The Importance of In-Season Training
With the spring sports season upon us, student-athletes are finding themselves with busy schedules throughout the week with school, homework, extracurricular activities, and of course, their spring sport. It can certainly be a challenge to find any extra time to dedicate to strength training!
uring the very busy off-season winter training season at Elite (our busiest winter training season yet!), we worked with a wide variety of athletes training in preparation for their upcoming spring season. Many athletes tend to fall into a pattern of training consistently during the off-season to create a solid foundational base of strength, power, and speed prior to the season. However, once the season starts, many athletes have additional responsibilities and obligations they must attend to, including school work, athletics, and part-time employment. One activity that often gets put on the back burner is their strength and conditioning program. As a result, after just a few weeks off from training, athletes begin to lose the strength and power base that they worked so hard to develop in the off-season.
During the off-season training program, the athlete’s body experiences physiological changes that benefit them greatly when they return to competition. These changes include improved neuromuscular function, improved oxygen levels throughout the body, and improved body composition. All of these key changes allow the athlete to perform their sport at the highest level. Continuing to train during the season, even at a reduced workload as compared to the offseason, helps the athlete maintain these gains as well as reduce the risk of injury during their practices and games.
During the athlete’s competition season, the focus of training shifts to strength and power maintenance. The training program changes slightly from the off-season program but still maintains high intensity and moderate volume to ensure the athlete is reaping all of the benefits of strength training in-season. Best of all, given how busy athletes are during the season, they can benefit from training as infrequently as 1 day per week if they have adequately prepared with an off-season training program. You may have heard that many professional athletes actually get their workouts in AFTER their games! Given how tight their schedules can be, especially between practices, travel and other obligations, this can often be the most convenient time to get in a strength training session during the busy season.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be quite that challenging for most middle-school and high-school athletes. Here at Elite, we offer very convenient and flexible scheduling every weekday afternoon/evening and Saturday mornings to make sure our athletes have plenty of opportunities to train that fit their busy schedules. So don’t give up on your training program just because you’re back in season! Hold on to those hard-earned gains you made during your off-season and reap the many benefits of in-season training!
Elite Sports Performance & Physical Therapy offers Sports Performance and Athlete Training programs at both our Foxboro and Stoughton locations. Our expert staff will design a personalized, sport-specific in-season training program to help you maintain peak performance and stay healthy during your season. Contact Elite today to sign up and elevate your performance on the field this spring! To learn more about our programs for athletes of all ages and sports, click HERE or email us at EliteSPC@EliteFitCenter.com!