Welcome back strength coaches to part 2 on this series on “What is Strength?” and how can we apply it? For starters, understand that I push back against the "norm" because I always want to know what is BEST not what everyone is doing. In fact, if everyone is doing it I often WONT do it until I research why everyone is doing it.
If you have not read article 1 be sure to click here to read the first blog on the topic. You may be wondering why am I still talking about this? Glad you asked. This is a topic that some great S&C coaches ask themselves and talk about. John Griffin is the Director of Player Performance for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and he talked about this topic with me when he was on the podcast. He quoted Bobby Stroupe with the saying “Strength is an expression, not a measurement.” So if you find yourself still wondering how to evaluate strength within your program, just know that you are not alone.
Building off this topic of what is strength, I had a conversation with Otto and Troy from Gud Performance on the topic of doing hard things and the benefit of them. The topic was mainly focused around doing hard conditioning and how that is good for athletes. So now we will dive into what is conditioning, how to do it better for your team sport athletes. This article might upset some people, much like Nick DiMarco’s article about needing to improve conditioning with athletes. Let me be clear, I agree a lot with the need to improve athletes speed, make training one of (if not the best part of an athlete’s day), and many other things from coaches who advocate for speed training. I do not think only doing speed work, and not doing conditioning is correct. Simply because I do not agree on this topic does not mean anything catastrophic.
In fact, I was at a conference where Tony quoted a book where the author said something to the effect of “if you believe 100% of what I think you should get mentally evaluated; but, if you agree with 80% of what I say, you should consider voting for me.” Forgive me if I misquoted it exactly, it was recorded at the 2025 Card Power conference in Sioux City, NE so you can find exactly the quote there. Back to my point, although we will disagree on the topic of conditioning, why team sport athletes need it, and how to condition them - we can still be kind. I hope you see that in this article, and I hope you can learn something from it. With that said, let’s dive into this.
What is Conditioning?
Just like anything in S&C we need to define our terms, for this let’s go to pages 32 and 33 of Supertraining 6th edition:
Work capacity - general ability of the body as a machine to produce work in different intensity and duration using the appropriate energy systems of the body.
Fitness - specific ability to use this work capacity to execute a given task under particular conditions; the ability to cope with the demands of a specific task efficiently and safely.
Preparedness - unlike fitness is not stable, and varies over time and is composed of two components. One component is slow changing (fitness) and one fast component (exercise induced fatigue),
Lot to take in right there so let’s break this down. Work capacity is general ability to work, rest, work, repeat. Whereas fitness is the ability to do a certain task, rest, repeat. And preparedness has to do with the amount of work you have done in the past. Got it. To me this looks like another Bonadrchuk pyramid where the base is work capacity and the top is fitness.
Lets hold off on preparedness for now - we will get back to it. Now that we understand that work capacity underpins fitness, this is what many S&C coaches, sport coaches, parents, admin, ATC, etc…mean when they say someone needs to be in better condition. They might say it different ways like “he needs to be in better shape” or “the girls looked tied at the end of the game, what can we do to fix that?” The thing they want to see is better work capacity/conditioning from the athletes.
When people in athletics say things like this to a S&C coach what is the first thing we do? Most of the time we get defensive and upset - rightfully so, part of you is being attacked. Remember from the last article - get curious. Ask questions, don’t get defensive and don’t blindly “put the athletes on the line” and make them run 110s and 300 yard shuttle just because. Random conditioning does not help these athletes. So get curious, ask questions, and be specific. You might be able to find out that the sport coach was just in a bad mood.
I had a S&C coach send me a convo from his head sport coach after a scrimmage where the team did not play well. The convo from the sport coach was directed as to how the team was not in shape, were not tough, and not “ready.” Y’all this was a SCRIMMAGE. The team was not in formal games yet. They should look un-organized and not be able to play great team sport yet. Fast forward two weeks and the sport coach sent the S&C coach texts about how great the team looks. So rule #1 know that sport coaches are reactionary. Now, you still can have things ready/be proactive for this situation; and one area of S&C that does not get the credit it deserves is CrossFit.
CrossFit Principles Applied to Team Sport S&C - Timers in the weight room
WOAH what? Yes I said it, CrossFit not getting the credit it deserves. What I am getting to is the fact that CrossFit places time cap on strength work and uses barbells/lifting for conditioning stimulus. To the strength piece with time caps - it works like a superset but with time constraints that are real. It would be common practice to see:
3:00 x 5 of Back Squat
8 reps at 50%
8 reps at 60%
5 reps at 70%
3 reps at 80%
Max reps at 85%
In this way athletes are lifting every 3 minutes WITH A CLOCK keeping the athletes on the time. I worked at Iowa Football where we put pair 1:30 rest and even has timers going in the weight room - but no one (coach or athlete) stuck too it. Shame on us yes, but how many team sport S&C rooms keep athletes moving on the clock like that with work:rest ratio in the weight room? I can think of one - Steve Saunders for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens when he worked there. I got to learn from Steve in person when I worked at Towson.
