Do you give much consideration to energy system specificity in your gym-based sessions? I was having a chat with Keith Roberts about this and one of his favourite sessions he called a mixed strength session, where he would try and simulate the energetics of the game. In this case it was sevens rugby. This sport typically has seven-minute halves, speed is king, the game is very anaerobic, and the importance of aerobic metabolism will increase as a function of game time.
The focus of the mixed strength session was to simulate the energetics with burst blocks of 10-20 seconds lifting, interspersed with high intensity anaerobic lifting – mixing or moving across muscle groups – front side-back side, upper and lower body, agonist-antagonist, etc. Lots of different force-velocity profiles, and athletes lifting in fatigue in the final minutes of the seven-minute set, similar to the fatigue encountered in the game. These sessions had a mental overload to them along with a metabolic overload.
Do you do something similar? If so what and when? Does it have another name?
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