As our seasons wind down, I’ve had some thoughts on in-season training that I would like to share:
- In-season training might be the most important time to train – sure the off-season is critical in preparation and improving, but the in-season is crucial to keeping athletes healthy and iron out imbalances that may develop throughout a competitive season
- In-season training should be about strength development – not maintenance. I heard Mike Boyle say something that really stuck: “if your max was 100, why would you want to maintain that over 5-6 months?” The goal should be to improve strength – this may be harder for your older athletes, but the goal is to be the strongest towards the end of the season, not the beginning.
- In-season training does not require lots of volume. 15-30 minute sessions is plenty of time to get quality work in. Focus on the basics and lift heavy.
- With basketball this year, we lifted every day before practice for 20 minutes. We do 3 strength movements (lower, push, pull) and a mobility or core movement after a warm-up. This resulted in some good strength gains over the course of the season. Also got our athletes feeling great for practice – potentiation
- Read Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. This book outlines some great strategies and loading protocols that work in-season…I plan on doing a write-up on Dan John soon as well…he’s got some great products
- Some athletes may need extra work in-season….athletes not getting enough playing time, not dressing for games, etc. Don’t treat everybody the same. Some athletes will need extra conditioning, extra plyometric or speed work, extra strength training. Just be smart about volume and the modes you use for conditioning.
- Along the last line, hockey athletes may need to ride the bike in-season as I wouldn’t stress their adductors more with slideboard work, and if they haven’t run recently, running may cause them soreness. For basketball athletes, extra pounding with running may not help to improve cardiovascular fitness…try biking, slideboarding or sled dragging.
- Begin with the end in mind and start backward when designing your in-season program. You have to know where you are going to decide on how to get there.
- Be ready to adjust and be flexible with your plan. Things come up in-season such as extra film sessions, more time with practice and coaches – the goal is to improve on your sport in-season and training should augment that not compete with it. Understand that if somebody needs to spend more time on their shot, or skating, or free-throws then you may have to adjust your plan accordingly.
- Ask your athletes how they are feeling. If you aren’t fortunate enough to own an omegawave or other tracking information that gives you an idea of your athletes physiological state then you have to ask questions into how they are feeling, how are they recovering, what’s sore, what’s your mood like, etc. This gives you an idea on how to adjust, tweak and make the program fit the athlete.
I’m sure I’m missing out on some other tips, but these are the ones that come to my mind. Check out this in-season training post I put up last year for more information on my in-season training philosophy.
B
How do you get athletes to buy into your program? This is a common question that comes about from interns, and other colleagues. It’s not easy to get athletes to buy in and believe that your program is the best one out there for them. Why should they do what you (as a coach) say?
There are a number of ways of handling this:
1. Educating your athletes about the benefits of the program
2. Threatening your athletes with punishment or kicking them out of a training session
3. Embarrasing the athlete in front of the team for a lack of effort or discipline
4. Speaking with the sport coach to get them on your side (which they should already be)
5. Putting ownership into the hands of your athlete.
The last one is the one that is often overlooked as a strategy to get your athletes to buy into your program. Giving them ownership lets the athlete(s) know that it’s their training session and their workout. It’s not the sport coaches, or yours as the strength and conditioning coach – it’s their training session and they are going to get what they want to get out of it. Explain to your athletes that if you want to continue to be a loser, then keep working with a half ass effort, don’t hold yourself accountable, continue to suck energy from the team and continue to make excuses for your current state. But if you want to become a winner, then you have to work your ass off, be positive, hold yourself and your teammates accountable, give energy to your teammates and to not make excuses. You as a coach with give them a plan to be successful but ultimately it’s up to them. Give them the keys to car and tell them that you will help give them a map (program) to help them get to where they want to go. Of course this has to be within reason. There must be stop signs and traffic lights (rules), and tickets handed out for poor driving (penalties). When giving ownership, you aren’t letting them choose what they are going to do within a training session (as a team matures, this may be permissible), but rather teaching your athletes that they are the ones that are going to have a direct impact upon the results of a game and that what they put into their training is going to have an effect upon their performance. You are getting them to understand that they are the ones that are going to score, or get stops – they are the ones are going to make passes and big defensive plays…not the coaches. So the more they invest in their own personal development (physical, and skill), the more the team is going to get out of them.
Giving your athletes ownership in the training process is an important step in getting your athletes to buy into the program and will go a long way in their development and your career.
B
Shawn and I are speaking at 2 different conferences this May. I will be speaking at the NSCA CT state clinic on May 5th and will be joined by some outstanding speakers that I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing. You can find download the link for the flyer here.
Shawn will be speaking at the BSMPG conference in Boston on May 19th and 20th which has turned out to be one of the best conferences in the entire country the last couple years. Art Horne does an outstanding job putting together a first class list of speakers and this year is no different. Find out more information here.
Hope to see you at these 2 events!
B
