Mike Staropoli
Physical therapist, founder of GOAL, passionate about ACL rehab and Manchester United.
In today’s world of year-round sports it is rare that we see athletes coming in with a true off-season. Soccer goes from a fall season to winter sessions to a spring season to summer showcases. Baseball goes from the spring season to summer ball to fall ball and preparing for the spring again. You get the idea. There is minimal down time for athletes today and therefore minimal time for an athlete to work on individual skills albeit technical, tactical, emotional or physical.
Here are 5 ways to optimize the opportunity that is the off-season and build long term athletic development.
1. Recover.
Unwind, down-regulate, recover. The competitive season can be challenging and taxing both physically and mentally. It is an essential part of any off-season to take some time to yourself, reflect on the success and challenges of the past season and come back refreshed to prepare for what is yet to come.
Additionally, this is a great time to hone in on sleep quality! Going from class to practice as well having homework or an additional job can certainly drain time and energy. The unfortunate truth is that many sacrifice sleep first when the reality is it should be the priority. Getting less than 8 hours of sleep, being in a sleep deficit, can increase risk of injury by 1.7x. That is an easy and FREE way to reduce your risk of injury.
That being said, rest after a season should be relatively short lived or at least less than many think. Mike Boyle, one of the world’s leading strength coaches, has said rest following a season should commonly be around 10 days to 2 weeks. This is essentially because the off-season should be viewed as an opportunity to improve. If we are not doing anything for 3+ weeks, we start to see decreases in movement quality, speed and strength.
2. Improve nutrition habits.
As we welcome new clients into the training facility during the off-season, one topic of conversation revolves around nutritional habits. This is primarily because it, along with sleep, is an area that is essential for staying healthy, improving athletic performance and recovery, whether from injury, previous season or past training session.
The biggest areas athletes can improve are
- Do not skip breakfast
- Eat 3 whole food meals every day
- 1-2 palms of protein
- 1-2 fists of vegetables
- 1-2 cups of carbohydrates
- 1-2 thumbs of healthy fats
- Stay hydrated, around 3L of water
A simple way to audit or evaluate your choices is to keep a food diary for 3 days. Use an app such as MyFitnessPal or FatSecret to enter what you eat on a daily basis. This will give you honest feedback and a great data point to learn where there is potential to improve.
3. Address Injuries ignored during the season.
Seasons can be long and the priority, often, at competitive levels is to win. Considering this, injuries have a tendency to be ignored. The off-season is the perfect time to address these issues.
One of the greatest predictors of future injury is a previous injury. When managing an injury, you may see alterations in force and power production, movement quality, proprioception and postural control. These are some key components to health and performance. The best place to start is with a comprehensive evaluation by a physical therapist. Improving these aspects will only create a more well-rounded and robust athlete who is prepared for the next season.
4. Build upon previous in-season and off-season gains.
Build upon previous in season and off-season gains. You read that correctly. Athletes should be in the gym in some capacity most of the year. It undoubtably does vary depending on off-season, pre-season or in-season. During the off-season, most athletes are lifting 3-4 days/week vs in-season which is usually 2x/week.
During the course of a season, it is common to see reductions in athlete range of motion and movement capacity. This is primarily because of the volume/intensity of postures and positions required of the player based on demands of their sport. The off-season becomes the perfect time to improve upon quality movement and motor control to remain healthy.
One of the more frustrating things to see is an athlete making tremendous progress in an off-season, say going from 200 to 300 lbs deadlift as well as improvements in 10 meter sprint speed and vertical jump only to neglect these qualities in-season and start from scratch again 3-4 months later. This creates a cycle of improvement and regression vs making improvements on the previous off-season.
Three important highlights of successful training time are
- Quality of movement
- Gray Cook is famous for saying “move well, move often.” Having quality movement means having the ability to actionably utilize full and normal range of motion. As training is progressed, whether in weight, multi-direction, speed etc, having the ability to get into these positions is critical. If we do not have quality movement, we are leaving performance on the table without the potential to tap into it.
- Speed
- Speed is always a priority and although can be complex, does not need to be overly complicated. Sprinting and improving speed absolutely a trainable quality. Some are quicker adapters and have more optimal physiology, undoubtably, otherwise nobody would know that Usain Bolt guy from Jamaica.
- The key to acknowledge when talking about improving maximal velocity is realizing that it is a maximal effort. Allowing appropriate rest and recovery, usually 1 min for every 10 yards, is necessary. Adding sprinting in prior to strength training is often how we micro-dose it into each session. This is ideal since you will be most fresh following your warm up to give the opportunity to hit maximal speed. Couple this with improving force production qualities and you make for greater speed and strength gains going into next season.
- Strength
- When going up against competition on the pitch, being stronger or a little bigger will likely give you the edge over them. Also, the physical aspect of sport in HOW we express force– changing direction, sprinting, tackling an opponent, etc, is important.
- Strength training will also help improve power and explosiveness. This doesn’t mean just lift weights for the sake of lifting. A program should be comprehensive and address qualities that are transferable to sport. Athlete explosiveness and rate of force development are keys here. This can be achieved in the gym utilizing appropriate loading in sets, reps and rest.
- Lastly, strength training reduces injury risk by 50 percent. A key to athletic success is availability. You have to be available to coach and be on the field to play.
Off-season training is important for everyone, especially the female athlete since a small percentage of girls are doing quality strength and conditioning. It can be the biggest difference maker between her and her opposition. A 3-4 month block of consistent and quality training can quickly bring them to the forefront of physical output. Secondly, it is no secret that girls have a higher risk of ACL tears. Time spent improving movement quality and control as well as neuromuscular and force producing characteristics can reduce the risk of injury significantly.
5. No days off.
Every single day is an opportunity to improve. What this means is when there is a recovery day, use it wisely. Double down on quality sleep, work on mobility drills that will prepare your body for more training, nail a quality breakfast.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Will Durant
The reason it is important to look at training as a greater commitment is because as we develop from youth sports to competitive high school sports, to collegiate and/or professional, our needs change. Training evolves over time and as the athlete is ready. Staying consistent throughout the year and building upon previous seasons will continue to unlock the potential to reach your goals. The key is to stay ruthlessly consistent and focused on what is important.
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References
- Fulton J, Wright K, Kelly M, et al. Injury risk is altered by previous injury: a systematic review of the literature and presentation of causative neuromuscular factors. Intl J Sports Phys Ther 2014;9:583–95.