Key Components of Off-Season Workouts
By Dan Mueller, MS, ATC
Bigger. Stronger. Faster. These are three goals in which offseason workouts are geared towards for the high school athlete.
These workouts should be part of an entire season training
session with different goals for each section. Off-season
workouts should differ significantly from those that occur
during the season (yes it is important to have lifting for
ALL sports during the season). This article will give
recommendations for exercises and regiments to implement
for both in-season and off-season workouts.
The typical off-season regiment involves a combination of
exercises designed to focus on specific aspects of your athletes’
abilities that needs improvement. These can involve exercises and specialized drills
to increase strength, speed, jump height, lateral movement, endurance, flexibility,
or overall mass. The workouts should be 3-4 times a week for 6-10 weeks. It takes
an average of 6-8 weeks to notice measurable changes in muscle from weight
training.
In all periods of exercise there should be a variety of types of exercises used to train
the entire body. Free weights, machines, speed training, abdominal exercises, and
cardiovascular work should be built into the entire program. Resistance and
duration of exercise should increase as the athletes are able to handle it. This is
vastly different than the type of exercises the athlete should be doing during the
season.
In-season weight training goals are an attempt to maintain gains achieved during
off-season training and to help keep the athlete healthy. In-season training should
also be 2-3 times a week for lesser time intervals and should not be as intense to
help recover from the rigors of the season. Too much training during this stage can
have a negative effect on the athlete and can help contribute to the body breaking
down during the season. A good combination of off-season and in-season workout
will help your entire team come closer to achieving your goals. Bigger. Stronger.
Faster.
Dan Mueller MS, LAT, ATC,
joins the Miami Valley Hospital Sports
Medicine team after spending two
years as the athletic trainer for men’s
basketball at East Carolina University.
Along with his duties at the sports
medicine clinic, Dan also serves as an
athletic trainer at Fairborn High
School. A native of Milwaukee, WI, Dan earned his
bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Xavier
University in 2003. After earning his undergraduate
degree Dan served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer
at Indiana State and as an athletic trainer at Terre Haute
North High School while obtaining his master’s degree in
2004. Dan is a certified member of the National Athletic
Trainer’s Association (NATA) and certified clinical
instructor.
Sample Exercises for Off-Season Workouts
Olympic Lifts
Cardiovascular exercises
Abdominal and Core
• Good mornings
• Ladder drills
• Crunch
• Power cleans
• 100’s
• Russians
• Squats
• 400’s
• Superman’s
• Lunges
• 1600’s
• Anterior reaches
• Bench press
• 3200’s with sprints
• Posterior reaches
• Incline DB press
• Start drills
• V-ups
Athlete’s Update 3