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1000 Ways to Train for Lacrosse

As lacrosse players, we love to stay in great shape and train ourselves in new ways that push our limits and help us stay competitive. In an effort to give you the upper hand, we are working on a list of 1,000 training methods that will assist you in your quest to be the next Lacrosse All Star.

Whether your goal is the Tewaaraton winner (Ya Peter Baum!) or Summer League MVP, add these workouts to your repertoire and prepare to be the best.

1000 Ways to Train 61-70

Training for lacrosse is a little different than training for most sports as you can’t rely SOLELY on your strength or ONLY on your speed and conditioning. To be an elite lacrosse player, it is vital that you train hard in several areas: strength, power, speed, agility, and endurance.

The best players in the game move constantly while on the field, running from one point to another as each play progresses. Lacrosse is a very peculiar sport in that way because it requires players to have extreme levels of endurance and the strength to muscle through a check, or body up on an opponent.

Simply put, you need to be able to run fast, run all day AND be a beast.

And so 1000 Ways To Train For Lacrosse continues…

61. Muscle-ups

I have a friend who is just a complete manimal when it comes to fitness. He ran an Ultramarathon this past summer (50 miles), completely dominated this season at BYU, and is known to stand fools up at the midline (vs. UMD, skip ahead to 1:58). While I was watching the local HS playoffs I was talking to one of his buddies from BYU and he told me about how he does an insane amount of this exercise called a muscle-up. I went home and watched a video of it and immediately felt embarrassed about my own strength and athleticism.

62. Incline DB Press

This is probably my personal favorite when it comes to upper body lifts. There is something rewarding about doing well at any sort of inclined lift and of the different DB Press, I think this one feels the best after doing. Outside of the fact that I just like this lift, it is definitely important to do both incline and decline presses so you are able to work all the different areas of you chest. The flat bench or db press is popular and all but doesn’t work you entire chest. As always, check out our LAS Gym Rat below for a little demo.

Incline DB Press

63. Back Extensions

Another simple, effective exercise that is important for great core stability and is as hard or as easy as you would like it to be. Most every gym I’ve ever been to has a station for back extensions and if they don’t, just use a Swiss ball. Just like as it seems legs get forgotten these days, so do back exercises. Maybe it’s just the gym I go to, but I can count the people in the gym doing dead lifts, back extensions and other back exercises on one hand.

64. Squats

The first line of this article says it best, “If you don’t squat, you’re not training period.” Squatting isn’t just a great leg exercise, it works a lot more in the body as well. There are so many things you can do wrong with the squat though, so it is VERY important that you study up and educate yourself on proper squatting form. This article is a good start.

Don’t just read the article, watch the whole video. I enjoyed his comments about “Captain Upperbody”.

Squatting
For best results: Squat to parallel

65. Reverse Crunch Scissor Kicks

More abs. Obviously, it’s summer! Reverse crunch scissor kicks really help to target your lower abs. Remember, slow, controlled motions are always better than flailing your legs up and down.

Reverse Crunch Scissor Kicks

66. Double Leg Lateral Crossovers

Wouldn’t be a 1000 WTT post without some Speed Ladder exercises. I love the feedback you guys have been giving on these. A lot of great talk about how much they are benefiting you, keep it up!

Somewhat similar to the movement of the Ski Hops, this one really emphasizes both feet working together and building lateral quickness (as the name says!). As always, make sure to stay on the balls of your feet and increase your speed as you get more comfortable with the movement.

Double Leg Lateral Crossover

67. Single Leg Lateral Hops

Somewhat similar to the above drill, the single leg lateral hops really focus on isolating one leg at a time. As the picture shows, try and stay as close to either side of the speed ladder as you can. It helps to build control when planting and exploding to the next point.

Single Leg Lateral Hops

 

68. 1,000 Yard Club

Apparently when you are training for the Vail Lacrosse Tournament this is a must. I can’t think of a summer we went to Vail that we didn’t do several of these prior to leaving. Even more unfortunate was the fact that I was 6’4 in high school, automatically pairing me up with the biggest kid on the field.

These are very simple, but very effective. Pair up with someone about the same size as you and line up on one end of the field. One person starts out sprinting and the other starts out riding. After each 100 yard sprint you switch and it’s the other guy’s turn to give the piggy back ride. As you may have guessed, both parties run until they have reached 1000 yards each.

Don’t be fooled though, the “club” isn’t as cool as it sounds…

69. Outside Edge Line Bounding Series

As we’ve discussed several times, lateral quickness in lacrosse is crucial for becoming successful. If the NFL Combine Trainers find it necessary, you probably should to. The Outside Edge Line Bounding Series is a great way to build up your lateral quickness and allow you to make those quick cuts.

Find any sort of line on a field or track. In high school, we would always use either side of one lane on the track as our boundaries. Start with your right foot on the outside of the left edge (or vice versa), explode to the right side and land on your left foot. Repeat this several times as you move down the track. In the video below, they have him explode into a sprint after a few. Just another variation you can add to increase the difficulty a little more.

Check out this article for a little more on the Outside Edge Line Bounding Series. If you’re watching the video, skip ahead to the 5:31 mark.

70. Bikram Yoga

Bikram yoga, I hear it’s good for you. The boss man does it all the time and he’s pretty healthy. Everyone I know who has done it swears by it. The biggest thing that scares people about it is the 105° temperature of the room with a high humidity to go with it. Sounds intense, I’m in!

Until next time, only 930 to go!

An important note about trainingYou should always consider your own goals and decide what you want to accomplish during training. Most importantly though, always learn how to properly do an exercise before you start doing it. As very few of us are experts in Sports Science or Medicine, we always recommend doing your own research and finding credible trainers to teach you how to train. Train smart, train safe, train hard, lax on.

Yesterday You Said Tomorrow - Nike

1,000 is a big number. Please share your favorite lifts and exercises in the comments section (or email us at info@lacrosseallstars.com) so we can add them to our list and reach the big 1-0-0-0.