Joe Alexander and I visited in spring 2019, and then I went again in March 2020 before COVID shut the world. Steve and his staff would emphasis tempo (on the barbell - eccentric or isometric) and the rest time. As he said, we do it in conditioning, why not in weight room. He is right. If you look at the textbooks, and even other practitioners like Jake Tuura or Chad Wesley Smith - they had been saying do fewer reps with more sets and les rest to increase weight lifted as well as overall testosterone/growth hormone release.
TL:DR - make sure you strength work (A block and B block does not take forever - give athletes the rest they need, don't let them sit around forever)
CrossFit Principles Applied to Team Sport S&C - Lifting for conditioning
AMRAP and EMOM are two words that CrossFit loves. Sure, maybe this will not be what you say or prescribe, but use their principle - using lifting as conditioning. We all borrow from powerlifting, Olympic lifting, track and field, strong man, etc…why not borrow from here too? We don’t work with powerlifters but we sure love WSBB conjugate system or accommodating resistance. And lord knows the push back I get when I tell coaches they don’t have to do cleans in the weight room even though we don’t work with Olympic weight lifters. So why the reluctance to borrow what CrossFit does? I think it was those early days of CrossFit where they did not scale (their words for regression of exercise) combined with the issue of bad research from an organization. Let's fix that. Don’t go full CrossFit like you don't (or I hope you don’t) go full WSBB.
How can you do that? Great question thanks for asking. Start by doing some high rep work with the barbell. You can sneak this in on upper body days by timing their press and pull work. Have the team do 30 sec on 30 sec off on rows, press, curl, and triceps. It will make the day more fun for you and for the team. Or do the same with lower body movements at the end of a lift. Pair goblet squats, with sit ups, walking lunges, and jump rope. Be smart and progress your team into it (like you do everything else) and they will be fine.
Now, will there be some “ugly” reps in this. Maybe - if you allow it. And for those purists out there just know that there are also ugly reps of foot contact when athletes run when they are tired in a game. It will be ok. Do not do anything negligent (you know what that looks like) and step in when necessary. This will also allow you to coach them under fatigue. Tell them to keep their chest up when they are tied - this too (like all things) is a skill and can be learned.
Off Feet Conditioning
The fact that this is so popular for basketball and linemen in American football makes me wonder why more coaches aren't using CrossFit principles with their teams. It is EXTREMELY common for basketball players to use the versa climber to improve conditioning and remove the pounding that occurs from playing on the court. The same principle is at work when you see the OL and DL working on echo bikes - get them to increase their heart's ability to pump blood to working muscles and the lungs to take in oxygen. This is done and the lower body gets a break from the pounding that occurs during running. Win, win.
But why stop at the echo bikes and versa climber? Seriously, why? Today is Friday Feb 27, 2026 and I just did the CrossFit open workout 1. It was:
20 wall ball shot
18 box jump over
30 wall ball shot
18 box jump over
40 wall ball shot
18 WB step over
66 wall ball shot
18 WB step over
40 wall ball shot
18 box jump over
30 wall ball shot
18 box jump over
20 wall ball shot
For me it was 20lb wall ball and 24 inch on the box. I got through 44 on the round of 66 wall ball shots before the time cap of 12 hit. Now, you don't have to do this exact thing with your athletes (I already gave you some examples) but you can use this principle here and use lifts as conditioning. My legs and lungs were gassed. Heart rate got up to 172 (which is real high for me - still working on getting it higher). With this style I now know how to measure progress cuz of how far I made it - sounds like something you can use to prove to sport coaches how good you are at getting good conditioning in.
What Does Good Conditioning Need?
Need time to get heart rate elevated and then to keep it there. I know there are coaches who disagree, that is fine. Athletes also need repeat movements, large ranges of motion, rhythm, and breathing work. Let's take the above example. For the wall balls, box jump overs, and box step overs the movements are repeated, they cover large ranges of motion, have rhythm, and teach you where to/how to breath. Sounds like today was a good conditioning session for me! Now imagine if you took that time cap to 15 min, 18 min, 20 min, or 24 min if you chose. In this way more people would make it all the way through one time, and you can extend the work done. Also sounds like you can prove how well you got the team in shape.
