Lacrosse’s fast-paced nature requires speed, endurance, and coordination skills, making it a popular sport among all ages and genders. However, the high-contact nature of the game makes players vulnerable to injury.

Get Fit Tips from the NEBH Sports Performance Team

When it comes to lacrosse, the athlete’s cardiovascular endurance is essential to performance. Lacrosse draws on the body’s anaerobic energy system, used for very high-intensity exercise that lasts from 10-60 seconds. Taking this into consideration, lacrosse training should focus on sprints and interval training.

For strength training, sessions should occur 3 times a week and should always include a warm up of 5-10 minutes and dynamic stretches. Plyometric exercises should be included along with general strengthening of all major muscle groups. Consider setting up circuit training to maintain interval-like demands on your cardiovascular system while strengthening and increasing power through sport-specific motions. For example, try squats, 3-way lunges, dead lifts, burpees, side shuffles, planks, etc.

Cardio and conditioning sessions should include periods of sprints and rest. Although the athlete can probably run four miles or more, they need to train for the demands they will see on the field. So, you still want to run those four miles in periods of sprints and jogs. For example, run 15 seconds, rest 45, and repeat for the length of your run. Another way to incorporate interval training is to do field drills. Set up cones in an “X” at various corners/spots and accelerate and decelerate to each cone. Incorporate running forwards, back pedaling, side shuffles and skipping. This type of routine allows interval training while focusing on movement in all directions.

Always remember to allow your body a proper cool down with stretching, and have fun!

Preventing Injuries

To help prevent injury, make sure you practice these general safety tips:

• Warm up and stretch before and after you play.
• Review passing technique with a coach or trainer to make sure you don’t develop bad habits that could lead to injury.
• Use properly-fitting equipment, specifically mouth guards, gloves, helmets, and cleats.
• Increase frequency, duration, and difficulty of training slowly to avoid overuse injuries.
• An athletic trainer should be present at games to assess and treat injuries.
• Always wear sunscreen to protect your skin and drink water to stay hydrated.
• Participate in a conditioning course to strengthen your muscles, particularly those statistically at risk for injury.
• Consult with your coach or athletic trainer about ways to prevent overuse injuries like tendonitis and stress fractures.
• Have a physical examination at the start of the season to make sure you’re healthy to play.