It doesn’t make sense to put in all that hard work in the offseason… make great progress… and then stop and get weaker and slower when you need your strength and speed the most. If you are training for a sport, the whole point is to get better, faster, and stronger for the season. Just because your season starts doesn’t mean training stops being effective.

Here are  3 tips for training in-season to not only maintain your progress but keep progressing in the weight room and on the field.

Focus on Big Movement Patterns

Working on bigger, compound movements is going to involve the most muscles in each rep, getting the most benefit for your time in the weight room. If the goal is athletic development, doing a program that isolates a specific muscle group on different days is less  beneficial for  performance and more time consuming.

The 5 big movement patterns we focus on are:
Squat
Hinge
Push
Pull
Core

In both our Baseline Performance  and our Advance Performance program we make sure we are touching on each of these movement patterns. This gives the athlete an effective and  well balanced training session.

Move Heavy Things

Many athletes have a fear of lifting heavy in-season. Light weight and high reps is NOT how an athlete stays strong and healthy through a long and hard season. 

What IS the answer? High intensity (heavier load) at a low volume (fewer sets and reps). We have all heard “if you don’t use it, you lose it” and that is how it works for training in-season as well. You won’t be putting in max effort every time you train to keep getting stronger. But if we hit heavy loads consistently with quality technique, you will get stronger.

An example of how we could program for this would be to do 3-5 sets of 2-5 reps at 75-85% of your one rep max.

Consistency is Key

Generally, 2 to 3 total-body training sessions a week is recommended for in-season athletes. Within each session we will hit a big movement pattern, do some high intensity sprints and/or jumps, and finish with some accessory work.

With good programming and execution, you will stay strong and be able to continue to improve throughout the season.

Consistency is the most important thing to ensure that you improve. Consistently showing up. Consistently giving your best effort. You have to do the work if you want to keep progressing. 

If you are looking for a program that takes into account all of the different aspects of sport, training and recovery. Head over to our Youth Fitness page to find out more about our Youth Athletic Performance Programs.