The ability to absorb force is critical to the long term health of an athlete.

Remember, the #1 goal of any quality strength training program is to allow an athlete be play at a high level and on a consistent basis.

When we say ‘consistent basis’ what we mean is that they are able to mitigate the likelihood of injury through proper training. 

As coaches we train abilities, and for us, the best ability we can train is AVAILABILITY. We believe that training for force absorption needs to happen in all planes of movement and it needs to be done at varied speeds.

We do that by training specific abilities in the weightroom and on the field during speed sessions which allow athletes to be strong enough to handle the physical demands of their sports.

Shown here is a movement we are using in our current phase called the “Lateral Lunge with Push and Catch”. We are using this as part of a pre-lift activation circuit prior to our Dynamic Effort Lower Body training session. 

The goal here is to overload the speed at which an athlete is required to absorb force in the frontal (side to side) plane of motion. In addition this rapid deceleration will help activate the nervous system and allow us to be more prepared for our strength and power work coming up later in the training session.

Grab a partner and give this one a try!