How To “Cycle” Conditioning Workouts

July 22, 2012 by Admin: Joe Hashey, CSCS
Filed under Featured, Strength Training

There seems to be a lot of confusion on this topic, so I wanted to address it quickly for all the Synergy readers.

No one can progress infinitely at the same rate.

Conditioning, like strength training should be cycled in some manner. For strength, some coaches use linear periodization to train once specific facet of strength at a time to allow the others to recover. Other coaches (like myself) use concurrent periodization but do include deload weeks and should schedule the “training season” to make sure the athlete is in peak shape for their actual sport season.

Conditioning is no different.

There are a few problems with complete (and let me define complete in a minute) year around conditioning programs for athletes.

Less physical energy for strength progress
Less valuable time for working on other facets of strength
Burning the typical (already lacking) nutrition of a high school athlete.

By complete conditioning I am talking about a 3-4 day, 1 hour each session, conditioning program.

I’m not telling you to lay around and be a fat slob. I am merely suggesting you put conditioning on “maintenance” while focusing your off season efforts on strength and explosiveness.

How To Maintain Conditioning:

Add 10-15 minutes of high intensity conditioning 1-2 times a week.
Conditioning may be sprints, hill sprints, sled pulls/pushes, barbell complexes, rope battling, etc
Do you primary strength or explosiveness exercises FIRST!

As I have said many times before, conditioning is the most SPORT SPECIFIC quality you can develop. Conditioning for a soccer player will be (err should be) drastically different than that of a football lineman.

When To Add Conditioning

My general rule of thumb is 6-8 weeks from the first game. So in New York State football starts in 3 weeks. The first two weeks are hard practices, almost all conditioning and no strength training so make sure to count those in your estimates! By my general rule, football players, and other fall athletes, should have started conditioning more aggressively LAST WEEK. Get to work slackers.

Exceptions

If the athlete gets winded walking up stairs….you better start conditioning earlier or include it more often in the beginning phase of the program. While being somewhat sarcastic, and this is the minority of instances, it certainly does happen!

Resources

We have lots of conditioning ideas posted for you on the Synergy YouTube page.
We have a complete manual and templates you may be interested in at Bull Strength Conditioning. MAKE SURE to read the “Athlete Consideration” section to optimize BSC for your sport.

- Joe Hashey, CSCS -

Tags: athlete conditioning, conditioning workout, football conditioning, how to condition, soccer conditioning

Comments

3 Responses to “How To “Cycle” Conditioning Workouts”

Rhea Morales says:

July 23, 2012 at 12:16 pm

Outstanding article!
Periodization is so important and many fitness gurus don’t consider it. I see people constantly put pressure on themselves to train hard with no recovery and they wonder why they can’t overcome their injuries.
I do worry that some parents are afraid that their young athletes will get weak if they don’t train year round so they enroll their kids in different leagues throughout the year so they are in competitive mode year round. Do you have any advice on this for the parents of young athletes?
Bill Brooks says:

October 1, 2012 at 4:47 pm

I liked this article a lot. I’ve never been told to put conditioning on the back burner during the off season, but I can see why it makes sense. A lot of people in the gym tend stray away from conditioning either because they don’t have a good grasp on it’s long run and immediate benefits or because they figure they’ll just get it done in practice. Recently I’ve been mixing conditioning in at the end of my workout about 3 times a week. Would you suggest a specific cardio concentrated day or is it all the same to just mix it in after my primary lifting is done with?

Thanks for all your great insight by the way. I just put up a fitness blog for a course I’m taking at school and could use some followers. Its still in progress but check it out: peakkfitness.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Admin: Joe Hashey, CSCS says:

October 1, 2012 at 6:47 pm

Thanks Bill!

Joe