Pre-Season – Guest Blog from TrueFitness

So we previously discussed the 4 seasons for an athlete to consider when preparing for a game season.  In, Pre, Post and Off-Season are the four seasons to consider.  Each carries with it different parameters to focus on and each has its own intricacies to consider when trying to maximize game readiness and sports performance. When creating a workout program, knowing the goals of the future and the work needed to do today to achieve those goals is of utmost importance.  Today I will discuss further the work that must be done during the Pre-season

Pre-Season

The length of the pre-season can be variable based on the needs of each individual athlete but generally speaking is between 6 and 12 weeks.  During the pres-season it is a time of super focus and hard work.  These last weeks before the season starts are the last chance we have to get ready and the last opportunity we have to put in the work that is needed to make sure our body is game ready.  During this time it is when we focus on sport activity.  It is the time where our power and strength foundation has already been laid down during the off-season and we must now fine tune the performance that is capable from a game ready body.  We now start to focus on sport movements.  These can and still do include resistance training in the gym.  However, the resistance training is attempting to reproduce sport speed and similar to sport movements.  Maximal velocity movements are what we are trying to reproduce since sport is played at maximal velocity.  The exercises we focus on during the Pre-season would be Clean and Jerk, Snatches, Squats and any other exercise where we can apply power while applying maximal velocity.

However, the main focus of the preseason is not to focus on resistance training but instead it is when we focus on sport specific movement such as agility drills and reactivity.  These drills are designed to be performed at game speed and are used to improve athletic type movements.  We want to focus on improved our footwork, sport conditioning, explosiveness, coordination, sport skills, and overall improvement of our game readiness.  Drills need to mimic the moves, speed and duration of game action.  For example, we want to do agility drills that mimic the cuts we make during rugby and set the duration of the drill to the typical length of a “sprint” during the game.  We want to tax our cardiovascular system to the limit of what is needed during the game in the way that our cardiovascular system is taxed during the game.  This applies the principle of specificity.  We need to mimic the game as close to reality as possible for the training to induce the maximal benefit.

We must take into account the different positional requirements and train them appropriately.  Not every position will have the same sprint distance requirement nor will certain positions require as much lower body power.  We like to think that we train as a team to build team unity.  To as certain degree this is true but we must not do this to the detriment of position parameters and requirements.  Each position is different and these differences must be taken into account.  The pre-season is the time when the needs of individual position must be the focus of the training program. It is these slight differences in approach to the individual position that allow the team to start to take shape and allow the talents of the individual team members take shape as the team prepares to become game ready.

Anyone in the San Diego area is welcome to drop in at our studio at 2949 Garnet Ave. 3^rd floor, Pacific Beach, CA.  We would love to put you through our workout.   Please feel free to call or email Annalise Evans of TrueFitness with any questions: (760) 809 1848 annalise@truefitness.biz and join her fan page on Facebook: TrueFitness Annalise Evans

Article written by Spencer Aiken, CSCS, CEO, TrueFitness