Agility

Agility is my personal favorite when it comes to conditioning. Agility improves our flexibility and our overall control of our bodies, it also builds up explosiveness for getting off on a sprint of a run. I love train with agility drills when training for sports activities. The drills are very helpful for almost every sport you may be competing in. Some drills that you can do are Pro-Agility, Shuttle Runs, Agility Hurdle Runs, The Agility Ladder, Box Drills, Agility Cone Drills. My personal favorite is the pro agility. In this drill you will have three cones you will start on the middle one and then on go sprint to the second on on your right about 10 yards away. Then tap the cone and change directions and sprint to the far cone and tap that cone to then sprint back through the start. This drill works on overall speed, change of directions, and get off speed. This drill is a good drill to time yourself on and see just how much you improve after doing it for a couple weeks.

How to perform the pro-agility drill correctly.

Long Distance

A marathon race where people show off just how well they have trained for this long distance run.

Long distance is for the true diehards of running, but its also for the people who just want to get in shape and stay in shape and don’t feel like doing 15-20 sprints a day. I don’t blame them sprints are not fun. Long Distance builds up your cardiovascular endurance and your overall stamina. This type of training is ofter seen used by marathon runners, cross country runners, and long distance runners in track. Some workouts to help in your long distance training are a mile run, a two mile run, a three mile run, an off on 1-2-3-4 mile run. Off Ons are my personal favorite when training long distance. It’s when you run for one minute then take thirty seconds off as a walk, then repeat. One minute on and thirty second off.

Sprints

Man works on his sprints and speed on the track.

Sprinting is something that most people often don’t like to do because its exerting your full amount of energy in short burst of speed so you will drain yourself faster but you’re also building speed. Sprinting builds up your top speed when running and also builds up the amount of time you can be actually running top speed. This can be helpful for a lot of people even if your more of a long distance runner who doesn’t think he needs to be sprinting. what about that final stretch, you want to be able to sprint that final stretch and pass that last person in front of you for the win. First Place! Sprinting can help you do that. Some sprinting exercises you can do are 10-20-30-40 yard sprints, 100-200-300-400 meter sprint. These are just a couple but they’re the most basic of the workouts and are guaranteed to help increase stamina and build speed.

Entire Core

Woman does a Suitcase crunch very well and with great form.

Your Core is a very important part of your body and in this post I’ll be focusing on the entirety of the Core. The Core in general is a very important part of the body because it is the source of all of our stability. If you have a strong core you will prevent injuries and perform at a higher level. Most people think of core and automatically think of six-pack abs. Yes, doing these workout I will provide will help improve your physical appearance but they will also help you in the other ways listed above. Some workouts to improve your core strength and stability are: The Plank (Side Planks, Back Planks, and Regular Planks), Russian Twists, Dumbbell Plank Drag, Sit-Ups, V-Ups, Suitcase Crunches, Crunches, Scissor kicks, Flutter Kicks, Hanging Knee raises, Dead Bugs, and the Body Saw. These workouts will engage your entire core and help you really feel the burn afterwards. They are so important to incorporate into your workout so that your stability and overall physical performance increases.

Hamstring

Man performs an RDL with perfect form and depth.

The hamstring is a very important part of your lower body. It helps stabilize your knees and your hips and they’re huge contributors in your movement and range of motion. A strong hamstring is very important whether you’re in sports or like to lift. This muscle is very important in everyones bodies. To strengthen the hamstring try doing some of these workouts: Straight Leg Deadlift, Hamstring Curls with resistance bands, Air Squats, Pistol Squats, Single arm Kettlebell Swings, RDL’s or Romanian Deadlift, Glute Ham Raises, and the Cardio Row. Strengthening the hamstring will help you in a lot of areas. It will help you run faster, improve explosiveness, improve posture, and prevent future leg injury’s from occurring. Lastly it’s also important to stretch the hamstrings before and at the end of the workouts, because stretching them will prevent them from the risk of strain and future injury.

Calves

A woman jumping rope strengthening her calves.

