I jumped on this a bit late, but I have a couple of comments that may influence some of your training. A bit of background on myself - I play and am a S+C coach for rugby union at the university level. This means that I may not have the best info for AFL, but I believe there is a lot in common between the two codes.
Firstly, besides skill in sport, I believe that speed is the most important characteristic an athlete can have. Just think if you could get to a loose ball quicker, evade opponents more easily, and close in on defence that much faster. Thus, speed of movement must be put in a high priority. I liked your original plan of doing running before your weights sessions in the morning. If you focused on a progressive sprint routine in the am and followed it up with some basic strength moves you will be on the right track.
I also disagree that workouts need to be only 1.5 hours or less. With effective supplementation, you could perform sprints and plyos for an hour and easily perform another hour of weights. This of course does require that you structure your recovery patterns effectively. However, if you did want to perform two daily sessions, I would definitely…definitely!..do the sprints in an unfatigued state and leave the weights for later.
Secondly, I don’t really think that you need to go too low with the calories (or the carbs!!) in your diet. If you’ve been inactive for 6 months, you probably only need to clean your diet up a bit. In addition to that, your heightened level of training will ensure that your body composition changes. Plus, if you’re looking to do fatiguing runs (fartlek etc) then you need the carbs to recover for your next day’s session.
Anyhow, I didn’t want to run on too long, but I think that you would be better served by focusing on speed and movement first and strength second. Let me know if you have any more questions and if I can be of more assistance. Good luck.
Hi Cam and thanks for the input - it is appreciated and I agree with a lot of your points…
There was some logic in the original plan !!!
I used a number of concepts (westside,CT,cf.com etc) in putting together the program and once very big influence was Charlie Francis and one of the guys over @ CF.com.
Charlie bases all his work on Strength work AFTER speed work.
I agree - the logic, simple - I can’t risk a hammer after deadlifting
He also opts for 1 heavy day followed by a Tempo day.
But this is where is gets complicated - I need the speed - but I also need repetitive speed endurance and 3/4 pace aerobic running!!!
One of the guys over there helped me put together the original program and I trained with that for a 8 or 10 week period last January.
I lost body fat - slowly but failed to gain any great strength or size, my fitness was quite good, but I became fatigued very quickly as the week went on - Thursday hitting the wall due to low carbs.
I agree - speed is vital - but the fitness to support that speed is equally important. What I mean is - How do I develop speed AND fitness simultaeously??
I take your point about the ordering of weights and running - I will do the weights first (as strength is a priority just now) just to develop strength a little more and then as I near the preseason I’ll switch to Speed first and leave the weights second.
This is what I’m thinking … thanks to all the contributions…
I’ll follow Terrys concepts and use 2-a-days rather than very long sessions but with one exception
Monday and Friday I will use 30 mins pre strength training for some Speed work - just a gentle warmup and a few maximal (95%) sprints - this will take max 30 mins including warm-up
Monday and Fridays gym sessions are Strength work
Wednesdays is Power with 60-70% lifting and complex work
[Pre-season I’ll change this around and use 2 power days (M&F) and only one strength(W)]
I’ll stick with the ‘low carb diet’ only using Carbs post workout, but Carb refuel with low GI foods (as needed - ala the DiPasqulae Metabolic Diet) on Wednesdays and Sundays
On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings I will do my fartlek and endurance work and refuel with protein and fat to aid fat loss.
I think u are set to go. Lucky to get a large amount of varied approaches/advice from different ppl. I think the only thing left is to go for it, and if something is not quite working u have enough usefull info to refer back to for a change that may work. I will just say good luck, experiment until you find what works for you, and above all have fun doing it. All the varied info. can also be used just to keep it fresh.
Any further info. dont hesitate to ask and keep us informed on the progress.
Phil
I started this plan Monday so just getting into it.
Like I said I usually do running pre-weigths - It’s a while since I did weights first - damn I’m growing already!!!
I gotta thank you guys for the help - think the best thing is now - like you said Phill - keep the nose down and just do it.
If it isn’t working out just tweak it a little slowly until it starts to click and then stick at it!
I’ll post as things continue and let you guys know how I go!
Though if anyone has more suggestions please keep posting I’d love to hear from you …