Lacrosse Strength » High School Sports

Lacrosse Rest – How much is enough?

Pete — Tue, 25 May 2010 01:04:40 +0000

My high school team is at the end of their season. Now that its over, how much rest should they get before they start training again? I’m sure their thoughts are different than mine! First off, I’m their athletic trainer. So injured athletes must be rehabilitated as soon as possible. No rest. Sorry.

For the rest of the team, I believe in a week or two of active rest. Frisbee, basketball, or just going on a jog is fine. For HS kids, finals is coming up also, so studying is also a priority.

After that, it’s time to hit the gym. I wouldn’t wait any longer than two weeks after the season is finished. The longer they wait, the further they get into the summer, the harder it is to get back into the weight room and make progress.

Spots are filling up for our summer program already. If you’re ready to get in on the action, either email me at pete@lacrossestrength.com or call 201-970-4470 to schedule an interview.

Low volume for lacrosse strength training

Pete — Sat, 15 May 2010 12:50:51 +0000

Lately, I’ve been lurking on the forums at Inside Lacrosse. More specifically, the training section. Every 10-15 posts, someone says they want to put on size and strength and posts a program for all to evaluate. This program ends up being some sort of split program where the upper body day has three exercises for every body part and the lower body has the same. I remember seeing these programs in the old Muscle & Fitness magazines in the 80’s. (Yes, I’m that old)

What we fail to understand is the body simply cannot handle the volume of work prescribed without some pharmacological help. Some of these programs were designed by those using anabolics for those taking anabolics. You’d need the drugs to recover from a program like this.

If you’re like most lacrosse players, your nutrition is barely on point, so recovery from training is challenged as it is. That being the case, you can get a great training effect from a program with a lower volume of exercise. I believe in whole body training, one exercise per movement. I have friends who subscribe to the Westside, Conjugate, Skinny Bastards method, and even they only do one heavy exercise per workout session.

The take home message is get your nose out of body building magazines and seek out the advice of a professional strength coach who has your best interests at heart.

PS. With summer coming, new camps and strength programs will be announced. Sign up for our newsletter to get the most up to date information.

Lacrosse Coaches seminar

Pete — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:14:58 +0000

Quick Update: My buddy Bill Gilligan and I are putting together a coaches seminar series where we’ll go around and talk to your coaches about anything from youth training, injury prevention, conditioning, etc. Basically whatever you feel is a need for your coaches, we’ll develop a talk for you. Let us know how we can help.

Pete
201-970-4470

Strong – The Movie

Pete — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:39:03 +0000

Got a note this morning from my buddy Mike Guadango. He says “Strong”, the documentary about Defranco’s gym is available to purchase. Mike is one of the featured guys in the movie. So I went to the website this morning – www.strongmovie.com – and I’m stunned, emotional, motivated. Just looking at the trailer on the site (although I’ve seen it before), makes me look at these guys and appreciate the sacrifices they made to train with Joe and be the best they can be at whatever they do.

I was moved enough to immediately pull out my credit card and plop down the $29 bucks. I can’t wait to see the whole movie. If I’m feeling this way now after watching a 50 second trailer, I can’t imagine what emotions will stir after seeing the movie in it’s entirety.

Get Strong.

www.strongmovie.com

Tags: Strong, Mike, Guadango, Joe, Defranco, Movie

Motivation for Lacrosse

Pete — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 05:02:24 +0000

Just a few thoughts on motivation. Send me a comment and let me know what you think.

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, Pete, Koeniges, Doug, Parker, Zach, Even-Esh, Motivation

Lacrosse Strength Newsletter

Pete — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:36:10 +0000

I just sent out the following note to those subscribed to my
FREE newsletter. If you’d like to subscribe, please sign up below:

I know I haven’t sent out an email in a while. I’ve been
busy, you’ve been busy. I guess I just didn’t have much
to report…until now.

I think you know of my work. I spend a majority of my
time working with kids, mostly athletes. In that way, I’m
kinda sheltered. My athletes are relatively healthy, with
poor diets, but they are active.

Then I get out of my comfort zone. Tis the season to go
to the mall, and I get a dose of reality. I feel sad to see
large groups of people in one place look so unhealthy.
It’s disappointing to see overweight adults. I don’t know
how they got to be overweight, but I try not to pass
judgment. But when I see overweight kids, then I not
only feel sad, but angry. Most overweight kids don’t
have to be that way. The adults are allowing it to happen.

