A 12-Week Progressive Power, Speed, Agility and Conditioning Program for Lacrosse

A 12-Week Progressive Power, Speed, Agility & Conditioning Program for Lacrosse

By: Corey Crane

Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport for youth, high school, college and professional organizations. It is considered the ‘fastest sport on two feet’. Developing a speed and conditioning program specifically lacrosse requires you to analyze the metabolic demands for the sport. It combines elements of basketball, soccer and hockey. This article will outline a 12-week plan to prepare you for the upcoming fall ball season. It will corporate speed improvement drills, dynamic flexibility, foot speed, plyometrics, agility drills and speed and acceleration sprints. This plan can also be adapted to the preseason conditioning after fall ball is over and before the regular season.

The program uses what I call the “funnel” principle. The running starts off with longer anaerobic sprints and funnels down to more explosive starts, agilities and plyometrics. It is very important that you put the time in early to build a good anaerobic base before doing the sport specific work later in the schedule. This will help prevent overtraining and injuries. The conditioning program should be done two times per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Start off all conditioning sessions with this warm-up and finish with a 5-10 comprehensive static stretching routine.

Jog 3-5 minutes

Speed Improvement Drills (SID’s):
Stationary Arm Swings 2 x 20 sec
High Knees 2 x 20 yds
Butt Kicks 2 x 20 yds
Lateral Shuffle 2 x 20 yds
Carioca 2 x 20 yds
Backpedal 2 x 20 yds

Dynamic Flexibility:
Walking Angled Lunges 1 x 20 yds
Backward Angled Lunges 1 x 20 yds
Walking Knee Hugs 1 x 20 yds
Walking Quad Pulls 1 x 20 yds
Inch Worm 1 x 20 yds
Walking High Kick Toe Touches 1 x 20 yds

Week 1:
Warm-up Drills

5 x 400 yd sprints
Work Time: 1:20 min
Rest Time: 2:45 min

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 2:
Warm-ups Drills

2 x 400 yd sprints
Work Time: 1:15 min
Rest Time: 2:30 min

4 x 200 yd sprints
Work Time: 30 sec
Rest Time: 1:30 min

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 3:
Warm-up Drills

4 x 200 yd sprints
Work Time: 28 sec
Rest Time: 1:20 min

6 x 100 yd sprints
Work Time: 15 sec
Rest Time: 45 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 4:
Warm-up Drills

12 x 100 yd sprints
Work Time: 14 sec
Rest Time: 40 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 5:
Warm-up Drills

8 x 100 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 40 sec

6 x 80 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 35 sec

4 x 60 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 30 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 6:
Warm-up Drills

10 x 80 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 35 sec

8 x 60 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 30 sec

6 x 40 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 25 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 7:
Warm-up Drills

Agility Ladder Drills x 2 each pattern
Stride Run, Speed Run, Icky Shuffle, In-out Shuffle

10 x 60 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 30 sec

8 x 40 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 25 sec

6 x 20 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 20 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 8:
Warm-up Drills

Agility Ladder Drills x 2 each pattern
Stride Run, Speed Run, Icky Shuffle, In-out Shuffle, Lateral Shuffle, Snake Jump

Plyometrics (full recovery between sets!!)
– Ankle Hops 2 x 8
– Squat Jumps 3 x 5
– Tuck Jumps 3 x 5

10 x 40 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 25 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 9:
Warm-up Drills

Agility Ladder Drills x 2 each pattern
Stride Run, Speed Run, Icky Shuffle, In-out Shuffle, Lateral Shuffle, Snake Jump

Plyometrics (full recovery between sets!!)
– Ankle Hops 2 x 10
– Squat Jumps 3 x 8
– Tuck Jumps 3 x 6

6 x 40 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 20 sec

10 x 20 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 15 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 10:
Warm-up Drills

Agility Ladder Drills x 2 each pattern
Stride Run, Speed Run, Icky Shuffle, In-out Shuffle, Lateral Shuffle, Snake Jump

Plyometrics (full recovery between sets!!)
– Ankle Hops 2 x 10
– Squat Jumps 3 x 8
– Tuck Jumps 3 x 6
– Split Squat Jumps 2 x 4

4-Cone Agilities x 2 each way (full recovery between each drill!!)
Cones are in a square – 5 yds apart
Combo Pattern (sprint, shuffle, backpedal and sprint)
‘X’ Pattern (sprint up, backpedal diagonal, sprint up, backpedal diagonal)
‘N’ Pattern (sprint up, sprint diagonal, sprint up)

10 x 20 yd sprints
Work Time: All-out
Rest Time: 15 sec

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 11:
Warm-up Drills

Agility Ladder Drills x 2 each pattern
Stride Run, Speed Run, Icky Shuffle, In-out Shuffle, Lateral Shuffle, Snake Jump, Bunny
Hop, Hop-Scotch

Plyometrics (full recovery between sets!!)
– Squat Jumps 2 x 10
– Squat Jumps 3 x 8
– Tuck Jumps 3 x 6
– Split Squat Jumps 4 x 4
– Broad Jumps 3 x 3

Falling Starts
15 x 10 yds (full recovery between each sprint – i.e. 15-20 sec)

Cool-down and Stretch

Week 12:
Active Rest (i.e. bike, swim or any other non-impact activity)

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About The Author:

Corey Crane, the Associate Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, has been working at the United States Military Academy (Army) for a total of 5 years. At Army, Crane is responsible for the design and implementation of the strength and conditioning programs for lacrosse, hockey, volleyball and assisting with football. The three years that he has been working with the Army lacrosse team (2003, 2004 & 2005); they have participated in the NCAA tournament. During 2006, Crane accepted a position as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois where he was in charge of the strength and conditioning programs for 20 varsity sports. In April of 2006, Crane moved back to West Point and is continuing working with the Army Lacrosse Team.

For more information on Coach Crane, visit his site at: www.lacrosse-strategies.com

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