When each new season rolls around, student-athletes find themselves with packed schedules. Whether they’re tackling homework for their AP classes or tackling offensive linemen on the football field, their lives in-season can get hectic. This makes it especially difficult to dedicate time to strength training and conditioning outside of practice. However, maintaining an in-season training routine is beneficial for athletes for multiple reasons, including:
- Decreasing the risk of injury
- Perform at a higher level in-season
- Maintain progress made in the off-season
Decreasing the Risk of Injury
One of the most important reasons that athletes should continue to train in-season is to decrease the likelihood of injury. Strengthening your muscles provides extra support to joints that are the most susceptible to injury, like knees and ankles. Strength training also helps prevent muscle and tendon tears, which can be season-ending. In fact, research shows that strength training can reduce the risk of sports-related injuries by a third, and overuse injuries by a half! If you stop training for long enough, your strength may begin to decrease, and your joints are more susceptible to injury.
Mobility training is also important in season. Minor, nagging injuries that may occur during the season can be avoided or subside relatively quickly with consistent mobility work throughout the season. So, if you want to play a full, healthy season this year, make sure to get in and do some weight mobility training at least once a week.
Perform at a Higher Level In-Season
Another benefit in-season training has for athletes is a higher level of performance during the time it matters most — the end of your regular season. By maintaining your speed, strength, and explosiveness through a training regimen, you’ll be able to perform at a higher level all season, consistently improving as you continue the program. If you stop training at the beginning of the season, your athleticism will decline as your games become more important. Then, when playoffs come around, you’ll be weaker and slower than you were at the beginning of the season. So, if you’re wanting to win the championship game this year, make sure to start an in-season training program as soon as you can!
Maintain Progress Made In the Off-Season
During the off-season, athletes condition and train more intensely to improve their speed and strength for the next season. However, no matter how much you improve physically, you can lose a lot of the progress you make if you don’t continue to train in-season. In fact, it only takes about 2 weeks of not training to lose speed, and about 4 weeks to lose strength! With seasons that last anywhere from 3 – 5 months, it’s easy to derail the progress you made if you don’t train outside of practice. In order to keep the “gains” you made during off-season, it’s essential that you do some form of training that will help you maintain and improve your athleticism.
Inspiring Athletes and Building Confidence
At C4 Performance, our goal is to help children and teens build confidence on and off the field and achieve their personal fitness goals.Contact us today and help your athlete create a lifelong passion for health and fitness!