What Kind of Conditioning Should Lacrosse Goalies Be Doing? Same As The Midfielders?

Question: hey jonathan..my name is (witheld) and i'm a senior starting goalie
> for my hs varsity team. Practice starts Monday, and to be
> completley honest I am not in shape and haven't done much to
> prepare. My coach is sort of inexperienced and likes to kill us
> with a lot of running the first week because she thinks that's
> the way to go, but I strongly disagree. Last season I had shin
> splints that came close to a stress fracture from it and my
> trainer told me I couldn't run for a while, and I that prevented
> me from being able to do quick feet and other important drills
> good for being a goalie. What do you think is the best way for
> me to get in great goalie shape for this season, without an
> overload of running, that is more realistic? What drills should
> I tell her I can do while the midfielders run at practice?

Answer:First: Why are you out of shape? I mean c'mon. You're a senior. Whether you are a captain or not you are THE captain on the field. What kind of shape are you in exactly? Round is a shape. You're starting to worry me.

Now I don't know what your situation is so I don't want to sound harsh where there is some legitimate reason. Perhaps you had a bizarre coyote attack that chewed of your big toe on your left foot and you are finally able to walk. Or perhaps your arm was pinned between a freshman and their locker door as you stuffed them in there and you had to amputate using nothing but the uncovered end of your goalie stick. Whatever the excuse I'm sure you are now recovered and on your way to playing well.

I have to admit though that I am thoroughly impressed that you are looking for alternative solutions. That is outstanding. So because of that I can help you. So smile. My sarcasm gets the best of me sometimes but lets get you going.

First things first: You've got to get your stick in your hand and start throwing. And getting shots. ASAP. That is a given. Get going. No time to waste.

You're lucky because I agree with you on the long distance running stuff. That is a very old school mentality. Quite outdated. Long distance running can actually slow down a goalie who needs to be fast twitch. However, if you, or your teammates are just plain lazy then some hardcore running is probably a good idea.

In light of your shinsplints here is what I would do: Call your trainer and talk to him/her about preventative taping of your shins. Because you had them last season to the degree that you had them it's recommended to tape them now even if they feel ok. It will help you to get through the transition period where your body compensates to the new work load. You can slowly ease off the taping as the season progresses until your legs get into the shape they need to be in. I would also find a golf ball and make sure to roll your feet, the front of your shin (Anterior Tibialis) and your calves to make sure everything is good and loose PRIOR to playing. I would do this every practice. In fact I do do it before every practice. Did it today before a sprint session I had. Extremely helpful. It's a pocket massage therapist. You can talk to your trainer about soft tissue mobilization prior to practice sometimes called self-myofacial release therapy. Very helpful. By releasing the tissue around the shins your lower leg will be more shock absorbing which will relieve some of the stress the shins get. If you wear any type of a shoe with a heel this can really affect the flexibility of your foot and calf which can throw the stress on areas that just aren't ready. So stay loose.

That should give you a little buffer with the shins to get you through the first part of the season. As far as getting into shape I would recommend to your coach that you do sprints, or hill running. (You're going to hate me but it's true.) Every time you step your feet and shins take a multiple of your bodyweight in compressive forces. So if you run for long distances you get thousands of pounding steps on those shins that's just not good. And to be honest there are a lot of body types that just aren't good for running long distances. I would have you do sprints. In sprinting your shins don't take the pounding that they do in normal running because of where your foot hits in relationship to your body. The only place you get a ton of compression is when you decelerate or when you stop sprinting and start running. A better choice I would have you do is uphill running. Many injured athletes will run hills because it really takes away from the pounding on the feet. The other alternative is to run in the pool. Waist high water or higher depending on how much the shins hurt. The water lessens your bodyweight impact on the legs which can get you through those rough stages.

If you want I can totally talk to your coach for you with some suggestions. I do that for a number of goalies if you feel it would help. As a coach I would appreciate if one of my players had sought out information that differed with my thinking. I know not all coaches are like that but let me know if you need that.

To be honest, I used to always get shot on while the midfielders ran. It was a great time to get more appropriate work in. I would do that and have you run hills and you'd be pretty bagged. If you were really out of shape I'd shoot on you, and have you run hills at the end of practice. Nothing crazy. Two hills today. Three tomorrow. Wednesday off. Two hills, three hills. Weekend off. Next week: Three hills and then four, etc.

Meghan I hope that helps you. Let me know if you need any clarification. You're one of my girls now so stay in touch and let me know how it goes. What state do you play in?

Jonathan - The Goalie Guru
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