When preparing for a sport, many students ask when they should start training. Some athletes will tell you they have been training since the prior season ended, and others will say they started getting ready a week before. But is there a better way of training, and what type of off-season training is right for you?
Athletes can take a variety of paths when it comes to off-season training, including strength training, running, biking, and even yoga.
Another popular option among students is to join a club sport, which you participate in outside of school. Playing a club sport or training with a club team is considered one of the best ways to prepare for the in-season and gain more skills for the upcoming high school season.
However, joining these teams can be expensive and inaccessible for some athletes.
Abigail Schmidt is a Stoughton High School sophomore who competes in girl’s swimming during the fall sports season. Outside of the fall season, Schmidt swims for McFarland’s club team, the McFarland Spartan Sharks.
“There are definitely some fees to pay, but I think it also depends on the club you swim at,” Schmidt said. “You could talk to your high school coach and ask them for workouts to do on your own if you don’t want to spend that kind of money on a club.”
Schmidt has been with the club for two years and plans to stay with the group throughout high school.
“I heard from a friend that the training was good, and I knew it would help me in the high school season,” Schmidt said.
Continuing to train for a specific sport during the off-season is an extremely good way to maintain the fitness you gained during the season. Still, using a variety of different exercises during this time is vital for performing your absolute best.
Off-season training often consists of different exercises meant to target the entire body. Strength training is an effective way to build muscle strength and avoid future injuries, while yoga is an optimal choice on recovery days as a low-impact workout to stretch out the muscles.
Bobby O’Brien is a Stoughton High School strength and conditioning teacher who works to help student-athletes hoping to get stronger in and out of season.
“The number one goal of the off-season is to get faster because speed translates into every sport. It doesn’t matter what sport you’re playing. If you’re faster, you’ll be better at that sport,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien believes rest days are just as important as lift days, and he doesn’t let his athletes skip out on these sessions.
“The point of a recovery day is to do no new damage. Moving in a really easy, relaxed way is a good way to get your body to recover more quickly without doing more damage,” O’Brien said.
Athletes of all levels utilize recovery days and consistency to progress the most. Taking days off is an effective way to make athletes more injury-resistant.
Schmidt has a set schedule to keep herself accountable but lets her body rest and recover for tough workout days.
“I try to go three to four times a week,” Schmidt said. “Fridays are the shortest. We typically do an aerobic workout.”
Even though off-season athletes participating in club teams have flexibility, success during this time off comes in the form of a schedule to keep yourself accountable, Schmidt elaborated.
“I think that even going [to training] twice or three times a week is still more beneficial than just never swimming in the offseason or never doing your sport,” Schmidt said. “You can still stay active and get better, but you don’t have to go every day and have vigorous training.”
Another substantial goal of out-of-season training is to strengthen athletes on a large-scale, to avoid potential injuries and risks that come from playing a sport.
“An overall goal is to have [our athletes] be more injury resistant. The way that we do that is by training through big ranges of motion and training [the body] to get stronger,” O’Brien said.