In-Season Training Wins Championships!
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In-season training to me is what sets apart the championship teams from everyone else. Coaches and athletes both talk about the importance of off-season training, heck, there are hundreds of Nike and Under Armour shirts marketing it. Where are the In-Season Training shirts? Why spend all that time training in the off-season just to throw it away when the season starts.
As a strength coach, this was always my biggest battle. I remember many times chatting about this with fellow college and high school strength coaches at seminars. You want to get a strength coach fired up? Ask them about in-season training. Everyone from the athlete to the coach to the parent are “all in” for off-season workouts but as soon as you start talking in-season workouts their excitement drops.
This is understandable. If you are looking at high school athletes, during the season they usually have 8 hours of class time plus practice and games all over the area. For college athletes, the schedule is very similar. The thought of in-season training or another hour of “work” in the day can overwhelm many (athletes, coaches and parents.)
In-season training doesn’t have to be a stressor. It should be the opposite. An opportunity to take care of your body during the grueling season and to improve the strength, mobility and power that you developed in the long off-season workouts.
Our Typical In-Season Program:
Typically, we strive to be in and out of the weight room in less than 30 minutes. That includes the warm-up and cool-down. We always let our athletes stay longer if they feel they need to put in more work with the foam roller or lacrosse balls, but half an hour is our team goal.
While most in-season programs you see or hear about will talk about maintaining strength and power, we look at improving or building on those instead. At the bare minimum we want to maintain, but increasing overall strength, improving your mobility and flexibility and getting better at complex exercises like the hang or power cleans are our in-season goals.
The design of our program is based on the below:
2 Days a Week:
1 day of heavy strength training + mobility work.
1 day of light/bodyweight training + mobility work.
Increase your strength.
You built this strength during the off-season and started off your first practice strong and with confidence, now let’s keep it going!
Improve your mobility/flexibility.
The rigors of practice and games can take a toll on your body. Muscles tighten and mobility suffers. We don’t want this to happen. Continuing mobility work and stretches will keep this at bay and even improve as the season progresses.
Decrease recovery time.
Recovery time is extremely important. If you have a powerful bout during a game but can’t recover to repeat then you are limited as a player and team. Continuing to work on breath work and giving your body the recovery it needs in the weight room (ie. foam roll, lax ball work, massage and stretching) will help decrease your overall recovery time.
Learn complex movements.
This is a great time to learn new complex movements or to progress to the next level. During the season your load is light and workouts are short so adding in some complex movements can be a great add-on.
Action Plan:
Why be the strongest, fastest and best athletes on the field or court in your first game of the season, only to be the weakest and slowest in your last game? Make in-season training a priority! The gains you can make in such a short time period will help your team surpass those who do not make it a priority. Be the strongest in the playoffs, not just the first game of the year!
Check out our post on “The best in-season exercise” and check out the link to our in-season training programs.