I know raising kids is tough. I’m a parent and trying to get
Matt, my 2 year old out of the Halloween candy was torture.
But I am the adult. I know better. I need to help him make
the right choices in life. I need to teach him.

To help us rescue our kids, and help teach them about making
good choices, the International Youth Conditioning Association
has just come out with The Youth Obesity Solution. This
product has the latest research on the youth obesity epidemic
and offers viable solutions for parents to not only teach their
children about making healthy choices, but being good role
models for their children as well.

The Youth Obesity Solution

Please take a look at this information and you’ll find it is a fresh
approach to helping both you and your kids.

Talk to you soon,

Pete

PS. I’ll be writing more often. I’m coming up with more things to
say and I think you’ll be interested. Thanks for reading this, and
please click on this link for The Youth Obesity Solution.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, iyca, youth, obesity

IYCA Youth Fitness Specialist

Pete — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:30:25 +0000

Just got word I passed the Youth Fitness Specialist certification by the IYCA. This helps me stay in touch with the leaders of youth fitness, motor development, and program design for the young athlete. For more info go to www.iyca.org.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, iyca, brian, grasso

Lacrosse training programs vs. just working out

Pete — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:24:49 +0000

There is a huge difference between following a training program, for lacrosse or any other sport, and showing up to “get in a workout”. To me, that difference is your goal. Short term goals, long term goals, whatever. A program is designed to help you reach your goal in the required amount of time. It takes patience, determination, and focus to follow the specified program toward your goal. Sometimes it’s hard to stay on task. It would be easy to just show up at the gym and do whatever routine comes to mind. Spontaneous. But in the long run, working out without a goal, a direction, can lead you going in circles. You won’t improve any athletic ability: strength, power, speed, or agility. In the end, just working out, can end up being a waste of time.

Players should be starting their pre-season routines, if you haven’t already started. Your pre-season program should be tailored toward your goals, whatever they may be. So get a program, and stick to it. Don’t have one? Ask your coach, strength coach, hire a strength coach in your area, or even email a coach. Most coaches would be glad to give you some direction. However you do it, get a program, and work hard.

Tags: lacrosse, strength, program, goals

Strength training vs. Youth training??

Pete — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:44:56 +0000

Joe Defranco’s gym is the next town over from my high school. I’ve been following his career for about 10 years now. He’s seen some of my best athletes. He trained Augie Hoffmann and Vinny Ciurciu, who I had when I was the athletic trainer at St. Joe’s in Montvale, NJ. He’s also trained Mike Guadango (AKA. The A**hole) who I worked with at my current HS, Northern Highlands Regional.

Every time Joe had a seminar, it was always on a Saturday during the football season, or some other weekend, when I was unavailable due to my work schedule. This time was different. The seminar Joe is doing with Zach Even-Esh is actually on a weekend I’m available. So, on Friday at 10AM, I logged onto defrancostraining.com and went to the store. The pricetag for this weekend event was $495.

Now, a full weekend with these two and their staff is worth double that price to me. But, for the first time, I thought about return on investment (ROI). In this economy, where I’m paying off my credit cards for my kids school clothes, etc, can I get a good ROI? I know the seminar will be fantastic and I’ll get a new perspective on training, but what will I do with that information? The people I train these days are young lacrosse athletes. Most of the time I’m their first strength coach, so I’m doing a lot of “teaching” rather than “training”. So, with great disappointment, I passed on the opportunity.

The continuing education I’m investing in these days focuses on youth training, neurological development, & developing a passion for fitness and exercise. Brian Grasso of the IYCA and Lee Taft seem to educate me with information I can use right now with my athletes. Some day I hope my athletes develop to the point where I can pass them over to guys like Joe & Zach. But for right now, I need to focus on my athletes and their needs rather than my own.

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, Youth, training, Joe, Defranco, Zach, Even-Esh, IYCA, Lee, Taft, Brian, Grasso

Upper body exercises for Lacrosse

Pete — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:06:01 +0000

Q: What are some good lacrosse specific upper body work out techniques? Thanks.
A: For upper body work, I look at some of the major movements first: pressing movements and pulling movements in different phases of gravity. To be more specific, I’ll look at exercises that are classified as vertical push & pull, or horizontal push & pull. Vertical pushing exercises would be a dumbbell shoulder press, or military press. A vertical pull is the pull up with varying grips. A horizontal push is a bench press or dumbbell press. A horizontal pull is an inverted pull up or one armed dumbbell row.

