So i’m about to start my second year of playing lacrosse in defense and really want to improve my performance this year as it was pretty poor in terms of fitness last season. I know what I need to focus on and what routine i will be setting up for myself, just a bit stuck on the training schedule as in what days should i train for conditioning and when i should train in the gym and what days for active recovery and rest.
I play for my university in the UK so we train on Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings with matches every week on Wednesday for all of October and November for my first semester this year. I would like to have 2 conditioning sessions and 2 gym sessions per week preferably and cutting it down during the weeks I have a game. I don’t mind training twice a day if need be as my work capacity is high enough to cope with the increased demands.
Is this preseason? My understanding is you build in fitness preseason and maintain fitness in season while minimising fatigue. You try to force adaption in season and you may get away with it if you’re lucky. More likely than not it’ll decrease performance on the field.
Draw up a chart. Days of the week. AM/PM or hours of the day. Fill in training and matches.
You pretty much can’t go to wrong whatever you decide however Friday looks like your best day where you’ll be rested and able to push a bit harder before the next training session. Probably get your most important (cardio v gym) session on this day.
Would recommend gym before conditioning if on the same day even if separated by 6-8 hours.
Active recovery and rest is everyday or anytime you are not training lel but most important around, before and after, matches.
“Extra” conditioning post training is another option especially it was a light session. Training already counts as a bit.
Game weeks or the week/days before can be fully active recovery/maintenance and training sessions of course because you can’t think about fatigue as just a day to day week to week thing. It adds up over time and a well timed deload can be extremely beneficial. Fatigue masks fitness.