I just saw a tweet from a player saying “he’s looking forward to training for Lacrosse. YouTube is the best teacher.” UGH. I disagree, and this is from the guy who has multiple YouTube videos below. Videos are great for getting a visual representation for an exercise, or maybe get an idea for a new exercise to liven up the workouts. But it should not be the best teacher. First of all, most YouTube videos instruct on isolated exercises. It takes a human being to come up with the programming to determine the proper weights and exercise variables. Secondly, it takes a coach who knows what they’re doing to watch you do the exercise and make corrections on the spot. A video cannot do that for you. Take videos for what they are…a nice tool to enhance your workouts by giving you ideas and expanding your knowledge base.
This exercise takes a side plank, which requires stability between the trunk and pelvis, and adds a rotational component. Anytime you add extremity movement to a core stability exercise, it makes the stability exercise much more challenging. The goal is to rotate the top hand from pointing directly at the ceiling to underneath the trunk. The extremity on the floor can either be on the elbow or the hand, depending on the difficulty required.
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When we warm up before training, we do all sorts of agility, low box, and explosive drills. The lateral hop is one of those drills that you can use not only before training, but also before practice or games. The low hurdles just make things more challenging in this environment, but aren’t necessary. The lateral hop is great for single legged deceleration, proprioception and balance. It’s also a drill commonly used during the later stages of ACL rehab. I believe anything good for rehab should also be used in a training situation as well. A strong and stable knee is a healthy knee.
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Sometimes you see an exercise that makes so much sense, you have to steal it. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who I stole this from. It’s either Smitty from Diesel Crew or Mike Boyle from Strengthcoach.com. Either way, this is such a great exercise. I’m not ready to put a bar on the backs of my current crew, so this is the next best thing. The video is a few weeks old. Currently, they are holding a 50 lb dumbbell now for sets of 8 reps. Holding it in this fashion makes the torso remain in a vertical position, so no forward flexion of the spine and a healthier low back, no axial loading of the spine either. Give it a shot for your knee dominant exercise in your program and let me know what you think.
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I’m trying to find different ways to accomplish lower body power exercises. We’ve done box jumps and single legged box jumps, lateral jumps and broad jumps. This exercise is a variation of the RFESS using a single legged jump. I like it because it not only stresses the single leg, but it’s also safer than the regular box jumps we’ve been doing. Box jumps gets competitive with regards to box height and sometimes the box is higher than it should be. Missing the jump would mean a scrapped shin or even a face plant. Tough to explain that to a parent. This exercise seems to solve that problem.
Let me know what you think. The comment box is open.
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Here is a push up – prone row circuit we use for our horizontal push/pull set. This is a great circuit for training economy, as there is very little rest and there is no time wasted between exercises.
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We use the TRX Suspension Training Pro Pack for a lot of our exercises. This is the ab rollout for core stability. Its a great regression from the Barbell Ab Rollout.
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Using the Training Ropes is another method of conditioning indoors. This combination of exercises is probably the most basic, but in our case it’s a very good conditioning exercise. For more information on the Battling Ropes, go to John Brookfield’s site at www.powerropes.com.
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I grabbed this from Inside Lacrosse.com. It shows my buddy Luke Armour and his Princeton teammates during a fall ball game a few days ago. Enjoy.
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This exercise is a modification of the standing anti-rotation press. The press is usually done with both hands on the handle. To make it more difficult, we tried one handed. Give it a try.
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