One coach that I have heard does work like this early in the offseason is Cal Dietz. At Towson I worked with Aaron Droege who was a Cal Dietz intern. Aaron was hook line and sinker Cal and would do Cal's contralateral circuit with his teams when these teams where in the early offseason. What Aaron would do is having athletes doing repeat movements covering large ranges of motion in a rhythmic fashion that taught athletes how to breath when tired. Click here to learn about the contralateral circuit from Cal. William Wayland has also posted frequently about using this method with his athletes and personal training clients.
How This Relates To Article 1 on Strength
I am glad you asked. As indicated at the end of the first article - coaches wanted more feedback on the ViPR PRO movements I introduced. In the spirit of keeping things simple strength coach - right now I will use the same movements from article 1, and then will give you one more follow up article giving you new movements.
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop - click here for video:
Base rotation - click here for video:
Forward lunge with diagonal reach - click here for video:
Forward/backward pivot - click for video:
Now lets remember what good conditioning looks like and what it has: repeat movements, large ranges of motion, rhythm, and breathing work. All four of these movements check all of the boxes. Ok, now how can it be applied in conditioning work? Thanks again for asking - you can choose to implement it how you want. I will give you some examples. Lets look at the 26.1 Open Workout I did today and how you can apply it with these movements.
Sub the box step overs and box jumps for the forward lunge with diagonal reach and you simply have wall ball shots paired with forward lunge with diagonal reaches. Simple.
Let's say you had limited ViPR PROs and wanted to use it, lets look at the example I gave you earlier - goblet squats, sit ups, walking lunges, and jump rope. You can replace the sit ups with base rotation and now your session would look like:
Goblet squat (pick a weight)
Base rotation (pick a weight based on the ViPR PROs you have)
Walking lunges (pick a weight or BW)
Jump rope
Simple. You can choose to do this for reps or for time. I find that you can go for either - it will be easier for you to coach if it is all based on time. Again following Supertraining and Yosef's suggestion on things work long to short. This would mean working for 30-40 seconds on with 20-30 seconds rest. Yes technically it is a negative work to rest ratio - but remember you are going long to short - you are not asking the athletes to go full effort, just repeat movements with large ranges of motion done rhythmically teaching breathing work. This would be in the 65-75% effort range.
Sample Circuits
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x5ea
Base rotation x10ea
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x5ea
Forward/backward pivot x5ea
Rest 1-2minute (or let other athlete(s) work - then repeat for 2-3 more rounds)
Goblet Squat x10
Base rotation x10ea
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x5ea
Push Up x10
Rest 1-2minute (or let other athlete(s) work - then repeat for 2-3 more rounds)
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x5ea
Sit up x10
Burpee x10
Forward/backward pivot x5ea
Rest 1-2minute (or let other athlete(s) work - then repeat for 2-3 more rounds)
Sample Intervals
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x30seconds
Base rotation x30seconds
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x30seconds
Forward/backward pivot x30seconds
Rest 2minute (or let other athlete(s) work - then repeat for 2-3 more rounds)
Goblet Squat x 30seconds
Base rotation x 30seconds
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x 30seconds
Push Up x 30seconds
Rest 1-2minute (or let other athlete(s) work - then repeat for 2-3 more rounds)
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x 30seconds
Sit up x 30seconds
Burpee x 30seconds
Forward/backward pivot x 30seconds
Rest 1-2minute (or let other athlete(s) work - then repeat for 2-3 more rounds)
Sample Finisher
1 time through, how many reps can you get in the 30 seconds:
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x30seconds
Base rotation x30seconds
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x30seconds
Forward/backward pivot x30seconds
1 time through, how many reps can you get in the 30 seconds:
Goblet Squat x 30seconds
Base rotation x 30seconds
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x 30seconds
Push Up x 30seconds
1 time through, how many reps can you get in the 30 seconds:
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x 30seconds
Sit up x 30seconds
Burpee x 30seconds
Forward/backward pivot x 30seconds
1 time through, how fast can you do it
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x10ea
Base rotation x20ea
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x10ea
Forward/backward pivot x10ea
1 time through, how fast can you do it
Goblet Squat x20
Base rotation x20ea
Forward lunge with diagonal reach x10ea
Push Up x20
1 time through, how fast can you do it
Lateral Lunge pick up and drop x10ea
Sit up x20
Burpee x20
Forward/backward pivot x10ea
As promised this next article will give you more education on how to use this ViPR PRO in the weight room.
