Christian Woodford

IN season (competitive) strength & power training ✔️

There is an abundance of scientific research & anecdotal evidence from coaches that shows the massive benefit of strength training for athletes (performance - injury reduction & rehab - return to perform).

Strength training for athletes needs to be completed ALL year round and depending on which phase of training athletes are in will dictate the intensity, volume, frequency etc (also their training age dictates loading parameters of programs).

IN season strength & power programs for athletes IMO are completed 2 ways and both are on the extreme end of the scale ⬇️

1. Athletes stop ALL strength work in season due to fear of “soreness” & lack of education on strength de training and the negative effects on all other bio motor qualities (power, speed, agility, conditioning)

Or

2. Athletes complete strength training in season but volume, frequency & exercise selection is below optimal and “breaks” down the athlete (central & peripheral fatigue) leading to poor training & competition performance

Both cases the in season athlete will not maximise his performance due to poor strength or lack thereof programming. The best in season programs will fit in the middle ground between these two and not only “build” the athlete up in season but focus is on preparation for performance of their sport.

Here are my thoughts & guidelines for in season strength (& power) training for athletes.

Let me know what you think in the comments below ⬇️

Note; The #1 reason why athletes need to prepare physically outside sporting practice is PREVENTION of injuries 💯 I can’t tell you how “reactive” athletes in Australia are to injuries when a high % could of been prevented with minimal (maintaining what you build in the off - pre season period is not hard) exposure to prep in season

Prevention is better than CURE !

CWT (cold water therapy)

Most days LOL 🤣 I have been sitting for around 180s (3 mins) in my ice bath listening to “rollin” by 🤣💪

It’s 15 degrees (celsius) but can go lower but I happy with that atm as it’s cold AF 🥶❄️

CWT has numerous benefits such as

✅ Reducing muscle soreness (perceived)

✅ Boost immune system

✅ Improved mental health

✅ increased energy expenditure

Personally for ME I do it for 2 reasons

1️⃣ It’s challenging and generally I do not want to do it 🤣 being uncomfortable & learning to just sit and breathe helps me mentally know I CAN do uncomfortable things

2️⃣ The feeling post CWT even if it’s just a placebo & all in my head makes me feel great & refreshed 🔋

I would not expose your body to CWT post strength training session due to research showing that it can blunt the cellular signalling response needed to stimulate strength & hypertrophy (muscle mass) adaptations 🙅‍♂️

I am guessing the mechanism would be due to the constricting of blood vessels and reducing the body’s natural inflammation response 🤔 Inflammation is NOT bad and you need it to signal to your body you need to recover & repair 💯

Perfect example of this would be sprained ankle and not placing “ice” on the injured area 💪 The only time I would use “ice” on the site of injury would be to decrased perceived pain to give the athlete relief

For team sport athletes post training & competition CWT is fantastic (does not blunt endurance adaptations) to reduce soreness and kickstart restoration ✅

My BIG3 rocks when it comes to recovery & restoration are

1️⃣ Sleep (7-8 hours quality sleep) #1 by a country mile, most athletes sleep quality is 💩

2️⃣ Nutrition & Hydration refuel and kick start anabolic & restoration process

3️⃣ Downtime & grounding (walk on the beach, time with friends/family, parasympathetic breathing)

Check out ice baths 😀

Let me know in the comments what you think of CWT ⬇️

Hahaha well after all that I (& anyone with half a 🧠) was correct on the fact that was BORN biologically a MAN (XY 🧬) and had an UNFAIR advantage when HE was competing in the women’s boxing division

I laugh at this whole saga because it just shows how far society has fallen when people are to scared to question someone’s gender based on fear of reprisals & personal attacks 🤦‍♂️ The fact we have high ranking politicians who can’t DEFINE what a women means is crazy 🤪

It’s pretty simple-

Male - XY chromosome

Women - XX chromosome

Note; There are exceptions to this due to certain syndromes that occur at birth

This report proved that was born a male with a condition called 5 - Alpha reductase deficiency which is a genetic condition that effects how s*xual development occurs. This changes the appearance of external genitalia and lead to her parents believing she was a girl growing up (pictures that apparently proved she was a woman).

She has the testosterone of a man & thus performance benefits 💯 I can’t tell you how important it is for women to stand up and fight this agenda that is being pushed currently 💪

There’s a reason why there is male & female categories for sport. This is because males produce higher levels of the male s*x hormone testosterone which leads to greater muscle mass> strength, power, speed, bone density = greater athletic performance .. these are all FACTS ✅

Gender is not something you can change because you want to ❌ This is something the left can’t understand & just because you feel a certain way doesn’t mean myself & people with common sense will play along with this stupid game 💯 We are in this position because we didn’t call this out years ago and now women’s sport is compromised by this whole woke agenda 🤦‍♂️ it’s not fair & it needs to be called out for what it really is, if not women’s sport will never be the same.

