The LSU track and field teams are gearing up for another banner year this spring and are in the midst of a strenuous fall training regimen designed to help them compete against the nation’s best. The Tigers and Lady Tigers form the premier combined program in all of collegiate track and field with an impressive 31 NCAA championships and 46 Southeastern Conference championships all-time.
Third in a nine-part series updating LSU’s progress during the fall training season will focus on the jumps group.
BATON ROUGE ? While training with the motto “Nobody Outworks the Jumpers,” there is no question that assistant coach Todd Lane and his jumps crew is hard at work to prepare for another big season in the spring as the LSU track and field program is sure to join the national championship race once again.
As with each event group, the LSU jumpers have dedicated themselves to overall fitness through the first seven weeks of the fall training period which started Sept. 8.
“The fall training season always provides the foundation for everything we do during the spring season,” Lane said. “It gives our athletes the opportunity to build the strength and endurance they need to achieve at the highest level in competition. I’m pleased with what I’ve seen from the group to this point.”
Lane leads his athletes through Olympic lifting and squats in the track weight room three days each week. The group also spends two days each week working on circuit training, while also adding general strength training using an athlete’s own body weight to its weekly workout regimen.
A week would not be complete without the jumpers taking part in the world famous scramble workout, in which each athlete takes part in a series of intense exercises designed to stimulate all body functions. For example, an athlete might be asked to do one set of pushups lasting 30 seconds leading into a forward roll and jump into a full sprint for 10 meters.
After guiding the jumpers through intense levee runs along the Mississippi River in the first four weeks of fall training, Lane now has his athletes build leg strength and endurance by pulling sleds and running stadium stairs in Tiger Stadium and the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
In addition, the LSU jumpers have incorporated multi-jump routines into their training regimen to prepare them for the start of event-specific jumping in two weeks.