Maximising S&C Training with Minimal Equipment
Many young, enthusiastic strength and conditioning students just starting their careers in this industry dream of working with elite athletes and professional sports teams. I was no different as I started out my sport and exercise science degree, dreaming of training and maximising the physical potential of the Ronaldo’s, Sexton’s, and McGregor’s of the world. However, the reality that faces many young practitioners is that we have to work with amateur athletes and in amateur sports to gain valuable coaching experience and to develop our coaching skills before we progress to more high-profile teams and athletes. Working with these amateur teams is often the most challenging aspect of a S&C coaches’ career due to the lack of equipment, facilities and time given to them. In this blog, I will provide you with my top 4 tips on how to maximise the performance of your athletes when dealing with limited time, facilities, and equipment.
Tip 1: Focus on your speed, agility and plyometrics.
In my experience working with these teams, a strength and conditioning coach is often only given the first 15-20 minutes of a training session. Therefore, getting any real physical training done in this timeframe is tough. However, what we can do is maximise the effects of a warm up. Coaches worldwide use the RAMP warm up popularised by world-renowned coach Ian Jeffreys, and I always found it very effective when warming up athletes under these limitations. The main benefit to using this type of warm up is the efficiency as you (a) warm the athletes up appropriately and (b) it is easy to get in some acceleration, speed mechanics, change of direction and plyometric work in the process, effectively killing 2 birds with 1 stone!
As well as adding speed and agility training into a warmup, it is also possible to use in an on-field training block. Resistance training will always have its place in sports performance due to its ability to enhance speed, vertical jump, and maximal strength capabilities; however, it does have its negatives to match its positives. The main downside to implementing resistance training blocks with large teams of ~25-30 players is the equipment needed, which many teams either don’t have or don’t have enough of to make a team strength training session practical. This leads to a very tough question for a young strength and conditioning coach, how do I make these players stronger, bigger, and faster? The answer that I came up with is speed and plyometric training! Speed and plyometric training will naturally enhance an athlete’s speed and vertical jump capacity; however, it has also been shown to enhance maximal strength (Byrne et al., 2019). Improving maximal strength and muscular power is the primary goal of an athlete in almost all sports, making an effective and viable tool in an S&C’s toolbox. The main advantage of speed and plyometric training is that it requires no equipment and can be done in a large group with just a small area on a pitch to work with, thus making it a great way of making your athletes stronger and more powerful.
Join a growing network of professionals in strength and conditioning and sports science. Get involved in discussions with world-leading practitioners and use our forum to make invaluable connections.
Tip 2 – Use what you have.
A huge mistake I made, especially in my first year or two working in amateur sport, was not using the limited tools and equipment I did have. The situation I found myself in was only having access to a few loose free weights like kettlebells, dumbbells, and medicine balls. In my first year, I went exclusively to speed and plyometric training as outlined above, which in hindsight, I feel was a mistake. The year after, I included strength-based exercises utilising these tools. Maximising these tools is a tricky balancing act as to have enough equipment for the whole team; I needed to have approximately 1 free weight per 3 players. As well as that, the free weight was generally relatively light (10-15kg). This ruled the use of bilateral exercises such as squats and deadlifts as there was simply not enough load to get the desired effect. So, I opted to prioritise unilateral exercises where possible. Think about your own athletes and teams, would many of them struggle with a 15kg KB deadlift for a set of 10-15… probably not. Now think about if that same athlete or team would struggle with a 15kg KB single leg RDL for a set of 5-8… probably a lot more.
Similarly, another huge tool an S&C coach can use is right under their noses or, more accurately, their backsides - the bench. Although, as previously discussed, most teams and clubs will not have access to enough weight benches to suit an entire team, almost all groups have some form of chair or bench outdoors for fans/spectators, and even if they don’t, every team has a dressing room! This creates another excellent option for a strength exercise which has been a staple in my programs, the rear foot elevated split squat. Although in terms of equipment, absolute load can often be very limited. We, as strength coaches, can maximise the effectiveness of that absolute load with our creativity using the tools we have at our disposal and with our exercise selection.
