standing triple jump (m) Bench press (Kg) Clean (Kg) Squat (kg)