Common sense would say to create a 3rd division that allows athletes like & male athletes who have transitioned who identify as females to compete in this division so it’s a fair and even playing field.

End rant.

This combat sport athlete hired me after paying an obscene amount of $$$ on seeing an orthopaedic specialist (physio) the surgeon recommended post shoulder surgery which he was one of the owners of this group (money making machine) 🤦‍♂️🤣

Anyway long story short after 10 weeks of the lowest level rehab that wouldn’t provide a stimulus high enough to improve your nans strength this athlete hired myself - to help him to return back to his sport (& complete actual proper, structured & coached rehab - reconditioning) 💪

After literally 1 session (literally he messaged me post session saying his pain was gone lol) he felt no pain in the shoulder & his felt in his words “stable” 💯

Rehab for athletes (& anyone who actually wants to complete some form of exercise later in life lol) is quite literally normal training in the presence of injury.. that’s it! It doesn’t need special exercises depending on the injury or you do not need a PhD to understand that early stage rehab (depending on injury) will look specific to the injured area 🧐 & as athlete moves to each phase (criteria not time driven) the program should look and feel like a normal physical prep program 🫣

It’s that easy.. apply sport science principals, coach & implement the program, use common sense (if athlete gets pain STOP and or modify the exercise whereby they do not get pain) & integrate slowly back to the sporting skill ✅

A high % of people in the private sector want you to believe you are broken (problem > solution) and they fear you into thinking you need them by using big stupid words that sound good but mean sweet FA and at the end of it you feel no better and you have just lost $$$. It’s crazy to see how many rehab professionals charge huge amounts of money per session (20-30 min sessions), give no education to the client what so ever, do not load them at all (the body adapts to load and increases capacity - this is why exercise based rehab = 1) and just generally do not care about the athlete and just see them as a number (trust me this is greater than you think in the industry)

Anyway, proud of this athlete & the 100”s who have seen the light ❤️

Woodford Sport Science Consulting

Strength is important (you all know how important I view strength development & physical literacy in athletes) … to a point then all you are doing is chasing numbers on the bar via that specific lift 💯

Ask yourself why do we enhance strength for our athletes?

Few reasons 1. To develop robust & resilient athletes who can handle training loads needed to enhance sporting performance & reduce chance of injury 2. To allow athletes to train at higher intensity for longer & more often (frequency) & 3. To increase the ceiling of high velocity attributes that are very important for team based sports ie speed, COD/agility, power & elasticity 💪 If you are stronger you have a higher speed & power “potential” & sub maximal efforts are easier because you raised your max ceiling outputs (ceiling level dictated by genetics & how you train when you were younger) 🤩

Note; The point whereby strength no longer transfers to speed & power capacities is called point of diminishing returns and this point is different for everyone. General rule is around 1.75-2x BW for squat & deadlift for both male & female athletes, imo a good base level of strength & movement competency can he achieved in a short time frame (18 months

national combine (physical performance testing)

The national combine is a chance for the best under age footballers in the country to push their case (last chance) to be drafted into the AFL system 💯

We know through data that footballers who enter the full time pro sport system do not get FASTER ❌ but do improve their aerobic capacity ✅ (surprise.. surprise 🤯🤦‍♂️😂)

I have always said that #1 focus should always be on becoming a PhD at the sport of football (ie skills, tactical, technical), I can’t turn apples into oranges 😂 BUT give me a good footballer and I can make him better by developing the physical capacities needed to execute the skill at higher levels 💪💯

This is where I believe many junior (& senior players) miss the chance to move the needle towards better performance (& preventing non contact injuries) & developing the consistency & confidence in their body to have longevity in the sport.

is a footballer who I have worked with @ since his bottom aged year 👑 He just keeps getting better & his testing at this years combine shows what level footballers can perform at with proper & structured physical prep programming (& coaching 👌🏼)

20m sprint (acceleration)

2.931s = 4th overall

Agility (it’s not agility it’s change of direction but anyway lol)

8.141s = 10th overall

Both are alactic - fast twitch qualities (his vertical was up there with the best to)

2km TT (aerobic running performance)

6.25s = equal 8th

What this showed is not only is fast & powerful but he also has a great work/aerobic capacity to recover & run out games 🔥

Footballers need to stop with just completing only conditioning training and start to focus on what will help their football performance 💯 Improving maximal speed outputs & fast twitch qualities such as maximal strength & power in the gym 🔥 Then developing aerobic capacity to increase “anaerobic speed reserve” aka athletes are faster at sub max speeds 🙌

I am so proud of and all my boys & .tauru who I have worked with @ and they were invited to the draft combine ❤️

Christian Woodford