Your Guide to In-Season Training with Coach Jack
As we welcome the return of competition for many winter sports, it can become difficult to find time to dedicate to strength training. However, it is important to continue the momentum which was built in pre-season. Games are much more chaotic and unpredictable than pre-season. Which is why it’s so important to maintain load throughout the season to stay prepared for this! By continuing strength training, you can keep building on strength and power characteristics that will assist your performance. At the least, the goal should be to maintain strength levels throughout the season. Maintaining strength training can also help reduce injury risk and keep you ready for game day.
Why Continue Training In-Season?
While it may be tempting to ditch the gym and rely on your sports training now that games are back, there are a lot of downsides to this! It’s true when they say that an athlete’s best ability is availability. By continuing your strength training into the season, you can significantly reduce your risk of injury. This is because strength has a protective effect from injury. By stopping strength training altogether, you are putting yourself at greater risk of injury and missing the games that you have spent all this time preparing for.
Take the time to consider how much time and energy you invested into your pre-season. Were you working on your strength, speed, agility, or power? Now ask yourself why you’d want to let the improvements you’ve made slip away during the season. Even training your major movements once a week is going to go some way to maintaining your strength and power. If you’re able to train on a regular basis, there’s no reason you can’t improve your strength or power during the season. Most importantly, this is going to help you perform during a game!
Adapting Your Training During Competition
Nobody is expecting your training to stay the same as it was during pre-season. With the time taken up by competition and soreness from playing, this is a pretty difficult task. The focus should be getting bang for your buck and maximising value from your training. Obviously the most important thing is game day, so managing fatigue and soreness is critical.
One way to minimise soreness and fatigue from training is to reduce the volume while keeping the intensity high. This means lifting heavy weights or lifting explosively while reducing repetitions and sets. Focusing on lower rep ranges (1-8 reps) and lower sets (2-4) should provide you with a stimulus that will maintain your strength without excessive fatigue.
Another method may be to reduce the range of motion performed for an exercise. In particular, the eccentric or lowering portion of a lift (think of the down phase of a squat) is what causes soreness. For example, instead of squatting to 90 degrees, you could reduce this to 60-70 degrees and reduce some of the muscle damage and soreness that will arise. If you train trap bar deadlifts, you can lift these from an elevated start rather than going the whole way down.
Recovery
Apart from making changes to your training, taking your recovery more seriously is another way to make in-season training work for you. The two most important factors in your recovery are sleep and nutrition. You should aim for 8+ hours of quality sleep the night of competition and to consume a meal with carbohydrates, protein, and fluids 1 hour post competition. If you’re looking for a little extra in your recovery, the contrast therapy baths at PEAQ are a great recovery tool. You might even find a light recovery run or massage helpful.
Don’t be afraid to listen your body either. There are going to be some days where you’re sore and fatigued and need to rest. This is okay, as long as it’s an occasional thing. When you’re feeling fresh, take the opportunity to push a little harder.
Example In-Season Training Week
What this looks like is going to depend on the athlete, their schedule, sport, soreness, etc. but this is an example of what a week may look like for a footballer.
SESSION ONE
A1) Back Squat 3 x 4
A2) DB Bench Press 3 x 6
B1) RDL 3 x 4
B2) Chin Ups 3 x 6
C1) Pallof Press 3 x 10 each side
C2) Hamstring Curl 3 x 8 each side
SESSION TWO
A1) BB Bench Press 3 x 4
A2) Bench Pull 3 x 4
B1) Chin Ups 3 x 6
B2) Push Press 3 x 6
C1) Renegade Row 3 x 8 each side
C2) Cable Woodchop 3 x 8 each side
SESSION THREE
A1) Back Squat 3 x 6
A2) Lateral Lunge 3 x 8 each side
B1) Hip Thrust 3 x 6
B2) Nordic Curls 3 x 4
C1) Cable Abduction 3 x 10 each side
C2) Copenhagen Plank 3 x 30s each side
Key Takeaways
Strength protects against injury, so it’s important to maintain strength levels during competition.
Invest in your recovery to get the most out of your training and games.
Listen to your body because you know it best. Understand when you need to dial it back and when you can train a little harder.
Don’t become too fixated on numbers in the gym, the important thing is how you’re feeling and performing in game.
If you’re unsure how to manage training in-season, hire a coach! This will save you time and make sure your program is effective.
If you are looking to work on your in-season training, reach out to Coach Jack today. Jack is a ASCA Level 1 Strength & Conditioning Coach and holds a Bachelor of Exercise & Sport Science. Get in touch here.