Unless you are working with a strength coach, chances are you don’t have too much guidance in your off-season training. This can lead to a lot of common mistakes that many athletes make when trying to develop their fitness for the upcoming season.
If you’re left to your own devices, be sure to avoid these pitfalls in your program.
Listen to this… TRAINING MISTAKES can, and MUST, be AVOIDED!
No Injury Prevention
Lacrosse is a physical game, and with that, there lies inherit risk that you will probably sustain an injury due to contact at some point in the season.
It’s almost unavoidable, but what can be avoided are what are call “non-contact injuries.”
These injuries occur on the open field and are generally the result of poor muscle control or integrity, improper movement patterns, and improper balance.
The weight room is your first line of defense against non-contact injuries. If you can squat and deadlift with good mechanics, you improve the quality of global movement demands in hip and knee extension.
This translates to better joint integrity and stronger muscles to handle the forces of decelerating and accelerating.
Secondly, motor patterns in lacrosse can frequently stress one side of a joint more so than the other. Specific movement selection can help train a better muscular “balance” or symmetry across a joint, helping to relieve overuse injuries and promote better stability of the joint itself.
No Power Development
Being strong is one thing, but being POWERFUL is what translates that strength into every shot and check. Without proper strength training, athletes often overlook pure power development training and miss capitalizing on developing explosive ability.
Dynamic jumping and plyometric training, medicine ball throws, and Olympic weightlifting variations are prime tools in developing explosive strength. Power training in the transverse plane is the most transferable way to develop the rotational power that develops higher shooting velocities.
The more powerful athlete has an advantage on the field.
No Structure
Lacrosse is a dynamic game and provides a lot of challenging variables when it comes to off-season planning. The weight room is a place where you can develop explosive power, strength, and the ability to withstand a high work capacity.
Far too common, athletes without a strength coach will enter the weight room without a direct focus on lacrosse training. Standard fitness regimens won’t cut it when it comes to making a faster, stronger, more explosive lacrosse athlete.
Having a PLAN is key, and it needs to guide you in terms of movement prescription, load, volume, and when to implement specific conditioning drills to best prepare you for your season. Doing the same workout day after day will only get you so far, but a fully structured training plan will continually push you to make better improvements in strength, power, and work capacity.
No Function
Young athletes (well, young men in general) will typically only train the muscle groups that are present in the mirror. More specifically, the ever-so-glamorous “beach muscles” that make up the front of the body.
The days of endless bicep curls are over, and it’s time to really put in work to improve the FUNCTION of movement rather than the individual muscles that look good with your shirt off.
Every movement in the program should serve a purpose to the development of the athlete. If it doesn’t translate to improving your skills, keeping you healthy, or developing your game in a positive way, it is best left out of your training.
Does this mean bicep curls should be avoided like the plague? NO.
The focus of your athletic development should take top priority over simplistic movements that don’t develop the strength of global movement patterns (i.e. squats and deadlifts).
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Any plan is better than no plan, but the importance of having proper guidance is unquestionable. Seek out a certified strength coach to help you develop or utilize the best resources available at your disposal.
Better yet, check out the Volt Lacrosse program, and see how you can start training with an eye towards improving your development as a lacrosse athlete!
