The importance of off-season training

When your last race or game is finally over, teams usually go out, celebrate and have a party or feast of sort. On the contrary, this is actually the best time to go back to the drawing board and check your strengths and weaknesses. A common mistake of athletes during the off-season is nutrition. Some think that since they are already in the off-season, they don’t need to watch their food intake.

When training season begins, the first few months will be focused on losing the weight they gained over the holidays. In the sport of boxing, where body weight is such a crucial element, some may lose the fight before it actually begins.  Same goes out also to weekend warriors or people who join races to compete or simply to get fit or healthy.

My advice to all athletes, first things first. Visit your doctor.  Have your health checked. Then plot your training, fights, events, races and schedule your rest day throughout the year.  During off-season, find one sport or training regimen and make it as your base training, something to keep you in shape. It does not mean that since it’s the off-season, you should stop training and eating healthy.

Just lessen the quantity and maintain the quality of training. Nutrition is also important. Your body is your engine and like any top race car engine, it needs the best fuel to perform.  By binging and eating unhealthy food during the off-season you are affecting and putting heavier load during your actual training.

Running, cycling and swimming are repetitive movements. That means it uses the same muscle group for a long period of time, hence creating muscle imbalance. Muscle imbalance occurs when opposing muscles moves in different directions of tension due to tightness and weakness. Example, the quadriceps and hamstrings muscle of your legs perform in opposite motions. An imbalance between the two could put stress on the joint.  A tight hamstring would restrict your range of motion and not allow your joint to move freely and fully extend, which could put extra stress on the quadriceps muscle, knee cap and even all the way up to your back.

You can do tons of different work out during the off season. Strength and conditioning training, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Spinning class, Elastic resistance training, lifting weight and rowing are some good cross training that you can do. It develops your upper body strength, core and back.  Focus on proper form and full range of motion. But be mindful when lifting weights, often too much is focus on how heavy you lift, and not on proper movement and form. In order to improve your movement and be injury-free during the off season, you might have to swallow your pride even though some are lifting heavier than you in the gym. Drop the weight down for a few weeks and focus on technique, form and range of motion. Remember what happened to RDO (Ranidel de ocampo) when he tweaked his back during lifting weights? De Ocampo, one of the key players of Gilas Pilipinas, lost mobility after the freak accident and was immediately taken to the hospital to undergo an MRI.

In yoga and pilates, they have been proven to improve your core and upper body strength. Also, it develops balance and stability which sadly most athletes don’t have. But be aware not to rush in and do the hand stand in the first few weeks as it requires lots of strength, technique and discipline. I have known friends who rushed and wanted to do hand stand but got injured in the process.

Boxing, jujitsu, judo or any martial arts are another cross training that one may do. But focus on the training and avoid fights or tournaments. Sparring sessions with mitts is okay, but sparring with an opponent is a no-no because a fun sparring will turn into a serious one and the next thing you know, you will get knocked out and end up with a lifelong injury.

For athletes who are into basketball, volleyball and football, you can do the opposite like swimming, running or cycling and still add in weight lifting, strength and condition training, yoga, Pilates and spinning. Focus on your weakness. If your weakness is free throw, then practice your free throw. Even the greatest basketball player Michael Jordan has some weakness on his game. He was always an offensive machine but never known as a defensive player during his early years in the NBA. But during the off season, he worked hard and improved his defense and eventually won 1988 defensive player of the year and was part of the NBA All-Defensive team 9 times in his illustrious career.  From a fierce dunk champion, his game has evolved and he became a very good jump shooter.

Lastly, get a good personal coach. Check on the track record, credibility, back ground and most important the number of students he or she is handling. Set realistic goals and remember your performance during the game. Fight or race will depend on your training and your training will be a result on what you did during the off-season.

 For comments, you can reach me at [email protected]. Or you can visit my website at www.alanchoachuy.com or  www.facebook.com/metafitcebu.