Lacrosse is an extremely demanding sport. It requires you to be powerful and strong. You must be quick and mobile. You have to be resilient to injury. To train for all these qualities requires you to perform many, many different exercises. To maximize your time and still train as many of these qualities as possible in each training session you must use a system of 'Active Rest.' Instead of performing a set of an exercise and then resting for a minute or two before performing the next set of the same exercise, your time is better spent working on a different component of your training program. Here is a video of an example of active rest being used to make your workout more dense. The first exercise is a Hang Clean which is used to help improve total body power. Instead of just resting after completing the set a second exercise, a cross body knee drive on the bosu, is performed which helps develop core stability. After finishing that a hip internal roatation stretch is done to improve hip mobility. By training this way you will have trained three different qualities extremely important to lacrosse in the same amount of time as most people would just use to complete the original exercise. By choosing exercises that are less taxing on the nervous system to follow the main exercise your body will still get the rest it needs to perform maximally during the power exercise. You'll accomplish more in less time and your workouts will be more intense!

This video is an add on to last week's post. This is a much easier way to train your body to become powerful for lacrosse. Where as the Single Arm Snatch is technical and should only be attempted by advanced level weight trainers, hurdle jumps can be performed by anyone including youth level athletes. The keys to performing this exercise are:

1. Get as tall as possible while you are jumping over the hurdles to achieve triple extension of your lower body joints (ankle, knee, hip). Running is a single leg triple extension activity so we want to replicate that movement pattern to have greater crossover to improving our speed.
2. Spend as little time on the ground as possible on the second jump. Think of the ground being hot coals. This will train the stretch-shortening-cycle of the muscles in your legs, improving their elastic capabilities and making you more powerful.
3. Land in perfect athletic position. Landing perfectly teaches your body to decelerate itself in an athletic position, and deceleration is a more important skill to have than acceleration in the sport of lacrosse. You can read more about that in an article here. 

Lacrosse is a power sport. It is not beneficial to just be strong, you must turn that strength into power. One of the best ways to increase power production is by performing the Olympic lifts (Clean and Jerk, Snatch) or their variations. The Olympic lifts are in the Olympics for a reason, they are extremely technical and difficult to learn and perform. However they also help to increase the rate of force you can produce better than almost any other exercise. The Single Arm Snatch is the easiest and simplest version of the Olympic lifts to learn and execute. It trains what is called 'triple extension,' which is extension of your ankles, knees, and hips and is the most powerful movement your body can make. Acceleration running is just single leg triple extension, so this exercise has great crossover to your speed and sport performance.

Start in an athletic position with your chest over your knees. Begin to jump by forcefully extending your ankles, knees, and most importantly, hips. Keep your elbow above your hand allowing the weight to float up to the ceiling. The weight should remain close to your body. Once the weight has reached maximum height drop under it and catch it in an athletic position with your arm fully extended. The power generated from the movement will cause the feet to leave the ground. Return to the start position and repeat for desired number of reps, then switch sides.

Here is one of my favourite drills to increase your conditioning for the lacrosse season. As I wrote in this piece for Lacrosse-Inside the Game, the days of running long distances to get in shape are long gone. Intervals performed at maximum intensity using movement skills specific to lacrosse will better help you prepare for the season. This particular drill takes about 30 seconds to complete and with the constant starts and stops really challenges the muscular endurance in your legs. This is a much more specific way to train for lacrosse than jogging!!