From the Trainer’s Room: Let’s look at ways to stay fresh, vary your in-season training
With the NHL and NBA seasons underway, it’s time to look at how to vary your in-season training.
Just because games have started doesn’t mean that you stop training – you just have to modify what you do.
It is important to know your needs at this time of the year. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What does your schedule look like, as this will also affect your in-season program. Typically, maintaining or gaining strength, mobility and flexibility as well as continuing injury prevention exercises are key elements of your program during the season.
Looking at your practice and game schedule will help decide how to devise your program.
Using a calendar to help you visually see what days and weeks will be busy and which times will work best can definitely be beneficial when putting together a plan.
As a general rule, I think strength and injury prevention exercises should be performed twice a week and flexibility and mobility exercises performed every practice and game day.
On heavier weeks when you play more games or travel more, you may have to lighten the strength exercises, picking some basic moves that will help maintain strength and keep you healthy and add in more prevention and recovery work. On lighter weeks, you can go after it a little more and try to improve strength gains. On these weeks, it’s OK to feel sore the next day because you have a light week, where as on a heavier schedule week, the goal may be to help your body feel better.
In upcoming columns, I will go into some more specific exercises to add to your in-season program.
Chris Phillips is a certified athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist with over 20 years’ experience in professional hockey, football and soccer, and is the owner of Compete Sports Performance and Rehab in Lake Forest.
(Nov. 13, 2018)
