A Beginners Guide to In Season Training

As a coach, education is nearly everything. Not every one understands the biomechanics and human physiology of sport/training. And that’s OK… That’s why they hire professionals, like myself, who are educated and experienced in the field to help deliver the results they are after (whether it be sports performance or health/fitness goals). Self-awareness is a powerful thing. I fully admit that I know a lot about a little. If it’s not involving the field of human performance, health/fitness, and physical rehabilitation I’m about as useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

This article is meant to provide a clear-cut and easy to digest understanding of why in season training is not only extremely beneficial but absolutely necessary. Educating people on in season training has proven to be one of the more difficult topics for me to advocate for. There is a negative dogma associated with in season training. I’m not for sure but after having conversations with numerous athletes and parents it seems like the origin of this negative connotation associated with in season training is an “old school” and outdated type thinking. My best guess is that people associate training with soreness/fatigue and then give the reason “I don’t want to be sore or get hurt” for why they aren’t training in season. Below I am going to break down why in season training will actually keep you healthy and mitigate soreness while getting you stronger/faster all at the same time. I’m also going to discuss the importance of the saying “success leaves clues” in regard to in season training.

Let’s begin.

On average a high school sports season (fall, winter, or spring) lasts about 3 months (factoring in scrimmages and post season). Let’s call it 12 weeks. That’s 12 weeks of sport specific demands/stressors to the body. These stressors that are placed on the body when playing sports are detrimental to the overall integrity and health of the body. Think about all of the jumping/landing, cutting, falls, etc. that occur in sports like basketball and volleyball. The constant impact (contact and non-contact) are not ideal for the musculoskeletal structures of the body. And do I even need to mention the stressors of football? Or the high velocity, unilateral, rotational movements associated with baseball/softball? It doesn’t take an educational degree to understand that these stressors caused by the movements in each sport can place a serious toll on the body. Let’s call these “negative stressors”. If there are negative stressors then there must be “positive stressors” right? Right. A well designed strength training program is the epitome of a positive stressor. An in season strength and conditioning program will address mobility deficits (specifically ones that are accrued from the demands of the sport ie. loss of internal rotation at the shoulder in overhead athletes), properly dosed strength training movement patterns that are programmed to eliminate muscular damage (eccentrics), and leave the athlete(s) feeling refreshed and able to bounce back quicker in between games. An easy way to visualize the balance of negative and positive stressors is by using a scale. If you place too many negative stressors on one side of the scale it will significantly tip it that direction. Too much time spent with the scale tipped toward the “negative stressor” side may result in a number of things such as: injury, fatigue, overuse, feeling burned out, decreased performance, depression. To avoid these negative consequences you must tip the scale back to the “positive stressor” side. The best way to do this is an intelligently designed strength and conditioning program. (Side note: another “positive stressor” that is often neglected is proper hydration, nutrition, and sleep! These are just as important too!). Adding in an in season training program does the exact opposite of the traditional dogma of “I don’t want to be sore and get hurt”. A good in season training program will help you stay healthy, improve your strength, speed, and performance.

Now if you have been reading closely you may have noticed I don’t just refer to in season training programs without placing words like “well and intelligently designed” in front of it. It takes a skilled professional to know exactly what and how to program for athletes while in season. A poorly designed program can have a reverse effect on the athlete and result in adding “negative stressors” to the individual.

Now, let’s revisit the length of a typical sport season. We already established that it is roughly 12 weeks or 3 months. Just for example, say athlete A plays soccer and just participated in a 3 month off season training program prior to the start of the season. Athlete A decides to take time off from training until her season is over (sadly this happens far too often). The first few weeks athlete A doesn’t notice much of a difference. As the season progresses however athlete A begins to notice he/she may feel a little slower, not as quick to react off the ball, and may even feel weaker. Not only will they feel weaker but he/she may notice some muscle loss. Unfortunately, it’s a matter of when not if these detrimental side effects will occur. And the reason they do occur is simple human physiology. There are countless studies that outline what happens to the body and performance when an athlete becomes detrained. Most studies agree that muscle loss and performance gains SIGNIFICANTLY decrease in only 3 weeks! And we’re talking about a 12 week long season! In essence, not training for 12 weeks will almost wipe out the 3 months of training the athlete put in prior to the start of the season which places us back to square one when the athlete returns after the season. On the flip side, as quick as it is to lose muscular strength and experience decreased performance from detraining it doesn’t take that much to maintain it. Most experts agree that 2 solid sessions a week of a well designed program is enough to maintain, and even enhance, your strength gains.

I often use the phrase “success leaves clues” because it’s super valuable when advocating for certain ideas and principles. If you plan to learn a new skill you would most likely seek out the advice and guidance from someone who has demonstrated to be successful in whatever the skill may be. Or if you were to start a new business you would most likely look to see what other successful business owners have done before you so you can attempt to repeat what brought them success. The same concept can be applied to our topic of in season training. Let’s start at the professional level and work our way down. Do you think when football season comes around Tom Brady says “I’m gonna take the next 4-5 months off from training so I can make sure I’m not sore or doing too much”? That’s a rhetorical question…(and if you still need me to give you the answer the answer is HELL NO). Tom Brady repeatedly cites his in season training and nutrition habits are what allows him to remain healthy and able to play into his 40’s. Professional athletes across all sports are in the gym training year round because they understand the value of it. Now let’s look at the collegiate level. You can’t find me a D1 athletic program that gives their athletes the season off from training. Schools invest a lot of money to these programs and they make sure to hire staff that is going to do the best job at keeping their athletes healthy and strong. Lastly, let’s take a look at the high school level. This is where we see things start to go south. Bigger schools in the state of Ohio with highly competitive athletic programs are essentially a mini college. They hire strength coaches to run a full strength and conditioning program that encompasses in season and off season training. These schools understand the importance of having a specific strength staff that is separate from the coaching staff and the importance of training. There is a reason that schools like these year after year churn out winning programs. As you get further down the line in terms of school size you tend to see the organization of strength and conditioning programs decline. While there are many exceptions (London High School’s football program…the poster child for what a well ran S&C program can do for your team) the majority of smaller schools tend to put minimal focus on in season training. Often the reasoning for this is lack of resources/staff, but in reality you don’t need fancy equipment and full strength staff when 1-2 qualified coaches and a group of hard working athletes can make great progress with the bare bones of equipment. Ultimately, I believe the reason we don’t see more athletic programs and athletes incorporating more in season training is a lack of understanding the implementation and benefits. That’s why I’m writing this article: to inform and help ignite the spark in athletes and coaches to begin more in season training to maximize the athletes’ performance on the field. Because at the end of the day it only matters what your performance is on the field, and to ensure each athlete is reaching their full performance potential you must be training all year round…off season and in season.