Guide to In-Season Training
This morning I started writing in-season training programs for baseball players as their spring season begins to approach. It made me think about how many athletes and sport coaches seem to be confused about the importance of training during the season and what should change from an off-season program to an in-season program. I remember when I was in high school and in college we would bust our butts lifting in the gym and conditioning constantly during the fall and winter just to stop training when the season began. I noticed that I would start most seasons feeling great, being at an optimal body weight, feeling strong and playing really well, but by mid March I usually lost around 10lbs and was feeling extremely fatigued the majority of each week. This seems to be common for a lot of athletes, and in my opinion it can be avoided with a proper in-season weight training program.
I get it, demands for a student athlete are high. Between classes, homework, practice, travel, games, and trying to get at least eight hours of sleep it can be hard to find the time in the day to train. This is where learning the skill of time management becomes important for athletes. If you struggle with managing your time then spend an hour every sunday to plan out your schedule for the week. If you have aspirations of playing at a collegiate or professional level, then you are going to have to put in the extra work and make sacrifices that the majority of people aren’t willing to do. Remember if you want to achieve something extraordinary it requires you to make a detailed plan then take extreme amounts of action to achieve your goal. Without a plan, you are planning to fail.
The Importance of Training In-Season:
It’s common for many athletes to stop training in the competition season and solely focus their training on sport specific skill work. This is a flawed model. When an athlete stops resistance training the athlete will lose muscle size, strength and power which will dramatically hinder their performance on the field. A lot of athletes start the season off strong because they are going in at peak physical condition. If resistance training stops being a priority during the season a detraining effect will soon begin to occur and by mid-season the athlete will stop performing at the best of their abilities. This happens because they are losing strength, when you lose strength you lose the ability to produce force at a fast rate, which leads to speed decreases, rotational power decreases, which will have a dramatic effect on the athletes ability to perform on the field.
A lot of coaches and athletes are nervous about training when their season begins because they worry about being sore for practices and games, which is understandable, but the goal of training in season is to make sure that you are performing at your best, not about beating up your body. This is the biggest difference between off-season and in season training. The off-season is about building up to an optimal body weight, getting as strong and as powerful as possible in movements that will transfer over to your sport. In-season training is about making sure your central nervous system is primed up and ready to produce a high amount of force in a short amount of time, while making sure your body is recovered from the increased workload and feels fresh for practices and games throughout the season.
There are three big changes in my program for in-season training; these changes are to make sure the athlete doesn’t get sore from training, but is still getting stronger and is able to perform at a high level throughout the entire competition period.
Adding movements that require minimal eccentric work
Switching max effort movements into maximal isometrics or working up to a heavy set of 3-5 in a partial range of motion main movement
Incorporating recovery based training methods, through high rep band work and mobility methods
Eccentrics are the downward portion of a lift. Doing slow eccentric work can be a good technique to use in the off season to help add muscle mass, but will cause a lot of soreness in the tissue that you are targeting on that certain movement. During the season we want to eliminate the majority of the eccentric work that we do so athletes won’t be sore from training. My favorite training tool to use for this is sleds. Sleds are a great tool to add to training programs all year, but especially during the season. This is because everything you do in sled training is concentric work, there are not any eccentrics while doing a sled variation. There are also endless variations of movements that you can do with a sled. You can walk forward to develop glutes, hamstrings and calves. Walking backwards is great for knee health and quad training. Pushing a sled is great for developing speed and training the quads. Pulling it in a row variation is a great way to train the upper back. Oblique twists will help with rotational power. There are many other sled variations that you can do as well, sleds are only limited by your imagination.
At Arete Strength and Performance we run a conjugate based training program. (Check out my article on the conjugate system for more details on the conjugate method.) We modify the system during the season to fit the athletes needs by substituting max effort work with maximal isometrics, or by working up to a heavy set of 3-5 on a partial range of motion movement if the athlete is feeling good. A maximal isometric is holding a static position against an immovable object, like a wall or heavy rack. I like having my athletes do this in a pressing movement, deadlift position, rotational movement or split squat position. I will have the athlete do the exercise trying to produce as much force as possible against the immovable object for 3-5 seconds. Typically after the time ends I will have them pair the isometric with a plyometric or med ball movement. This is a great way to get your CNS ready to produce high amounts of force in a short amount of time. Maximal isometrics help build strength without adding any unnecessary stress to your joints. It also promotes recovery by increasing blood flow to help promote tissue repair. If the athlete is feeling great on his max effort training day and doesn’t have a game in the next day or two then we will work up to a heavy set of 3-5 reps on a partial range of motion lift. I usually have my athletes do this in a concentric dominant movement as well to prevent muscle soreness.
Variations of partial range of motion movements include:
High Pin Split Squats
Pin Squats
Pin Presses
Block pulls
Rack pulls
I enjoy rotating in a wide variety of bars including, safety squat bars, trap bars and football bars during the season for main movements as another way to reduce stress placed on the athletes body.
The methods above are ways to help maintain and improve hypertrophy, maximal strength and rate of force development without adding unwanted stress during the season. We also have to program in active recovery methods of training as well. My two favorite ways to do this are high rep band work and mobility movements that target areas that the athlete is tight or sore in. High rep band work promotes blood flow to the working muscles, which helps flush out metabolic waste. Because this is a low impact form of training athletes can do this when they are feeling a little beat up from practices and games.
The majority of our mobility work will be individualized based on the athlete's needs. The majority of baseball players need to focus on hip and shoulder mobility. If you don’t know what to do for mobility work, search on youtube for a yoga video. It will help you loosen up and help speed up the recovery process.
The main point that I want you to take away from this article is that you NEED to train during the season if you want to be an elite athlete. The worst thing you can do is neglect resistance training during the season. If you have an in-season training plan you will feel better on game day, reduce your risk of injury and perform at a higher level throughout the entire season. If you have any questions about in-season training feel free to reach out to me at jbennett@aretestrengthandperformance.com.
