Keep In Shape For The Upcoming Lacrosse Season

Workouts to make you faster, stronger, better.

By: Alison Brittain, NASM-CPT

07/15/09

For most high school and college athletes, Summer break poses a huge fitness problem. Athletes are left to their own devices to train, condition, and improve lacrosse skills without a coach. The following workouts and tips have been designed for younger athletes in the off-season. If you have questions please contact coaches@lawomenslax.com.

 

 

Now that lacrosse season is over, the level of activity for most of my athletes has dropped from 5 days a week, 2 hours a day, to virtually nothing. While you can afford a few weeks off, staying in shape should be considered a year-round objective for all athletes. Consider some of the following ideas to ensure you stay at the top of your game in the off-season.

 

The best way for younger athletes to achieve year-round fitness is through participation in other sports and activities. Consider some of the following alternatives to working out in a gym:

1. Play pick-up or recreational basketball, soccer, or hockey. These sports are extremely similar to lacrosse, participation in them can not only help your physical condition, but make you a better team sports player overall.

2. Get involved in a spring or summer lacrosse league, camp, or traveling team.

3. Take weight training, swimming, or some other PE class your school offers.

4. Get together with your teammates, and brush up on your stick skills, shooting and defense.

 

If you are a more competitive athlete, and wish to focus solely on lacrosse, consider the following principals to build your workout on:

1. Endurance

A huge part of being a great lacrosse player is the ability to always be a threat or challenge on the field. How can you continue to be a presence on the field if you can't last the full game? Lacrosse players, much like soccer players, cover an enormous distance over the back-and-forth play of the game. Train yourself to be able to run 5 miles at any given moment. Consider the following weekly workout to improve your endurance:

Monday- 15 minute run outdoors*

Tuesday- 20 minute run (treadmill or outdoors)

Wednesday- Rest

Thursday- 20 minute run outdoors

Friday- 15 minute hard uphill run

Saturday- Rest

Sunday- 25 minute, light easy jog (treadmill or outdoors, flat surface)

*Outdoor running is preferred. If your sport is outdoors, you should train 75% of the time outdoors

This workout should follow your level of current conditioning. If you can run further than 15 minutes without strain, bump up your time to the point where you feel the last 5 minutes of running are stressful. Add on 5 minutes to these times every 2 weeks. Aim to achieve running 45 minutes without rest.

 

2. Speed

Should you continue to read my articles, you'll find that I rely on two basic principals that will make you the best lacrosse player you can be: speed and stick skills (that's for a later date). Speed is absolutely necessary to become a stellar player. The best lacrosse teams, be it Northwestern, Carolina, or Syracuse, possess such speed it's a task just to watch the games. And speed is directly related to strength; the fastest runners have the strongest legs. The following workouts will improve your leg strength drastically, and should be done 2-3 times a week to improve speed:

Strength training pyramid (for speed):

10 Squats (no weight)

20 Ice Skaters (see here)

30 Lunges (alternate legs)

40 Seconds of wall sits

50 Calf Raises

60 Second Plank

50 Calf Raises

40 Seconds of wall squats

30 Lunges

20 Ice Skaters (see here)

10 Squats (no weight)

 

The following activities also increase speed:

1. Running stairs or up hills (most effective at increasing speed)

2. Agility drills (ladders, hurdles, cone weaving, etc...)

3. Beach Running (do this only occasionally, and only if you have no ankle or knee injuries)

4. Sprints (the second most effective way of increasing speed)

 

 

3. Agility and Flexibility

Footwork (agility) is where women's lacrosse differs from men's lacrosse. In the men's game, the ball is taken away from your opponent mostly on the basis of sheer strength and force. The women's game requires much more finesse and accuracy. Developing women's players should focus more attention to their balance and flexibility. The following exercises and activities are meant increase agility and flexibility in female lacrosse players:

Ladder Drills (using a ladder on the ground, practice fast feet and high knees)

Off Balance Training: Instead of training on flat ground or with traditional weights, use Bosu balls, balance balls, resistance bands, pulley machines, or outdoor training.

Calisthenics: an organized type of exercise that involves a combination of stretches coupled with resistance. Yoga is a good example of this, as well as planks, dips, crunches, and Pilate's (no equipment).

 

These are just some examples of exercises that will increase your agility and flexibility. You should always stretch before and after any type of activity, the more you stretch the less susceptible you are to injury.

 

If you have any questions or requests for exercises, please contact us at coaches@lawomenslax.com