EA GUIDE TO OFF-SEASON TRAINING
OFF-SEASON STRUCTURE
OFF-SEASON STRUCTURE
R & R - Be sure to take 1-4 weeks post-season to relax, cross train, let your body and mind settle. This can be challenging for driven athletes. But, it’s a crucial building block for the next season. It’s critical to build this period in to reduce season over season fatigue and is a great way to reset your mind and body before entering into another focused period of work.
SET YOUR TARGET- having a target date for an event or goal is helpful for constructing a proactive plan. This not only creates clarity for your mission, but also helps to build in peaking and deload periods for the journey forward.
SET STRUCTURED PLAN- Leveraging periodized training is a great way to ensure that you are peaking at the right time for your goal or event. Of course, plans change and unforseen circumstances can come about. But, having an initial frame work to launch from is helpful to maintain consistency towards your goal.
SET MOVEMENT BASELINE - knowing your movement capabilities, asymmetries, and areas where you need to focus your efforts for training and mobility is a helpful way to create a successful path forward.
TRAINING STRUCTURE
TRAINING STRUCTURE
STABILITY I SYMMETRY I FOUNDATIONAL TRAINING
Our Stability and Muscular Endurance Programs are a great place to start for this work.
The focus of this training is to improve motor control, body awareness, exercise execution, and prepare your body for strength work down the line.
Loads during this phase of training are fairly low, ranging from 50-70% 1RM or 5-7/10 RPE
The use of tempo eccentrics and isometric holds during this phase are helpful for building tendon health, movement execution, and balance.
PERIODIZED STRENGTH TRAINING
We use 4-week training blocks for our periodized strength training. In these blocks, we build for 3 weeks and have a 4th week of deload work. You can stack these blocks to create a focused strength building period for yourself consisting of 4-12 weeks.
Progressive Strength Cycle
Strength Cycle A & B
Relative Perceived Exertion - a scale helpful for those who don’t have a 1-rep max set in the squat or deadlift. This scale can be helpful for weight selection and we refer to it in many of our strength programs
Loads during this phase of training range from 70-85% of 1RM or 7-9/10 RPE
PERIODIZED POWER TRAINING
Our Power Cycles are 6 weeks in length and consist of lighter loads and faster movement to prepare for maximal muscle recruitment, speed, and force production.
It’s important to set the table for power training by performing preliminary strength training.
Loads during this phase of training reduce down to 60-40% of 1RM or 4-6/10 RPE
IN-SEASON / MAINTENANCE
In-season training AKA strength maintenance is training that is designed to maintain your strength, motor control, and overall body symmetry throughout a high aerobic training/competition period like a season.
These sessions should be quick and efficient using lighter loads, but largely maintaining the same structure of movement patterns that you have performed in the off-season.
Keeping up with strength maintenance throughout the season is a powerful way to retain what you build through the off-season.
VOLUME + INTENSITY CONSIDERATIONS
Gym training volume should be carefully moderated based on your time performing aerobic training and overall health.
The plan and programs are framework for you to work off of. Making modifications based on your training demands and the overall picture of your journey is essential for long term success. If you ever need help managing this, please reach out to us at info@everathlete.fit