Elite Performance Institute

🧠 Strength & power development is a critical form of training away from sports specific training, especially for any athlete who needs to jump, sprint, COD or contact an opponent. Central to the development of strength & power is having a clear understanding of these physical qualities and a roadmap for enhancing them. EPI utilises the force-velocity curve for our roadmap, adopting a percentage method approach for our 🫏 classified athletes and a VBT approach for our 🐎 classified athletes.

⚒️ Autoregulation: Be prepared to adjust session demands based on the readiness of the athlete. For example, sometimes a concentric squat from the rack maybe a better option than a traditional squat in-season if the athlete is concerned about being sore or tired for the match on the weekend. Conversely, working lower down the FV curve will have less neurological demand than higher up the curve and keeps the athlete “fresh” whilst still working on their force generating capacity.

📊 Targeted Training Methods: Be clear on specific training methods to elicit the desired adaptations:
👉Max Strength: Powerlifting, isometric/eccentric training, strongman training, progressive ROM
👉Explosive Power: Loaded plyometrics, Olympic lifting derivatives, sled/prowler sprints, de-loaded powerlifting
👉Reactive Power: Plyometrics & medball training

1️⃣ Develop max strength for solid foundations
2️⃣ Build explosive power for first three steps
3️⃣ Enhance reactive power to become more elastic

Workout Wednesday is about sharing different Strength & Conditioning sessions you can use for enhancing your own or your athletes athletic development.

🏃‍♂️This week we focus on showing an Acceleration Speed session. Try it out…let’s go!!

Workout Wednesday is about sharing different Strength & Conditioning sessions you can use for enhancing your own or your athletes athletic development.

This week we focus on Acceleration Speed. Try it out…let’s go!!

🧠 In-season planning requires careful management of the teams game load from the game at the weekend and the the mid-week training load in preparation for the next game on the following weekend. At the top level, various monitoring strategies are used to track readiness, performance and fatigue. However, this often requires more staff to coordinate and manage as well as some expensive equipment/technology. For coaches working at a lower level a qualitative assessment using a perception of mood status (POMS) test may be more appropriate.

⚒️ Autoregulation: Be prepared to adjust daily training loads based on players readiness, but follow a typical mid-week plan that follows best practice. Example: MD+1 = Recovery, MD+2 = Light Conditioning, MD+3 = Intensive Conditioning, MD-3 = Rest, MD-2 = Taper, MD-1 = Activation/Priming.

📊 Targeted Training Guidelines: Match specific speeds to desired athletic adaptations using guidelines:
👉Strength & Power: Top up max strength with box squats, partial squats or isometrics. Keep volume & ROM low to prevent neural fatigue and muscle soreness. Use ballistic exercises like plyometrics, loaded plyometrics and Olympic lifting derivatives.
👉Speed & Agility: Focus mainly on acceleration with a small top up on max velocity, used sparingly with low volume. Prioritise COD and reactive drills that target cognitive performance to challenge players and enhance training stimulus.
👉Conditioning: Keep conditioning light early in the week e.g. MD+2 focussing on aerobic system, progress to more intensive conditioning on MD+3 with a greater focus on ATP-CP system using high speed running (HSR) drills.
👉Mobility & Prehab: Sprinkle prehab into the week during gym and pitch based sessions. Mobility should be a key focus for players (education on importance is key) especially during recovery days. Include corrective exercises into program if a movement screen has been conducted in pre-season e.g. Movement Compensation Screen (MCS).

1️⃣ Manage your training themes (extensive vs intensive work)
2️⃣ Plan the training week MD to MD
3️⃣ Create your training sessions (gym vs pitch)

inseasontraining

Congrats to this group of participants who completed Phase 1 of their National Certificate in Strength & Conditioning (NCSC) course at the weekend in TU Dublin Sport Blanchardstown Campus, Dublin.

A good mix of PT’s and physiotherapists who have enhanced their learning on athletic development and RTP strategies. Some great contributions and active participation through the three days on the course 👏

We look forward to seeing you back for Phase 2 in 6 weeks time 💪

We are not born with these inherent skills, even the best has to work hard on them to make them better 💪

🧠 Velocity-based training (VBT) is a modern strength and conditioning method that uses real-time movement speed (such as bar velocity) to measure, guide, and adjust training intensity.

🛠️ Autoregulation: Automatically adjust daily training loads up or down based on how fast you move the weight on a given day, accounting for sleep, stress, and recovery.

Fatigue and Volume Management: Use velocity drop-off thresholds (e.g., stopping a set when speed drops by 20–30%) to prevent excessive fatigue and maintain high training quality.

📊 Targeted Training Zones: Match specific speeds to desired athletic adaptations using guidelines:
Speed (>1.3 m/s): High-speed movements eg plyometrics
Speed-Strength (1.3 – 1.0 m/s): Explosive power development
Max Power (1.0 – 0.75 m/s): Optimal power output range
Strength-Speed (0.75 – 0.5 m/s): Transition zone toward heavier lifting
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Congrats to this fantastic group of coaches who completed Phase 2 of their National Certificate in Strength & Conditioning (NCSC) course at the weekend in Bratislava yesterday 👏

Three intensive days covering strength & power development, Olympic weightlifting, max velocity speed & agility training, ESD & plyometric training as well as advanced program design & periodisation 🛠️

Best of luck with final preparations for your NCSC exam 📚🧑‍🎓

Make your own luck through hard work and belief in your own abilities 💪

🧠 Energy system development (ESD) is vital for all games based sports, both team sport and individual players. It’s important the Strength & Conditioning coach understands how to manipulate training methods and program design variables (intensity vs volume, sets vs reps) in order to elicit appropriate adaptations.

🛠️Utilising the volume-intensity (VI) curve as a roadmap, coaches can plan ESD focussing on EXTENSIVE work early in the pre-season period before progressing to INTENSiVE work in the mid-late pre-season periods.

📊The guidelines are intended to facilitate an overview of planning for each energy system. Manipulation of training methods from interval training to HIIT to SSG will often depend on the sport and training status of athlete/team.

Develop the energy systems utilising a linear model approach (3 weeks progressive overload, week 4 de-load):
1️⃣ Begin with aerobic ESD
2️⃣ Progress to anaerobic glycolysis ESD
3️⃣ Finish with ATP-CP ESD