Blog #17- The Importance of Conditioning

Conditioning is a major factor in lacrosse. Because being in shape is so important for lacrosse athletes, learning how to condition your body is critical. There are several ways to do this. My team tries to strengthen our endurance and our speed by running at practice. It is a constant, everyday we run sprints and laps around a track. We run the length of the field to help us during games to be able to run it with less and less exhaustion. On other days we strengthen our body by doing push ups and sit ups and buried. This helps the strength of our arms and legs, which then will help us with our power behind our shots and our strength in defense. When we need to change things up we going swimming. This really helps our lungs stay in shape so we can control our breathing and endure running for longer periods of time. It also works your leg and arm muscles in a different way to strengthen them. This website discusses the importance of conditioning specific to the game of lacrosse. “When you watch a game from start to finish, you probably think to yourself, “Boy, they run a long way…we need to get our players to run that far.” And usually what happens is the players are asked to run distances of 1-3 miles “just to get in shape”. Although it may be true that certain players can run 3-5 miles during a lacrosse game, it’s how they run that distance that is important. I suggest the next time you’re watching a game, pick one player and watch how often they run, how fast, and how far. What you’ll notice is that the distance they run during a typical game is broken down into sprints ranging from 20-50 yards at a time. Between these sprints they will either be resting in the bench area, playing defense, or running their offensive set.While on the bench, you are obviously resting and recovering. But if you’re on the field playing either defense or offense, you’re body is accelerating, decelerating, changing direction, passing, shooting, checking, maintaining good defensive body position. All of these movements require expending a certain type of energy, and it’s NOT using the same energy system used while running long distances!” (http://www.athletesacceleration.com/conditioninglacrosse.html) This website is helpful to understand the type of conditioning that will be most beneficial. Yes, it is important to have the endurance and energy to be able to run for a long period of time, but what about when you need to sprint down the field to get the ground ball? Or if you need to sprint to get in front of your opponent that you are defending? This is why it is a smart idea to exercise bursts of speed. There are several articles, tips, and workouts to help the players strengthen their abilities personally. So, what are the benefits of conditioning? Thats easy. When you have the ability to run up and down the field without being exhausted, and when you can have those bursts of energy that are required from the intensity of the game, that feeling is the feeling of accomplishment. That is the reward! There is nothing better than being able to play your best because you have been conditioned and prepared, and on the contrary; there is nothing worse than not being able to fulfill your part as a player, or do what you need to because your physical body is holding you back. Now that might seem quite dramatic, but athletes feel it all the time. Some other benefits can be as simple as being stronger than your opponent, or being able to drill a hard shot because of your strength, or being one step ahead of your opposing player because of your agility. That is why conditioning is so important. That is why coaches push their players to do their best.