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

Rehab of some common injuries-Hamstring strains

Pete — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:58:16 +0000

This is a tough column to write because everyone has different injuries, histories, mechanisms, etc. So we’ll just stick to the basics. To start with, if you have an injury, it’s best if you go get it properly diagnosed first before trying out the latest in rehabilitative techniques. You need to know what exacty you’re dealing with. And as we all should know by now, utilize the RICE priciple for acute inuries. That is Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Hamstring strains: I’ve found hamstring strains to be the most common injuries across the board, from high school athletes through professionals. Hamstring strains occur for two main reasons: either the glute is not firing correctly and utilizing the hamstring for the bulk of hip extension, or the running technique is such that the foot pulls at the ground, rather than pushing it behind you.

Treatment of this injury is acutely, RICE and then start foam rolling and GENTLE stretching. I say gentle because you’re not trying to create new motion here, just maintain what you have. Gentle static stretching for 30 sec at a time should be sufficient. Then roll the hamstrings slowly for 8-10 passes.

Strength training, when able, should include squats, deadlifts, step ups and isolated hip extensions at some time througth the rehab process. Keep the reps between 8-10 at first, then drop to 5-8 and add resistance, when able.

To improve your running technique, the important thing to note is your stride foot should land beneath your hips. If your foot lands in front of the hips, your hamstrings will be at a poor angle and be utilized to PULL at the ground. Not good. Any drills, such as wall drills, will help improve your technique and reduce the amount of injury.

If you have any questions regarding rehabing hamstring strains, or anything else, stop by our forum at www.lacrossestrengthforum.com and our list of experts will be glad to lend a hand.

See you next time.

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, Rehab, Hamstring, Strains, Pete, Koeniges, Foam, Roller, Speed

Lacrosse Strength Forum is online

Pete — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:41:55 +0000

Finally I got off my duff and created a forum. I tried to write about topics I thought needed to be written about. But in reality, I really don’t know what the readers of Lacrosse Strength would like to know about. So this forum will be a place you can ask questions, make suggestions, and really make the site more interactive. Now obviously there are some great forums out there with interests in the sport of lacrosse (I stop by LacrosseForums.com once in a while) or strength training (try the forum at strengthcoach.com), but this forum will be a strength and conditioning forum for lacrosse players, coaches, and parents. So if you have questions, ask them. You never know who might show up to answer them.

http://www.lacrossestrengthforum.com

Lacrosse Off-season Training

Pete — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:41:44 +0000

Sometimes it’s hard to know when off-season is actually here. The spring season rolls into the summer tournaments to fall ball, indoor tournaments, back to the spring season.

When does it end!

Although I don’t recommend it, some people are year-round lacrosse players. If that’s the case, when do you recover, recuperate, rehabilitate, and improve your physical abilities for the next season? Looking at the calendar, this might be the best time to take off and take part in a strong off-season training program. This program should focus on improving your total body strength, improving flexibility, and rehabing whatever injuries you may have incurred. This is the time to make significant changes to your body.

Recovery methods can include massage, contrast baths/showers, foam rolling. Find a good sports massage therapist in your area and get a massage once a week. Contrast baths/showers consist of changing water temperature at a timed rate. Start off with cold water for 2 minutes and change to hot for 3 minutes. Switch back and forth for 15 minutes, then end with cold. Foam rolling can be done multiple times a day. This will help break up and adhesions in the muscle tissue and increase blood flow. I wrote an article on foam rolling for Lax Speed, a magazine put out by Rashad Devoe at www.devoehp.com. Check it out.

Next time we’ll look at the rehabilitation of some common injuries.

Congrats to Luke Armour

Pete — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:31:56 +0000

Luke Armour, Attack at Lawrenceville, has been coming up to workout for two years now. His hard work has finally paid off this year, as he was awarded All-Prep in the state of New Jersey. Congrats Luke!

Tags: Lacrosse, Strength, Luke, Armour, Lawrenceville, Pete, Koeniges

Congrats to Nick Andlinger…

Pete — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 03:00:07 +0000

Nick Andlinger from Montclair Kimberley Academy came up to workout during the last two off-seasons. His hard work and tenacity in the weight room, especially coming off of shoulder surgery, has helped him land “Athlete of the Week” in New Jersey. Check out his article HERE. Congrats Nick, Lehigh is very lucky to have such a motivated, hard working kid.

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