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This one is for the Coaches. Conditioning Like It’s 1969
By Joe Stewart
Dear Coaches,
I’m laying this one out hard and fast. I’m going to apologize in advance if this breaks your heart. It is no longer 1975. Running gassers at every practice and calling
it “conditioning” is false advertising. Saying that you are “building mental toughness” is also untrue.
The good news: there is a better way and there is still time for change.
We don’t have enough page space here to have an in-depth conversation on sport-specific conditioning, but I’m going to lay out a couple of general guidelines.
If your sport requires short bursts of power with an aerobic requirement to recover and perform well throughout the game (like basketball, football, softball, vol-
leyball, short distance swim and track events, etc) try adding some of this to your practice. Basically if you need to compete in an anaerobic-aerobic environment
then you need to train for it.
2 Days per week do some interval work, 2 days per week do some aerobic work. (I’m going to write this with basketball in mind).
Day 1
3 Rounds (each round needs an all out intense effort) Day 2
10 Dumbbell Thrusters 10 minute jog at 80% of a game speed effort
8 Burpees Rest 2 mins
6 Box Jumps Repeat x3
Rest 1 min after each round
Rest 3 mins after the 3rd round and do it again
Day 3
3 Rounds
12 Kettlebell Swing
12 Ball Slam
Sprint full length of court and back
Rest 2 mins between each round
Rest 3 mins after the 3rd round and repeat
Day 4
Have a pool? Do some lap swimming at a consistent pace for 10 mins. Rest 2 mins and repeat 2-3x.
Don’t have a pool? Do the same with a bike.
Don’t have a bike? We can run again, but I like to keep the foot strikes to a minimum during the season. (There are a lot of other aerobic workout options that
could be favorable, but this is the quick and easy version.)
Why would I let my kids go 80%
The short answer is because we want aerobic development and if we get too much blood flowing to the heart then we miss that and the training stimulus changes.
What about mental toughness? Without Gassers won’t my kids be sissies?
No. They won’t. You will build mental toughness in them by requiring them to be to practice on time. They will build mental toughness when you are relentless
on teaching them the fundamentals of the game. When you drill footwork a million times. Over and over and over and over again...until it is perfect. They will be
tough when they have the expectation of coming to an organized practice that the Coach leads consistently every single time. A Coach that sees their hands, feet,
eyes, positioning and cues them relentlessly to make corrections. They will be mentally tough by having you push them until they want to quit. Until they think
they can give you no more. And then finding the way to get them to give you one more rep, one more trip down the court, one more lap in the pool. Leading them
to success as a result of the combined effort of you, your staff, and your team over and over again will build a mentally tough individual.
Gassers will leave you with a short roster, a bunch of kids who hate you, and a bunch of kids who aren’t in competition shape.
Joe Stewart, MSW, CF-L2, USAW L2
Owner
Mission 1 Fitness LLC
1900A W. Caro Rd.
Caro, MI 48723
(989) 553-1044
www.missiononefitness.com
Mission 1 Apparel
www.mission1apparel.com
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