The Calf muscle is often forgotten because of how small it is. In reality the calf muscles propel us forward with every step and are two of the most used muscles in our body. We use the calves everyday often without knowing. Some reasons to increase your strength in your calves are you will become faster, you will develop a more consistent pace, you will be able to jump higher, and you will be able to run longer. Some exercises to help with this are Straight & Bent Knee Calf Raises, Seated Calf Raises, Box Jumps, Jump Rope, Dumbbell Jump Squats, and Farmers Walks on your Toes. My personal Favorite is the Jump Rope because it builds muscles strength and stamina in the legs and calves. It’s strengthening muscles while incorporating some cardio into your workout.

Thighs

Man does weighted Split Squats to help improve Quadricep strength.

The thigh muscles are a large part of the lower part of our bodies. Every one wants to have strong legs and most guys live to have toned and defined thighs. This is something that is relatively easy to attain with a good work ethic and consistency. The thigh muscle or quadricep muscle is a key muscles when lifting lower body lifts like deadlift and especially squat but also they help with power and explosiveness like when starting off a sprint or riding a bike for long periods of time. Box Jumps, Bulgarian Split Squat, Barbell Front Squat, Goblet Squat, Weighted or Unweighted Box Squats, Wall Sits, and Walking Lunges are all huge lifts that will help increase muscle strength and growth. Incorporating these workouts into your weekly workout plan will increase the strength in your thighs as well as your overall lower body strength.

Buttocks

The glutes/buttocks muscles are the most important muscles in the lower body. Your overall power, strength and speed all come from the buttocks muscles. This is why they are so helpful to train when you are playing virtually any sport. The buttocks muscles are the biggest muscles used in your lifts like Squat, Deadlift, Box Jumps, and Kettlebell Swings. Some lifts to help strengthen these muscles so you can improve on your other lifts and increase your power and speed output are: The basic Squat, Leg Press, Single Leg Deadlift, Pistol Squats, Bulgarian Split Squat, and Step Ups. These auxiliary work outs will strengthen your buttocks so you can increase in strength, speed, power, and mobility.

“honing strength and activating your glutes should be a top priority in all exercise programs,”

~Robert Reames, C.S.C.S.

Hips

How the kettlebell swing will look when done correctly.

The hips are part of the body some of us might not think about when it comes to lifting. Most really don’t tent to notice them unless their causing an issue for them. That’s why you have to make sure and keep a good hip strengthening exercise incorporated into your regime. Strengthening the hip area will help increase your mobility and flexibility and will also make you fell better when lifting weights like squats and deadlift. Some exercises to help strengthen the hips are Bulgarian Split Squats, Step Up Reverse Lunges, Banded Jump Squats, Kettlebell Swings, and Lateral Lunges. My personal favorite is the Kettlebell swing, because it’s a easy lift to do no matter where you are and it really works the hips fast. This lift is preformed by taking a kettlebell and holding it with both hands resting at your waist. You will then squat down so it’s resting between your legs and explode up out of it bringing the kettlebell swinging out in front of you usually around eye level. Then carefully letting it down/swing back down to the bottom and you dropping back down into a squat right before exploding back up into another repetition.

Triceps

What the skull crusher should look like when at the bottom of the lift.

The Triceps are a very influential part of your arm. It is the main muscle in the arm that improve your bench press lift and others like it. Plus these muscles looks awesome when you flex them. People often think that the bicep is the most important muscle on the arm. That’s why so many guys tend to focus on doing curls nonstop so that their biceps are huge but their triceps are left weak and unreliable. Then they wonder why some people out lift them in areas of weightlifting. Well its because the triceps are a huge contributor as well. Some of the best ways to strengthen those triceps muscles are Dumbbell kickbacks, Triangle Pushups, Dips, and Skull Crushers. Skull Crushers are probably my favorite lift because they look awesome and you can do them with a partner. To perform this lift you will be laying down on a bench with a bar in your hands. Put your arms out in front of you and slowly lower the bar toward your head till your arms are at a 90 degree angle. Then press that bar back up to the top where your arms are straight out in front of you.