Training for the multi sport athlete

    Posted In: Sprints

        • Participant
          Jay Turner on October 18, 2009 at 9:28 am #16254

          I have two athletes who play basketball for their high school team during the months of November through the Middle of February. They have been doing all of the fall track training with me and are really improving by leaps and bounds and I don’t want them to lose all of it while they are in their basketball season. Should I devise a modified plan for them during the basketball season, or should I just let them play and hope for the best when they return?

          If I should devise a plan for them during the season, please tell me your thoughts on this weekly schedule…

          Monday – speed OR speed endurance

          Tuesday – core/ab circuit and weights OR Ext. Tempo work

          Wednesday – off day

          Thursday – core/ab circuit and weights OR Ext. Tempo work

          Friday – speed OR speed endurance

          Thoughts anyone?

        • Participant
          lift4speed on October 19, 2009 at 12:45 am #90437

          ya you could set up a plan for them. It may be tough though and they might just become drained. I remember when i used to play basketball i would try and sprint and lift after practice and i was just drained. The only time i could get a solid workout in was on the weekends.

          So my main suggestion would be maybe to move a session or 2 to the weekend. Just my thoughts tho

        • Participant
          Matt Norquist on October 19, 2009 at 4:00 am #90440

          Basketball should give them good plyometric training and endurance. Never hurts accel, either.

          I’d suggest getting in a morning workout 1-2x per week, and then a session either Saturday or Sunday. 3x per week is plenty for their off-season.

        • Participant
          Jay Turner on October 19, 2009 at 2:22 pm #90457

          Basketball should give them good plyometric training and endurance. Never hurts accel, either.

          I’d suggest getting in a morning workout 1-2x per week, and then a session either Saturday or Sunday. 3x per week is plenty for their off-season.

          I tried to set up workouts to work around their basketball schedule. ALL of their games are on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Matt, what would be an effective training plan for them?

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on October 19, 2009 at 3:15 pm #90462

          Depends on a lot of things…How much are they playing during the games? How often and what do they do during practice? just play? or conditioning as well? How much do they play during practice? Team sports are sometimes difficult to manage load for etc…

          Example, if they aren’t playing much during games…then Wed and Sat would be an off day basically for them…so track workouts could be based around those days…

          All depends though…

        • Participant
          Matt Norquist on October 20, 2009 at 12:43 am #90466

          Totally agree with what Nick’s saying. If they’re starters, on the other hand, Mondays and Thursdays would be better days for track sessions.

          Also depends on what level of athletes and what events they are primarily going to be competing in.

          I’d do something really basic like this for running:

          Day 1 – Accel – with a short to long emphasis – start with 15m repeats, and over next 10 weeks, build up to 50m. Total volume of 300m or so.

          Day 2 – Intensive Tempo – Repeats of 100-250m – volume of 800-1200m per session. Gradually alternate lowering the rest between repeats, increasing distance of repeats, and increasing speed of repeats.

          —- The above is by no means scientific, just remembering from experience the challenge of trying to get track workouts in while still ball.

        • Participant
          Jay Turner on October 20, 2009 at 5:16 am #90472

          Totally agree with what Nick’s saying. If they’re starters, on the other hand, Mondays and Thursdays would be better days for track sessions.

          Also depends on what level of athletes and what events they are primarily going to be competing in.

          I’d do something really basic like this for running:

          Day 1 – Accel – with a short to long emphasis – start with 15m repeats, and over next 10 weeks, build up to 50m. Total volume of 300m or so.

          Day 2 – Intensive Tempo – Repeats of 100-250m – volume of 800-1200m per session. Gradually alternate lowering the rest between repeats, increasing distance of repeats, and increasing speed of repeats.

          —- The above is by no means scientific, just remembering from experience the challenge of trying to get track workouts in while still ball.

          Let me give you some more info, and perhaps this will help in suggesting a plan for me.

          Athlete #1
          Starting Small Forward

          Athlete #2
          Barely plays

          Both runners are 400m runners, so would accels be enough for them? They’re getting that during games and/or practices. Thoughts?

          So should I just have them do sprinting on Monday and Thursday then? Here’s another sample plan:

          Monday – core/ab workout and free weights OR Extensive Tempo

          Tuesday – speed work (accels OR speed OR Speed End.)

          Wednesday – off day (basketball game)

          Thursday – speed work (accels OR speed OR Speed End.)

          Friday – core/ab workout and free weights OR Extensive Tempo

          Saturday – off day (basketball game)

          Sunday – off day (rest)

          Is this better? Any better ideas?

        • Participant
          Matt Norquist on October 20, 2009 at 5:42 am #90474

          Good point. You’re probably right, they likely do adequate amount of accel in BBall in that case. Your plan is good, if the guys are up to that much work. If they are not, it will wear them out. Maybe get the guy who hardly plays to do a fartlek or some extensive tempo on game days as a way to even-out the amount of work they do.

          I’d think – though a day of speed endurance and a day of intensive tempo/special endurance would probably be plenty for them given their Bball load. The core and strength stuff makes sense as well.

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on October 20, 2009 at 5:46 am #90475

          Yeah i agree with Matt….

          I wouldn’t focus on accel stuff through bball season. You could do 3-4 40m sprints at the start of training but mostly focus on longer speed end and tempo work…bball with the jumping, short sprints etc will take care of that…

          For the guy who plays a lot i would lower the volume of track work for him and keep the other guys a bit higher…

        • Participant
          Jay Turner on October 20, 2009 at 4:37 pm #90480

          Yeah i agree with Matt….

          I wouldn’t focus on accel stuff through bball season. You could do 3-4 40m sprints at the start of training but mostly focus on longer speed end and tempo work…bball with the jumping, short sprints etc will take care of that…

          For the guy who plays a lot i would lower the volume of track work for him and keep the other guys a bit higher…

          These are girls I’m talking about, not guys. Does that make a difference in any of this?

        • Participant
          Nick Newman on October 23, 2009 at 11:14 am #90576

          Well i was thinking they were guys who just might jump a lot and often and who sprint a lot and often during games…

          Not that girls can’t do this…but ummm, how can i put this…In my experience 🙂 girls basketball isn’t really very athletic or intense at most levels…

          Therefore just kill em on the track! 🙂

        • Participant
          Matt Norquist on October 23, 2009 at 12:54 pm #90583

          Yes, you know what they say about assumptions.

          I’d suspect that you can maintain the whole track load, or close to it.

        • Participant
          Jay Turner on October 24, 2009 at 4:36 am #90615

          Well i was thinking they were guys who just might jump a lot and often and who sprint a lot and often during games…

          Not that girls can’t do this…but ummm, how can i put this…In my experience 🙂 girls basketball isn’t really very athletic or intense at most levels…

          Therefore just kill em on the track! 🙂

          This is EXACTLY the case at the school I’m at. It’s the very reason I started this thread. Thanks for the advice. It’ll be all systems go with the basketball girls, and of course I’ll just monitor them throughout.

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