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For many athletes, winter marks the start of the off-season. Athletes have time to rest, recharge and strengthen their skills without officially going to practice.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all blueprint for the off-season. Some take a complete break from sports, while others keep their fitness at a baseline with gym training. Regardless of whether you play at the amateur or professional level, here’s why you should continue training during the off-season.
What Happens When You Don’t Train
Training from the pre-season through the post-season is an intense process that works certain muscle groups. Stopping completely for the off-season can cause your body to go back to its pre-training state, and changes occur rapidly at both aerobic and anerobic levels.
This lack of training means you don’t address any weaknesses that may have emerged throughout the season. Although you’re not regularly attending practice, the off-season is an opportunity to focus on weak areas and strengthen them before the new season begins.
Goals For the Off-Season
On the other hand, training through the off-season can have varying effects. While trips to the gym can’t hurt, it’s a less-focused approach with no clear end goal. In preparing for the pre-season, your focus should be on strengthening the body to handle more intense routines, keeping up a base level of conditioning and improving muscle imbalances to reduce any potential injuries.
No matter your sport, off-season training plans need to cover:
- Keeping up and improving general strength, coordination and movement patterns
- Strategies for injury prevention
- Strengthening aerobic and anerobic energy
Reduce Burnout
Athlete burnout can occur from the peewee level through professional leagues. Year-round training may cause an athlete to get physically tired or mentally lose interest. As such, effective use of the off-season involves trying other activities that use different muscle groups and are less intense, yet still keep the athlete physically active.
During these periods of active rest, an athlete should:
- Keep moving to build muscle and improve mobility.
- Find an off-season activity that engages different groups of muscles and motions.
- Step away from his or her primary sport without halting physical activity.
In practice, this might be focusing on cardio-related routines if the athlete’s primary sport involves weightlifting and heavy strength training.
Improving Mobility to Reduce Injury
Training through the post-season often leads to muscle imbalances, with certain groups not getting enough attention. As such, an athlete’s strength and mobility excel in some muscle groups and are greatly reduced in others. In turn, this occurrence opens up the pathway to injuries during the pre-season if the imbalance is not addressed during the off-season.
As the first step, make a plan to split your off-season training into different phases, including muscle hypertrophy, endurance, strength and power, with the goal of evening out muscle imbalances to improve overall strength. Throughout all phases, focus on specific muscle sets and replenishing oxygen through your anerobic and aerobic systems to improve your recovery once the pre-season begins.
Throughout your off-season workouts, make sure you:
- Keep everything at a lower intensity and volume.
- Focus on specific movements and muscle groups, rotating between sets throughout the week.
- Give your off-season training structure. Start light but build intensity toward the end of the off-season. At this point, you should be gradually returning to sport-specific warmups to prepare for the preseason.
- Don’t jump back into your pre-season routine right away. Aim for the same intensity but with shorter durations and fewer reps initially.
Unsure about where to begin with your off-season training? Turn to the certified athletic trainers at Integrated Rehab to build a season-long plan that keeps you in peak shape.