Tip 3 – Injury Prevention
According to the famous American Football coach Bill Parcells, “the best ability is availability”. This is true in all sports but in my view, none more so than in amateur sports. This is because these players are likely not receiving the same support as professional players regarding other aspects outside of training, such as nutrition, sleep and recovery. This means that we, as S&C coaches need to consider injury prevention as a primary goal of our training. Although I believe there is no such thing as an injury prevention exercise, as all strength-based exercises will contribute to minimising injuries throughout a season, some exercises have been considered injury prevention exercises. These exercises have been given this reputation due to them being predominantly eccentric in nature. Such exercises include Nordic hamstring curls, reverse Nordics, Copenhagen side planks, and eccentric calf raises. Eccentric exercises like the ones mentioned above have been shown to reduce the incidence of injury in the specific muscle groups targeted. Most of my experience is in field sports like hurling, where approximately 70% of injuries (mostly soft tissue) occur in the lower body muscles, primarily the hamstrings, quads, calves and adductors. Many injuries in hurling are also largely contact injuries out of the control of an S&C coach. Realistically, no amount of strength and conditioning will help finger extensors and flexors avoid a slap in the wrist or hand causing an injury. Using exercises like the ones mentioned require minimal equipment, are easy to implement in a group setting and are effective in minimising the incidence of these avoidable soft-tissue injuries.
Tip 4 – Conditioning
As strength and conditioning coaches, a common trend I have seen over the past number of years is coaches forgetting about the conditioning aspect. We are strength AND conditioning coaches, after all. As both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems play a considerable role in field sports, we have a duty to our teams and athletes to condition those energy systems to meet game demands to enhance performance on the field. There are many ways to do this using little to no equipment. One I use frequently is maximal aerobic speed (MAS) training. The main benefit to MAS training for me is the individualisation of each athlete and how they all have a specific target for themselves compared to painting all athletes in the team with the same brush. It would be like telling all athletes to get from A to B in X seconds. The individualised nature of MAS training ensures that all players are pushed at the same intensity and exposed to the same stimulus to enhance similar results and benefits. I have calculated MAS scores using a Yo-yo test, a valid and reliable measure of calculating MAS. MAS can also be calculated using a 1.2–1.5km (roughly 3 laps of a GAA pitch) time trial using a more straightforward equation of distance/time. Both have logistical challenges in terms of sourcing a sound system to be able to hear the Yo-yo test audio and measuring the exact dimensions of the pitch to ensure the distance used in the calculation is accurate.
Once the MAS calculation is complete, players can be grouped based on MAS scores. The implementation of this training can also be challenging in some ways. Many coaches have used what’s known as a MAS grid, where players run in a rectangular shape with their pace dictated by the groups' MAS score. However, I found this method wasn’t practical as it requires a lot of set-up to be accurate. My preference for MAS training sessions is to have players start on the end line and set up a series of cones along the field; the higher the groups' MAS score, the further up the field the cone is, causing players to run in a shuttle run pattern paced by the group's individual MAS scores.
In conclusion, it’s clear to see that there are many ways in which we, as strength and conditioning coaches, can maximise the effectiveness of our training programs despite having a lack of facilities, time, and equipment. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the fancy equipment in the world or don’t have enough weights to get your athletes strong; there are plenty of ways we can make our athletes bigger, faster and stronger. From making the most out of our speed and plyometric programs in warmups and on the field, prioritising unilateral exercises to make the most out of what little equipment we do have, and using practical methods to enhance your athlete’s endurance capabilities as well as their speed, strength, and power. My closing advice to any coaches out there working under these circumstances is this:
Use what you have, and 2. Do what you can!
Luke Atkins
Head of Strength & Conditioning, Tailormade Fitness
For more content from Luke, follow him on Twitter (@_LukeAtkins)
