Ross Ebbott asks: ""John as a Registered Nurse I am curious about icing and how it works as a recovery aid. We see more and more pictures of players straight after a game hopping into an ice bath before the showers. How does this help and why?""

JOHN SAYS: I often get asked about the hydrotherapy methods that we use. I would say to you from the outset that there is nothing revolutionary about what we do – I suspect every AFL club would be doing similar. It is certainly prevalent in sports such as track and field and any sport institute around the world would have some form of provision for this type of recovery method.

Perhaps the most definitive expert in Australia on recovery is Angie Calder at the AIS. My rationale is based on Angie’s work and research over the years.

After a game there is increased blood to the exercising muscles along with an increased fluid build up that is drawn to the muscles. This is what causes the exercising muscles to swell. The reason that muscles attract more fluid is due to increased muscle temperature. This increased muscle temperature raises the temperature of the lining of the wall of the muscles cell and the muscle compartments which in turn speeds up the metabolic activity in the cell wall and this alters its permeability. This permeability means that fluids can seep into the muscle more readily and this increases swelling and pressure within the cell or compartment.

By immersing in cold water (around 13 degrees) recovery is assisted as there is less constriction on the blood vessels.

Sometimes we also use a contrast method which incorporates alternating hot and cold water immersions. This sets up a situation of vaso constriction and vaso dilation which may assist in speeding up the elimination of waste products from the system.

Peter Veerhuis asks: ""I have been following your program over the past 6 weeks (with some modifications to avoid injury) and I am enjoying the improving fitness level I have gained.

My team resume training in two weeks and will be training twice per week. I am responsible for the fitness side and last year we focused on intervals between 20m and 60m to build speed and speed endurance.

I suspect we neglected more of the longer, slower running last year, all though many of the drills were aimed at lenghty runs down the field with little rest at groups.

With only two sessions per week and a need for much skill work, what would be your recommended running sessions to build the fitness of the players leading up to the first game?

JOHN SAYS: I am pleased that you are enjoying the program. With only two sessions per week it is important that you maximise every opportunity.

I would suggest to you to be very clear on what you understand as speed endurance. Consider that you cannot have speed enduring if you do not have speed in the first place… In other words, develop speed to a high level – which must be done when not fatigued – and then worry about speed endurance.

I have no concerns with the distance of the running sessions that you are prescribing. It is more to do with when and how. Start the sessions with a warm up and then virtually as part of the warm up include speed drills and acceleration type running at maximum speed. The main part of your session would be (should be?) skills followed by a speed endurance set. You could also look at football specific speed and speed endurance by developing specific drills that require speed/speed endurance and decision making such that you would find in a game of football.

Good luck for the year and all the best in your own training.

Mark Mamo asks: ""I was wondering want you meant by ""anaerobic threshold""? I was once told that exercise such as weight training and sprinting shouldn't last longer than 40 minutes, otherwise this would be detrimental to strength and muscle-building capacity. I'm I close with this one?

Also, how long should I rest between weights and sprint/run sessions? At the moment, I train (mornings) with weights on Mon (back,biceps,abs), Wed (legs), Fri (chest, shoulders, triceps); 30-minute run on Tuesdays and a sprint session on Saturdays. Each session takes me 30-40minutes, but I want to ensure that there is the right amount of recovery between each.

JOHN SAYS: Anaerobic threshold is the term given to the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). When you are training in a steady state, there is sufficient oxygen being supplied to and used by the muscles. As the level of exercise increases however, lactate within the blood begins to accumulate. Once this level goes above the base line, it is termed OBLA. This is quite relevant for football as repeated efforts in a game bring about greater accumulations of lactate in the system. Therefore, the higher ones anaerobic threshold the better their ability to do repeat efforts at a higher intensity in a game.

The duration of the exercise is not really that relevant rather the level of intensity of the work being done. You can for example do lower intensity work for a longer period of time than high intensity work. Depending on the type of work, an athlete could reach their OBLA within 40 seconds (400m sprint) or over say 2 hours (game of football).

It has been shown that you release maximum growth hormone following a 60 minutes session. This release takes place during sleep. This would suggest that to do a weights session or other power event such as sprinting for greater than 60 minutes is futile if you are looking for strength and power gains. This is perhaps where you are confusing the concept of training time and anaerobic threshold.

As a general rule I rest my players/athletes a minimum of 4 hours between sessions. If they are two like sessions (e.g. weights to similar body areas) I would give them 72 hours recovery.