Any lacrosse coach, or generally any sport coach, will tell you how important it is to be thoroughly conditioned in preparation for the season. For women’s lacrosse, conditioning should involve game play techniques, but also weight lifting, sprinting, biking, swimming and something us LAX folks call “shuttles.”

Be ready and prepared for a great lacrosse season by following these conditioning drills and guidelines.

Weight Training

Weight room work is a vital part of pre-season training. As a coach, I like to have my team work out together and to monitor my players’ sets and reps for maximum results. Since lacrosse is a total body sport, it’s necessary to work and strengthen not just the legs and arms, but also the core. A few specific in-gym lacrosse training exercises are:

• Chin-Ups
• Medicine Ball Throws (overhead and to the side)
• Weighted-Bar Deadlifts

Cardio

The pace on the field is always changing, so pre-season conditioning needs to reflect that. To vary my players’ workouts, I often put them on the stationary bike and have them alternate between high-speed bike sprints and slow pedaling. Another change to the routine involves swim workouts, switching between fast strokes and multiple laps, combined with a few laps of slow breaststrokes. The alternation between fast and slow pace is a key aspect of lacrosse, since players constantly switch between sprinting, jogging and shuffling back and forth.
The most important women’s lacrosse conditioning exercise is running. In your first week of training, work on time, speed and endurance during a 35-minute run. You should be running faster than a jog but not at full sprint pace. Pay attention to endurance when distance presents a struggle. In week two, time a 1.5-mile run. Keep a fast pace. As a lacrosse player, you should be able to do this run at 60 to 80 percent of your max speed.

The Perfect Shuttle

In the remaining weeks before the season, focus more on shuttles and game plays to prepare for the field. The following shuttle works everything: endurance, sprinting and exploding out from a stopped position.

• Set up cones at 0, 10, 15, 20 and 25-yard marks
• Players start at 0, sprint 5 yards, touch the cone and sprint back to start; then they sprint to 10 yards, touch and sprint back to start, then sprint 15 yards, touch and sprint back, and so on.

If you play lacrosse, check out STACK’s Lacrosse Guide for workouts and drills to get better this off-season.