Normal practice sessions during the in-season period in most
sports are not long enough to bring about great improvement
in most basic training areas. Coaches may also have
difficulty finding enough time and deciding where to place
the key maintenance programs that will prevent athletes from
losing much of their off-season gains. This section provides
some guidelines for the proper placement of various training
programs and a reasonable time frame that does not
significantly detract from the practice schedule and still
maintains off-season gains in speed, quickness, strength,
power, flexibility, and speed endurance.
Without a well-designed in-season program, it is common in
most sports for athletes to lose a percentage of the gains
acquired in the off-season. Although additional improvement
can occur in an attempt to peak for a specific game or
tournament at the latter part of the season, the primary
objective of an in-season program is to prevent loss of
strength, power, flexibility, speed endurance, speed, and
quickness.
Fortunately, there is also a logical order for coaches and
athletes to consider. Let’s review this order along with the
conditioning and training objectives of each program.
- General warm-up (jogging, striding, and light sprinting) and dynamic
stretching exercises have little conditioning value.
Their main contribution is to increase range of motion,
help prevent injuries, and warm the body in preparation
for the more vigorous aspects of the program. These
exercises are completed at the beginning of each
workout.
- Sprint-assisted training is specifically designed to
improve stride rate (number of steps per second) and
stride length. Because sprint-assisted training requires
the complete absence of fatigue, it should be scheduled
second in the workout, immediately after the general
warm-up and stretching exercises.
- Scrimmage should follow sprint-assisted training.
Keep in mind that the body is still unfatigued, less apt
to be injured, and more likely to execute skills at high
speed under game conditions.
- Sport-specific drills for the purpose of skill
development are fourth. At this point in the practice
session, you are still relatively free from fatigue and
can execute at high speed under game conditions. These
drills could also precede scrimmage if the emphasis is
on mastery of skills rather than conditioning.
- Calisthenics improve general conditioning, develop
strength and muscular endurance, and improve aerobic
fitness. They are conditioning-oriented and should not
be at the beginning of the workout. After 30 minutes of
hard calisthenics, a fresh athlete will turn into a
fatigued athlete. Such fatigue will interfere with skill
and timing and make you more susceptible to injury.
- Speed endurance training such as interval sprint
training commonly used in football, baseball,
basketball, soccer, and other team sports is also a
conditioning activity. Because such training brings
about a high level of fatigue and makes it difficult to
continue a workout much longer, speed endurance training
should be near the end of the workout, rather than at
the beginning.
- Ballistics can be incorporated here if practice time
allows. Because this is also a conditioning activity, it
should occur near the end of the workout.
- Strength and power training (weight training,
plyometrics, and sport loading) is the most fatiguing of
any program. It leaves you weak and vulnerable to
injury. It is therefore placed close to the end of the
workout.
- A cool-down period is desirable as the last item in
a workout and may involve a slow jog or walk and a
relaxed static stretching period, particularly after
strength and power training.
Under conditioning coach Bob Ward, the Dallas Cowboys used a
unique method referred to as speedweek that remains an
effective approach during the in-season period for team
sports. The program is easy for players to understand and
apply and is very effective. Speedweek divides each
seven-day period into three phases:
- Early nonfatigued phase (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning): No leg
work (strength and power training or endurance training)
is permitted during this period. High-intensity work
with sprint-assisted training (tubing, downhill
sprinting) dominates this three-day period while
athletes are relatively fatigue-free. The proper order
described previously is still followed. Upper-body
strength and power training takes place.
- Late fatigued phase (Wednesday afternoon, Thursday,
Friday): Training now moves to strength and power
training activities (sprint loading, weight training,
plyometrics) and speed endurance. During the final four
to eight weeks of the preseason period, plyometrics
involve only short jumps and hops for 30 to 50 meters at
very high speed as opposed to longer jumps at a moderate
pace. Sprint-assisted training is not used during this
period. Again, the proper order described previously in
this chapter is carefully followed.
- Rest period (Saturday): A light workout is combined
with team strategy sessions and one-on-one meetings with
specialty coaches.
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