Lacrosse season begins long before you ever set foot on the field. Getting into proper game shape requires an extensive training regimen. When training for lacrosse, you should include a healthy mix of power drills, speed drills and agility drills.
Power Drills
Developing muscle is important for any athlete. Lacrosse players, though, receive greater benefit if they focus on developing muscle power more than muscle strength. Power training does not require an athlete to perform until they hit a point of exhaustion. It emphasizes lower weights lifted with increased repetitions at faster intervals. Lacrosse players should never exceed 40 percent of their individual max during weight training, since the whole idea is to do multiple repetitions at a faster pace.
Strength training should be concentrated mostly in upper body areas like the chest, back, and arms. Exercises in lower body areas like the legs should focus less on building strength and more on building endurance.
Speed Drills
Speed drills are an essential part of training for any lacrosse player since the game involves constant movement, similar to soccer or basketball. You need to hone speed and quickness to create a way for the neuromuscular system during an actual game. Your nervous system needs to be conditioned just as much as your muscles do.
Good speed drills should include both uphill sprints and downhill sprints. Uphill sprints are helpful because they train lacrosse players for late game conditions when they will be playing on tired legs instead of fresh ones. Downhill sprints are essential in helping a lacrosse player to develop better control while they run back and forth on the playing field at high speeds.
One way to improve speed is to focus on movements where you slow down in a game and mimic these movements during training drills in 5 to 10 seconds intervals. This will help players increase their explosiveness and quicken the slower parts of their game.
Agility Drills
Just like the name suggests, agility drills are all about improving footwork. Being mobile and agile is the foundation to improving as a lacrosse player. Agility goes hand in hand with speed when it comes to tracking down the lacrosse ball and running to score a goal. You need lateral movement as much as forward movement.
Effective agility drills can include using cones. If you set up a series of cones in a straight line and put them a few feet apart, a lacrosse player can simply weave through the cones at timed intervals, turn, and repeat the weave in the other direction. Ladder drills also help build agility. The only thing needed for these drills are a series of squares drawn on the ground or on a solid object that extend out at least 20 feet to give a player enough room to get benefit from the drill.
