The NJ Pride opened up training camp this past weekend. We ran a session in the morning for about 2 1/2 hours, then took an hour lunch and came back for another session in the afternoon. Before the first session, we started with some movement prep, going into some dynamic activities, then into their line drills, etc. If you’ve been following this site for a while, you’ll notice I haven’t changed very much. Some of the exercises might have changed, but the premise remains consistent.

The difference came in the afternoon. Do you think we started with the same warm up routine? Think about it…I have 30 guys ranging in age from 23 to 32 years old. Although they have been working out, I can’t say they have been gettin after it for 2 1/2 hours on a regular basis. Some guys felt their hamstrings tighten, calves cramp, their bodies were ready to rebel against them.

So when they came back in the afternoon, after a long slow lap around the field, we sat on the field and did….static stretching. Remember static stretching. For years, I’ve said static stretching is a poor way to prepare the body for activity. I still believe that’s true, but in this case, the long, steady stretch of the muscles helped to relax the tonic muscles and try to recover some muscle length. After stretching the hams, calves, quads, hip flexors, etc, we did our movement prep, to our dynamic activities to line drills, just like usual.

We came out of the day with no major muscle pulls. I like to think the extra 15 minutes of static stretching did it’s part to prevent any. No matter, as long as they’re healthy, I’m a happy guy.

If you’re in the area, we’ll be going at it again Sunday May 4th at Rutgers Prep in Sommerset, NJ from 8-12. Stop by if you get a chance.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, stretching, warm, up, Pete, Koeniges

In episode #11, we interview Steve Leo of the Parisi Speed School in Morris Plains, NJ.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, Steve, Leo, Parisi, speed, school, Pete, Koeniges

As long as these exercises are done with equal volume between all movements, your upper body will be balanced and you will prevent upper body overuse injuries that are common.

Other questions may be asked at www.asklacrossestrength.com.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, shoulders, back, upper, body, bench, press, pull, ups

In Episode #10 of the Lacrosse Strength Podcast, we interview Evan Chait of Elite Athletic Performance Institute. We dig into some questions asked at www.asklacrossestrength.com.

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, Evan, Chait, EAPI, Hip, Flexors, ankles, knee, injuries

They are offering a 7 day trial for only $1 and comes with a year’s subscription to Inside Lacrosse Magazine. You really have nothing to lose.

To try it out, go to www.getlaxspeedtv.com.

Tags: Lacrosse, strength, laxspeedv,, Rashad, Devoe,, Corey, Crane,, Kevin, Pasquay,, Pete, Koeniges

Performing wrist extension exercises might actually be making your grip weaker. The functional role of the wrist extensors is to maintain an optimal length-tension relationship for the wrist and finger flexors to exert the greatest amount of torque when gripping and holding an object. Therefore, you can train the extensors to become stronger just by carrying objects, and not by performing active dumbbell or barbell wrist extensions. In fact, if you create a strength imbalance at the wrist in an attempt to get your forearms stronger for the sake of appearance, you could actually impact the ability of your flexors to grip strongly, impacting your weights on more important strength building exercises such as deadlifts, rows and pull-ups or chin-ups, which naturally and functionally train the wrist extensors, anyway.

Very interesting. Our grip strength routine usually uses pinch exercises or wrist rollers, but I can see where some lacrosse players would try wrist flexion or extension exercises. According to Jonathan we should stick to pinching or even using a farmer’s walk, which is holding two heavy dumbbells and walking for distance.

You can read more about Jonathan at www.acceleratedstrength.com.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, podcast, conditioning, strength, psychology, rashad, devoe, Corey, Crane, Pete, Koeniges

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Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, explosive, box, jumps, olympic, weigthlifting, Pete, Koeniges

Tags: lacrosse, strength, speed, acceleration, shin, angle, Pete, Koeniges

Thanks.

www.asklacrossestrength.com

Tags: lacrosse, strength, ask, campaign, Pete, Koeniges

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, conditioning, intervals, sprints, programs,, Pete, Koeniges

Generally, my program will look like this:

1. Warm up
2. Explosive exercise
3a. Knee-dominant exercise
3b. Vertical pull
4a. Horizontal push
4b. Horizontal pull
4c. Hip-dominant exercise
5. Trunk stability exercise

It’s still early in the off-season, so we’ll do sprint interval training twice a week after the strength program. After the new year we’ll try to add more interval training to get the athlete ready for the spring season.

That’s a general place to start. Again, this is how I do things. Other people might do variations of this format. Even I might do variations depending on my athlete’s status developmentally, and health-wise.

We’ll take a more detailed look into each area in the next few weeks. Until then, if you have any questions at all, please comment here or log onto www.lacrossestrengthforums.com. Some of our professionals will be glad to give you a helping hand.

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, training, program, conditioning

Why do we get MTSS? For some reason, the force of your foot landing on the ground with each step is being directed directly to the tissues or tendons beside the tibia, causing a form of tendonitis. This could be due to weakness of the tendons, decreased mobility of the foot/ankle joints, or overuse of the tendons. With each footfall while running, the foot bones, tendons and ligaments (which hold up your arches) tries to disperse the force of landing. So how do we try to prevent this from happening?
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Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, training, agility, shin, pain, stress, fracture, deceleration, hops

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