It all started with “Striking Camp”…
As you might already know, my daughter Kendall is really into soccer these days, and her current team is struggling to score goals.
And since she’s never really been asked to score before, we collectively decide that “Striking Camp” would be a great idea for her.
The only downside? It’s Friday night’s at 8:15 pm!
Now normally I would take her to all events like this, but since I’m out of town speaking at Joel Jamieson’s Conditioning Coach Workshop, my wife takes her instead.
As they’re wrapping up the first night, Kendall looks over and sees that guys my age are lacing up the boots, getting ready to play in a men’s league.
So of course, she turns to my wife and says “It would be really cool to watch daddy play soccer!”
Like I said up top…it all started with Striking Camp.
Which brings me to today’s article…how does a washed-up 44-year-old bro get BACK into playing sports after taking roughly a decade off?
If this WAS something I decided to do, what would I focus on?
What’s my hierarchy?
What’s my strategy to get back into the game?
And after a lot of thought and reflection, here’s what I’ve come up with.
If you’re a weekend warrior looking to get back in the game, I think this will really hit home.
And even if you’re not, I’m hoping the thought process and principles will stimulate some thought as well.
So without any further ado, let’s dive into how I’d build the Ultimate Weekend Warrior.
1. Conditioning!
My first goal for someone who wants to get back into the competitive arena would be ramping up their conditioning.
Because let’s be honest: A lot of us who like to go in the gym and train DO NOT have the same passion for conditioning.
Furthermore, I still love this quote from years ago:
Fatigue changes everything. – Bill Hartman
It fundamentally changes the way we move.
It reduces our ability to display speed, strength and power.
And of course, it negatively alters our ability to make decisions and play any game at a high level!
So if we want a low-hanging fruit that can improve our quality of play, I think it behooves us to address our conditioning first.
Now the next question becomes, “what kind of conditioning should I do?”
I think we need to start by building (or rebuilding) our aerobic base.
Joel Jamieson has espoused the benefits of cardiac output for years, and now you see more and more people talking about “Zone 2” training – which is really the same thing.
(If you’d like to learn more about that, be sure to check out this article I wrote here: You NEED Long Duration, Low Intensity Cardio.)
As well, if I really want to widen that base I’d also probably incorporate some high-intensity continuous training (HICT) in there as well.
Depending on your current level of fitness, there are two ways you could build your aerobic base:
- If you haven’t put an emphasis on cardio in a while, perform 2 sessions of cardiac output/Zone 2 training per week, or
- If you cardio isn’t too bad, perform one cardiac output session and then a separate day for HICT.
Now here’s where a lot of people go wrong…they assume that you can only do conditioning work on off-days!
Instead, I like to have my dedicated lower-intensity conditioning sessions, but then work in my explosive/sport-specific conditioning on my training days.
So if you’re conditioning 2x/week with your longer duration methods, you could set-up your training week like this:
- Monday/Thursday – Lifting + Explosive Repeat Conditioning (Prowler, sled, fan bike, etc)
- Tuesday/Friday – Aerobic Development
The ultimate goal here would be to make your high-intensity conditioning sessions look and feel as similar to the end goal as possible, but starting basic or simplistic is the way to go when you’re just getting back into the game.
2. Achilles and Lower Leg Development
While conditioning is probably the first thing I’m thinking about, the next three to four agenda items all revolve around injury prevention/reduction work.
(And no – I’m not going to enter into this ongoing semantics debate here. The goal is to keep our athletes {or ourselves} healthy and on the field/court/pitch, so whatever you want to call it is fine with me.)
While not seen as much in younger athletes, it seems like Weekend Warriors are especially prone to calf and Achilles issues, so it only makes sense to address this early-on in our programming.
Furthermore, if you aren’t currently running or doing a lot of plyometric activities, you need to expose the gastroc/soleus/Achilles complex to elastic training to get (and keep) it healthy.
When it comes to this area, I like to think of two styles of training:
- Your standard slow/controlled strength training, and
- Your explosive/plyometric work.
The strength training side is easy. Work on including a mix of straight leg (gastroc) and bent-knee (soleus) focused strength work. In my podcast with tendon expert Dr. Keith Baar, he describes this slow, controlled strength training as “protective work.”
Slow down the tempos, control the movement, and work to move through a full range of motion.
And whenever possible, isolate one leg versus the other to tease and iron out any potential side-to-side imbalances.
On the flip side is our fast/rapid stretch shortening cycle (SSC) work.
And you don’t need to get crazy to start!
