Summer is almost done and the fall season is among us. That usually means two things (well at least for myself)…the cold is coming, and base training. Anyways, you’re season is finished, you may have taken some well due time off (or still on a relaxing vacation), and it’s time to start thinking about conditioning yourself back into shape for another awesome season.
Here are a few key points that you must know in order to maximize your training this coming fall (or when you start your base training again):
- One of the biggest problems is athletes start conditioning too early. Take your rest, enjoy the time off…and don’t start your off-season training too early. The body needs to heal from a rough season, before you begin beating it up again. My suggestion is at least 4-6 weeks out from when you begin your training. Any earlier and you still might be overdoing it.
- Another tip is to not make your speed work turn into conditioning. Speed is speed and conditioning is conditioning. Don’t think that because you or your coach runs you into the ground to the point you can’t move anymore, will make you stronger and faster. You need to make sure that you get full recovery before continuing onto the next rep. Treat it as such and you will see massive gains.
- There has to be a rhyme and reason to everything you do. Conditioning is just like doing a program for your weight training. Start off light with long rest periods and gradually work your way to increasing reps or weight and decrease the rest as your conditioning progresses. To help the process and give yourself a little push, set a goal that you would like to accomplish by the end of the conditioning cycle.
- When designing the conditioning program, start from the end and go backwards. Start with the last day and make that a test day. Then build the program all the way back to the first day you begin.
- Make the conditioning specific to your sport. I see it all the time when athletes don’t make it specific to what they do. This meaning, football players shouldn’t be running miles for conditioning. THe longest they last on a field is around 6 seconds, with rests of around 30 seconds in between each play. Keep this tip in mind when planning your conditioning program.
If conditioning seems complicated to you, it doesn’t have to be. This 5 tips in programming off-season conditioning will help you excel as an athlete in your sport and be able to outlast your opponent. That’s where the game is always won – the fourth quarter, the third period, the last inning, or the last 30m.
(original image by autumn_leaf)
