The Benefits of Off-Season Training
How can an athlete take their fitness and performance to the next level during the off-season?
Let’s look at 3 key reasons athletes need to use the off-season to take their fitness and performance to the next level.
During the season, your body works hard to maintain a state of balance known as homeostasis. Within intensive games and practices, the wide effects of training on the heart, lungs, and other major body systems provides a challenge to maintaining homeostasis both during and after the season. Implementing a planned, periodic training program in the off-season will allow an athlete to adapt and recover to the stresses of training, which in result better prepares the athlete for the upcoming season.
2. Injury-Prevention
The days of “no pain, no gain” or give 110% are gone. Injury Prevention is at the forefront of training programs both pre- and post- season. Our athletes at CATZ that train consistently, even just one time per week, stay health and strong. They have a significantly lower rate of injury, which is one reason we have produced high level athletes.
Here are some key injury prevention techniques our top sports performance coaches use during off-season training:
– Unilateral Training (Single Leg, using one leg versus two)
– Flexibility
– Mobility
– Recovery (Physical Therapy modalities used before and after training sessions)
– Proper Nutrition & Hydration
3. Maximize Strength & Power
More time to train and less time to play your sport gives an athlete the best opportunity to maximize their athleticism. The off-season is the prime time for you to rebuild your athletic base and gain strength and explosiveness going into the next season. A systematic approach to training that involves stability, conditioning, strength and power will allow an athlete to improve upon the previous season.