Something as simple as an old-school jump rope is a fantastic tool, and can kill two birds with one stone by developing the Achilles and improving our conditioning as well.
Or if you feel like even jumping rope is too much to start, just attach a band to a power rack and perform some band-assisted jumps to start.
Once you’ve gotten comfortable with the jump rope, feel free to move into activities that put the foot/ankle in different joint angles and positions – this could include:
- Low box drills (ala Lee Taft),
- Agility ladder activities, or
- Low-level jumping series’ (ala Boo Schexnayder)..
The goal here isn’t to to develop bunnies like Ja Morant, but rather to expose the lower leg to a wide variety of speeds, angles and forces to prep it for the demands of sport.
3. Eccentric and Isometric Work
When I first got into training, everything we did focused on force PRODUCTION.
- How much could you squat?
- Bench press?
- Deadlift?
- Power clean?
But as we’ve evolved, we’ve learned that it’s not just being able to generate force in a weight room, but rather, to be able to manage and re-direct them on a field, court or pitch!
This is why I’ve been trying to incorporate more work that’s focused on rapid eccentric or isometric actions, versus just producing ever greater levels of force production/concentric output.
If you have access to a flywheel (I’m preferential to the Exerfly for a lot of reasons), this is a great place to get started.
And if you DON’T have access to a flywheel, don’t think you can’t still get the work in.
I love drop/snapdown variations for your favorite activities (think squats, RDL’s, split-squats, etc.) to focus on deceleration and managing forces.
4. Sport-Specific Injury Prevention
The final piece of the “Injury Prevention” section of my workouts would address any sport-specific areas that might get injured.
For instance, if you’re going to play rec league soccer, you better work on addressing those hammies.
You could follow a simple hamstring progression (like I’ve outlined below), to ramp up from basic to hardcore activities.
If you play basketball, you know all the starting and stopping can wreak havoc on your knees, so it only makes sense to get some isolated quad and hamstring work in there as well.
(The soleus is also very important for knee health as well, but we’ve hopefully addressed it with #2 above).
This is why I’ve been performing more isolation work in recent years, which I discuss at length in my 6 Things I’m Focusing on Podcast.
Whether it’s banging out some leg extensions and leg curls at the big box fitness facility, or investing in something like a Monkey Foot attachment for your small/private gym, I feel like a few minutes of isolated strength training for these target areas can go a long way.
5. General Force Development
Now that we’ve covered the injury prevention side of the equation, it’s time to focus on some general strength and force development.
It seems a little weird writing this, because back in the day strength training was always first on my list…
…but I also realize that’s part of my evolution as a coach and program designer!
Now before the Internet experts come to my doorstep spewing words of rage and fury, I’m not saying that force production isn’t important.
What I AM saying is that many of us Weekend Warrior types already have a sufficient strength base from years of dedicated resistance training, and instead of continuing to beat that drum, I’d rather shore up weak links instead.
After all, our goal here isn’t to dominate in the gym – but to be able to perform athletically in our sport of choice.
Now the great part here is you should have a solid foundation and be comfortable doing all this stuff in the gym.
However, I don’t think I’d limit myself to standard bilateral, symmetrical activities like squat, bench presses and deadlifts.
I know, the blasphemy…. 😉
Instead, I’d use a mix of bilateral, symmetrical activities in conjunction with split-stance, single-leg and asymmetrical activities to iron out any side-to-side imbalances.
Just like any smart training program, do a little engine development at the start of your session, and then finish off with the maintenance work to build a well-rounded strength program.
6. General Speed and Power Development
The final piece of the puzzle here is speed and power development.
I call it “general” because you can never truly mimic the demands of your sport in the gym – at some point your “specific” work has to come from playing the actual sport!
For this final piece you can throw in any of the standard speed/power activities you enjoy:
- Jumping activities,
- Throwing medicine balls,
- Various sprinting drills,
- Cutting and change of direction work, and/or
- Olympic lifts.
The most important thing here is to start slower and less intense that you think you should. This way you not only create a safe training environment, but making your programming scalable over the long haul.
Last but not least I like to keep the training options broad and wide, because most everyone has their own preferred activities – feel free to pick and choose as you’d like.
Summary
So there you have it!
If you’re a Weekend Warrior who’s looking to get back into the game, I really hope the thoughts and ideas I’ve outlined here will help you make that transition from general gym goer to athletic beast.
I’m still looking forward to my first indoor game, and when that day comes, I’ll make sure to let you know how the program has treated me along the way!
– Mike