In Season Training - Do You Do It Right? Part 1

How many of us go through this cycle?

The season finishes in September then it's time to hit gym. For starters we want to get bigger and stronger for footy next year and with the sun shining through, there are girls at the beach the same time we're there.

So in the 4 - 5 months you were really hitting the gym you might have put on 3 - 4kgs of muscle and improved 15 - 20% on your main lifts - all of which will serve you very well for the season proper in a couple of weeks.

We continue our gym efforts until about April when the season starts and then something happens. For some reason we all of a sudden become too busy to get to the gym. I'm not sure why this happens because footy training is still 2 nights a week so it's just a matter of changing your days around a little.

So the cycle starts with great intentions but finishes far too early and instead of maintaining your gains made in the off season, they are left shrivel back to their normal size in the case of muscle and in a case of use it or lose it, the nervous system doesn't worry about maintaining strength if it's not going to be used.

The question is - do you need to be near or at your strongest in the pre season or the in season? Surely the in season wins out easily. You'd never not run during the season and expect to be able to run your best each week so why not keep up the gym?

I've just finished my 26 week off season gym program today so immediately move into in season mode. Unfortunately I haven't really been able to get to training as often as I'd like so my fitness is way behind with a practice match 8 days away, but I will continue to train at least 4 days a week in the gym, if not 5. My first phase of in season training which starts next week will be 5 days a week (Monday to Friday) as well as Tuesday and Thursday footy training.

If you are perfect example of the player described above then let me know via our Facebook page why you stop gym training during the in season and I'll report back in the next few days with part 2.