Hi Grace! Thank you for the comment and for reading through the article. How do you assess MAS with your groups? Can you share a protocol? Thank you so much!
Good article and I’ve shifted to using more MAS methods with women’s lacrosse the last year. We decided to use a test we call 16 Lengths which is simply a continuous run of 16 lengths of the field from goal line to goal line. I found these MAS numbers with an adjustment to COD to be more accurate prescription than the YoYo1 calculation
Hey Eric! Appreciate you reading the article. I’d be interested in looking into that, I agree the yo-yo has some limitations. Do you have any resources for the 16-lengths and how to calculate mas from it? Thanks in advance! Really love what you are doing at GW
I got the idea from Rich Lalor with England Women’s Lax. From their time on the run I subtract 15 seconds to account for each COD time loss and calculate the MAS from that. Anecdotally it seems to hit the mark. Moved to the 16 lengths as it’s essentially a time trial but we don’t have a track. Most scores are between 6 and 7 minutes with the best below 6 and trying to get most under 6:30
Alex, how would you suggest implementing speed reserve if we cannot measure Maximal Sprint Speed?
Follow up question, how would apply the reserve concept. I’ve really struggled to understand this since I was exposed to it a few months ago. If an athlete has a small reserve, they need to train at a lower MAS% for tempo/repeat sprint work/and HIIT?
I’ve implemented MAS for about a year now in the collegiate setting, but mainly in the repeated sprint area to good effect. Seems silly of me not to have further considered the wider applications that you’ve outlined in this article.
Hey Finn! Thanks for the questions. Firstly, though I love to be as objective as possible, without the ability to direct measure maximal speed I would shift to looking at an average speed over 10 yds or 10m. I would suggest a 20m build with a 10m fly. Use lasers if possible, but if you are really in a pinch a stopwatch will do.
Great second question. Though this is not the way to train these athletes, it makes it easy to think of it like training sprinters Vs Cross Country athletes. Sprinters are likely to have a high speed reserve a they are very fast but likely lack aerobic qualities. On the other hand, cross country athletes likely have a small reserve as they have great aerobic ability but lack that 5th gear. If I was to tackle the athletes weaknesses I’d be trying to push the needle towards closing that gap for sprinters via improving their foundation (aerobic) while maintaining their ceiling (speed) and vice versa for the XC athlete. Again, not how I would train those specific sports but I think they make for a good example. Hope this answers your questions! Happy to go more in depth if you have some follow-ups. Thanks!
Free MAS calculator please
Great article, we’ve switched to the MAS over YoYo with our academy teams. More effective and efficient test with youths
Hi Grace! Thank you for the comment and for reading through the article. How do you assess MAS with your groups? Can you share a protocol? Thank you so much!
Free MAS calculator please
Good article and I’ve shifted to using more MAS methods with women’s lacrosse the last year. We decided to use a test we call 16 Lengths which is simply a continuous run of 16 lengths of the field from goal line to goal line. I found these MAS numbers with an adjustment to COD to be more accurate prescription than the YoYo1 calculation
Hey Eric! Appreciate you reading the article. I’d be interested in looking into that, I agree the yo-yo has some limitations. Do you have any resources for the 16-lengths and how to calculate mas from it? Thanks in advance! Really love what you are doing at GW
I got the idea from Rich Lalor with England Women’s Lax. From their time on the run I subtract 15 seconds to account for each COD time loss and calculate the MAS from that. Anecdotally it seems to hit the mark. Moved to the 16 lengths as it’s essentially a time trial but we don’t have a track. Most scores are between 6 and 7 minutes with the best below 6 and trying to get most under 6:30
Love it! Thanks for sharing Eric.
Alex, how would you suggest implementing speed reserve if we cannot measure Maximal Sprint Speed?
Follow up question, how would apply the reserve concept. I’ve really struggled to understand this since I was exposed to it a few months ago. If an athlete has a small reserve, they need to train at a lower MAS% for tempo/repeat sprint work/and HIIT?
I’ve implemented MAS for about a year now in the collegiate setting, but mainly in the repeated sprint area to good effect. Seems silly of me not to have further considered the wider applications that you’ve outlined in this article.
Hey Finn! Thanks for the questions. Firstly, though I love to be as objective as possible, without the ability to direct measure maximal speed I would shift to looking at an average speed over 10 yds or 10m. I would suggest a 20m build with a 10m fly. Use lasers if possible, but if you are really in a pinch a stopwatch will do.
Great second question. Though this is not the way to train these athletes, it makes it easy to think of it like training sprinters Vs Cross Country athletes. Sprinters are likely to have a high speed reserve a they are very fast but likely lack aerobic qualities. On the other hand, cross country athletes likely have a small reserve as they have great aerobic ability but lack that 5th gear. If I was to tackle the athletes weaknesses I’d be trying to push the needle towards closing that gap for sprinters via improving their foundation (aerobic) while maintaining their ceiling (speed) and vice versa for the XC athlete. Again, not how I would train those specific sports but I think they make for a good example. Hope this answers your questions! Happy to go more in depth if you have some follow-ups. Thanks!