>>**HIIT Plan Here**<<

As many GAA teams enter pre-season (or one of many pre-seasons with current championship structures) we can usually expect a pile of running. Managers, coaches and players all suggest many reasons why the hard running is so important from physiological benefits to psychological. Whatever reasons a coach/manager has for the hard running it can often feel like he came up with stuff the night before and the main focus was on making players suffer as much as possible. The hard running is usually continued until the first practice game goes horribly wrong with dropped footballs or missed sliotars even more apparent than the out of breath players. Hard running is usually scaled back at this stage in favour of more “skill” work until another poor performance (usually a league semi-final or championship 1^st round) which brings a return to the hard running.

The emphasis on hard running does provide many benefits such as improved cardiovascular endurance, greater aerobic power, quicker recovery between bouts of high intensity actions and a greater durability to cope with neuromuscular loading. A large body of work has been conducted on aerobic power, specifically through high intensity interval training, by many top researchers and practitioners such as Martin Buchheit, Paul B Laursen, Dan Baker, Mladen Jovanovic & Shane Malone among others. All have slightly different viewpoints on what is precisely the best way to develop aerobic fitness for a particular sport but they do agree on a number of commonalities:

• High Intensity Interval Training is a time efficient way to develop aerobic fitness for field sports.
• High Speed running will help to prepare muscles (particularly hamstrings) for some of the demands of the game.
• Players should experience a number of different running intensities to both develop aerobic power and to prepare for various demands of the game.
• Players should experience a degree of individuality for optimal aerobic development.
• A realistically structured periodised model should be utilised to allow for the inclusion of strength & power work, sport specific skill development, tactical work, and playing games.

Aerobic fitness can be developed through a combination of training modalities such as slower “jogging” style exercise, cross-training on bike or rowing machine, swimming, circuit training or a combination of all. Ideally a mixture of low intensity and high intensity modalities would be used (see more on this by Stephen Seiler) but for the purpose of this article we will be focusing on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and more specifically Maximal Aerobic Speed (MAS).

MAS or velocity at V02max is a simple measure we can gather from players in the field and use to prescribe individualised running throughout the season. MAS can also be used to monitor fitness levels and adaptations to training among the entire playing squad. There are a number of ways to calculate MAS although the easiest, and most practical, are to get all players to perform either a time trial (5-6 minutes) or a timed distance (1,000m to 2,000). A number of standardised tests such as the Montreal Track Test, Beep Test, Yo-Yo Test or Cooper Run can be used to calculate MAS although the best method is to find what works most easily for you and your team. My own preference is to time all players doing a 1,200m run although longer distances can be used (particularly if your team are already quite fit).

Each players MAS is calculated by dividing the distance covered (in this case 1,200m) by the time taken (in seconds):

 

Player A – 1200m in 5minutes 25seconds (325 seconds)

1200 / 325 = 3.69 m/s

Player B – 1200m in 4 minutes 25 seconds (265 seconds)

1200 / 265 = 4.53 m/s

 

The test gives a few pieces of useful information. We can see where some players are in terms of their fitness levels and who may need particular attention while also allowing us to individualise our running sessions.

Each player should run at or near an intensity based on their MAS. If all players were based off the time of Player A then many would find it too easy and gain very little benefit. If all players were based off the time of Player B then they may find it too difficult, not complete the prescribed session or pull up with an injury.

We use MAS to prescribe running intensities for each player (or groups of players) based on their current fitness level. Many different intensities can be used based on the time of year, space available, etc but generally we work between 90% & 120% of MAS. A typical example is a 15 second shuttle with 15 seconds rest. If the above players were to perform this at 115% of MAS then we simple multiply their m/s by 15 and it gives us the distance for each player to cover e.g.

 

Player A has MAS of 3.69 m/s

3.69 x 15 = 55 metres

Player B has MAS of 4.53 m/s

4.53 x 15 = 68 metres

 

As a coach you simple mark two lots of coloured cones (green cones for Player A, red cones for Player B) the required distance apart. Using a stopwatch for time, you simply blow your whistle every 15 seconds and players should cover their prescribed distance in that time with a similar level of effort. This is then repeated for the prescribed number of sets and reps.

Completely individualising running distances for each athlete would lead to a mess of cones on the field so grouping them into “bins” usually works best. Most teams will work best in three groups although a player returning from injury may require a much lower intensity while a very fit team may all fit into 2 “bins”.

 

Pre-Season Plan

Deciding on specific intensities, sets and reps can often be difficult so I have created a spreadsheet with 10 weeks of suggested running included. The running plan is divided into 2 sections (weeks 1-4 & weeks 5-10). It is generally advised to re-test after the first 4 weeks as some players will respond to training very quickly while others may not. Another test is only advised for players returning from injury or after a period of many games (especially if some players are used very little during this time).

The plan is merely a suggestion and for coaches who do not feel comfortable laying out a semi-individualised plan themselves. Coaches with more experience of conditioning can feel free to adapt many of the sessions to include more variety in terms of intensity, distance, turns, etc.,

Combining the suggested sessions with lower intensity work through traditional drills, small-sided games and strength/power work will help improve the overall physical preparation of your squad.

The spreadsheet can be used through Excel or GoogleSheets, has an accompanying Explainer Video and a PowerPoint or GoogleSlides slideshow with diagrams of all sessions.

Access a folder with all resources **here**.

If you have any questions on how to use the spreadsheet or would like to know more on this area then contact me at fhsperformance@gmail.com.