Nov 8, 2017

Time for a Challenge

Are you looking to add some excitement to your strength and conditioning program while still helping your athletes excel? If so, consider adding challenge workouts into your training plan. Set up like a game, challenge workouts will get your athletes moving and having fun at the same time.

In an article for Train Heroic, Ryan Leibreich, MS, ATC, CSCS, describes the reasons why strength and conditioning coaches should utilize challenge workouts. First, he explains, they build respect and camaraderie as the team works towards a common goal. Second, they can be modified to fit any space or amount of athletes and can be used to target the energy system specific to your sport.

“This is a game changer,” writes Leibreich. “As strength and conditioning professionals, part of our job is to program to the best of our abilities… just like a good cook adds in the right ingredients. We should make our workouts as efficient as possible for our own space, athletes, and their respective sports.”

Before choosing or creating a challenge workout, you should know which energy system you are targeting. Leibreich explains that there are three main energy systems at work in the human body. Alactic workouts include 7-10 seconds of high intensity exercise with a two to five minute break, while anareobic lactic workouts involve 20-40 seconds of intense exercise with one to three minutes of rest between each.

The third energy system is aerobic, which involves continuous bouts of exercise during which the athlete’s heart rate is elevated, but stays below their anaerobic threshold. According to Leibreich, a general guideline to make sure your athletes don’t pass this threshold is to keep their heart rate around 120-150 beats per minute.

“Alactic (ATP/CP) and Anaerobic (Glycolytic) are like cars with a fast engine but burn fuel quickly,” explains Leibreich. “Alactic would be a drag racer, Anaerobic Lactic would be a Mustang. Aerobic is a slower to start but more efficient engine that utilizes fuel really well – like a Prius.”

To help coaches get started with this, Leibreich offers multiple examples that fit under each system. Here are a few:

Alactic: Tug of War

1. Pit athletes against each other, or split them into even teams.
2. Give the athletes a long rope or a similar implement and have each team hold onto one side.
3. The first team to pull the other past a certain line wins.

If you have a large amount of athletes, you can create smaller teams. Leibreich then suggests having those who are not participating play “rock, paper, scissors” to form new teams — keeping them engaged and also giving them the necessary rest period.

Anaerobic: Tic/Tac/Toe

1. Set up nine spaces with cones, ladders, or hula hoops.
2. Split your athletes into two teams.
3. One athlete from each team sprints, puts an object down in a space of their choosing, and returns to the start.
4. The athlete tags their teammate who repeats the same task.
5. The first team to fill three spaces in a row wins.

To see an example of the Tic/Tac/Toe workout, check out this video from IceHandball IH.

Aerobic: Scavenger Hunt

1. Break your athletes into teams.
2. Put together a list of items or tasks that teams have to find/complete.
3. The team that finishes first wins.

Once you’ve decided on a workout, you need to choose how and when to use it. Leibreich implements challenge workouts at the end of every week as a way to break up the monotony of training and to build anticipation in his athletes. During the workout, he suggests having some athletes wear heart monitors at different points. This will help you to know whether they are responding to the activity in the way you had planned. Leibreich also recommends giving the athletes ownership in creating and working through these challenges, which can help develop excitement and buy in.

“Autonomy goes a long way,” writes Leibreich. “Athletes can be really creative. I have learned many new things by just stepping aside and letting them work it out. Athletes have fun when they can do something different and tend to become more engaged.”