Spent the last hour answering a coach from Texas: Hey Coach, I know you talk about cramping being a neurological issue when it comes to game time in football. I know you need to match the intensity of the games in practice. What about the volume? Are you trying to match the volume as well at those intensities? (such a great question) Answer ⤵️ Never match volumes in practice. LET THE GAME BE HARD. (Marathon runners don’t train by running marathons in practice!) Feed the Cats teams thrive in the 4th quarter because they enter the game mentally alert, fully-charged physically, and FAST. (And speed is the barometer of HEALTH.) Total volume of the practice week should add up to the game with no practice exceeding 1/3 of a game volume. No different than training for a fast 400 meters. It may sound intuitive to run repeat 300s, 400s, and 500s but it doesn’t work. 1) too slow (speed wins) 2) too miserable (destroys the the E’s: energy, enthusiasm, excitement) 3) physically ruins the next day and eventually detrains athleticism 4) injuries guaranteed Instead, let the 400 be hard. Sprinting 1000 miles a week would not make the 400 “easy”. Train at performance-level in small doses. Train on a foundation of freshness. Think about it this way, if you matched game volumes AND intensities in two 🏈 practices (Tuesday & Wednesday) during the week… that would be the same as playing 3 games in 4 days. (That’s old school 🥴) Never burn the steak.