Tempo alternatives?

[nycjay01]

@mboyle1959

We have had excellent results with treadmill tempo in winter. 15/30 would work for an experienced athlete. We have worked up to 20 reps but, use 15/45 for our non-track athletes. This also allows 3 athletes per treadmill. Another good idea are mat runs in place. Use a gymnastics crash pad. Intensity can be determined by number of reps. This is an excellent work but, almost too hard.

www.michaelboyle.biz

I use the inplace mat work when space is not available. I vary the speed with a metronome. If you do this inplace running be sure to look out for hip flexor tighness. It can mess with knee drive.

[Flash]

Has anyone tried shadow boxing, especially combined with lots of footwork? (This assumes you know the fundamental mechanics of boxing and footwork.) You can manipulate the work/rest ratios very easily as well as the intensity of the activity.

[Charlie_Francis]

@Flash

Has anyone tried shadow boxing, especially combined with lots of footwork? (This assumes you know the fundamental mechanics of boxing and footwork.) You can manipulate the work/rest ratios very easily as well as the intensity of the activity.

We used to use a speed ball, a-la Alan Wells but there was a lot of maintenance as well as the learning curve to get up to a decent rate over a long enough time.

[JohnG109]

@Flash

Has anyone tried shadow boxing, especially combined with lots of footwork? (This assumes you know the fundamental mechanics of boxing and footwork.) You can manipulate the work/rest ratios very easily as well as the intensity of the activity.

Charlie: “We used to use a speed ball, a-la Alan Wells but there was a lot of maintenance as well as the learning curve to get up to a decent rate over a long enough time.”

I was going to get a heavy bag for tempo type work, and also warm up for weights work in my home gym/garage, what do you guys think?

p.s. how do you quote two different writers in one post? thanks .

[Stevemac24]

The tempo alternatives that have been provided appear to be hazy/unclear. My understanding was that tempo should be completed 75% or slower of your best time. Some of the activities are very different in muscle recruitment to running e.g, rowing, steps-ups, boxing. Do you have to make adjustments for these activities; altering the difficulty in anyway??

[Charlie_Francis]

@JohnG109

Charlie: “We used to use a speed ball, a-la Alan Wells but there was a lot of maintenance as well as the learning curve to get up to a decent rate over a long enough time.”

I was going to get a heavy bag for tempo type work, and also warm up for weights work in my home gym/garage, what do you guys think?

p.s. how do you quote two different writers in one post? thanks .

I’d think a heavy bag would end up as high intensity but I havn’t tried it so I dont really know.

[Flash]

Yeah, I’d be careful with the heavy bag. It’s easy to get carried away with the intensity and it can take a lot out of you. So can shadow boxing if you don’t control it. You’d be surpirsed how quickly throwing punches can drain you if you’re not used to it. However, the advantage is that you can redistribute more work to the upper body and the counter rotation between the shoulders and hips during the punching action should help develop rotational strength endurance and stability in the abdominals. Just be sure to work both leads equally to ensure balanced physical development.

[JohnG109]

@Charlie_Francis

I’d think a heavy bag would end up as high intensity but I havn’t tried it so I dont really know.

High intensity CNS wise, or lactic wise? I’m assuming lactic wise.

[duxx]

I just got an assignment from head coach to prepare 3-4 training sessions (or parts lasting 30-60min) in wich I should target aerobic endurance, muscular endurance (calistenics), easy jumps to prepare their feet for later HI training, or to say, general physical preparedness…
We dont have medballs, we cannot run ouside becasue it is under zero, we only have a basketball field (circa 30*20m) and swedish ledders, swdish bench (for sitting)…

As posted above, I just finished one tempo workout, but I would love to introduce something more…
here is what I am thinking at the moment:

1. Strength circles (arms, abs, back, legs) interspread with aerobic work (running in place, jumping jacks, rope jumping, step-ups) 30s on, 30s off (as posted before)
2. To create some polygon around the field that consists of running parts, zig-zag jumps, table jumps, abs, push-ups… but I am unsure about the intensity and duration of this polygon (need help)
3. To introduce the a shuttle run (beep test, progressive), becasue they are going to be tested soon with it, so I think it is good to familiarize them with the test…
4. Same as #1 but instead on jumps in place, four set of running 6x20m (or even less, lack of space!) for about 25-30 sec (or slighty less), with walking 3x20m…

I got about 14 players 91’, and very slippery field
Any help would be appreciated… Tnx in advance!

[Herb]

@JohnG109

Charlie: “We used to use a speed ball, a-la Alan Wells but there was a lot of maintenance as well as the learning curve to get up to a decent rate over a long enough time.”

I was going to get a heavy bag for tempo type work, and also warm up for weights work in my home gym/garage, what do you guys think?

p.s. how do you quote two different writers in one post? thanks .

Heavy Bag work can be used for tempo if you break things down properly. If you are hitting it hard then it will work the CNS and would be comparable to explosive shot putting where the entire body is used to explode the punch into the bag. However, if you are hitting it lightly, then there shouldn’t be a problem. I use the heavy bag for my tempo work where I punch and kick the bag, but I mix in ab work and skipping as well. It would be more comparable to a straight jog than to tempo interval running though.

[Herb]

@JohnG109

p.s. how do you quote two different writers in one post? thanks .

To quote more than one individual, cut and paste the text you want to quote and on the front end have [1quote=Name of individual] and at the end have [1/quote] but don’t include the “1”. I needed to put the “1” there otherwise this would all end up in quotes.

[Charlie_Francis]

@Herb

Heavy Bag work can be used for tempo if you break things down properly. If you are hitting it hard then it will work the CNS and would be comparable to explosive shot putting where the entire body is used to explode the punch into the bag. However, if you are hitting it lightly, then there shouldn’t be a problem. I use the heavy bag for my tempo work where I punch and kick the bag, but I mix in ab work and skipping as well. It would be more comparable to a straight jog than to tempo interval running though.

We’ll defer to you on this, as you have the experience. Just make sure your opponants aren’t doing high intensity CNS work on you!