Whatever it means to you, the off-season should truly be considered an improvement-season. It’s time to look at the areas where you may fall short. For bodybuilders, the six to eight weeks post-competition bulk period becomes pivotal for growth. During this time macronutrients need to rise to help rebuild stressed tissues and balance hormones.

For other athletes, the off-season allows for improvement in technique by attending camps, recreational scrimmages, and individual training sessions. Overall, the off-season should be a continuation of your hard work—not a vacation from your prep.

Off-Season Time Management

Don’t treat the off-season as a fixed time to meander or to move away from your commitments or routines. Try setting time to grocery shop, train, meal prep, work, and sleep but treat the off-season as an opportunity to train your scheduling or behavioral patterns.

1. Stay on track with training time (no more than 60-90 minutes). If it takes you far longer than 120 minutes you’re idling. You’re also playing a losing battle with cortisol if you do.
2. Plan a week in advance for food but take each day individually.
3. Focus more on your weaker body parts, lifts, or skill-sets and spend one or two days for your stronger areas.

Your schedule is not based on a specific development cycle and is looser in focus, but still, these 3 key points, keep you on track for your goals and prepare you for more challenging cycles.

Diversify Your Training Portfolio

Coaches will often inform athletes not to try new things during their preparation for competitions or as part of specific training cycles. This is a sound precautionary measure to ensure proper rest of muscle tissue and avoid unnecessary injury.

However, the same doesn’t hold true during the off-season. As you improve your physique by removing things that prove no reasonable benefit, the addition of new rep, tempo, and ROM schemes will prove useful here.

Muscle tissue is highly adaptive and may need a new stimulus to provide differing results. For example, a men’s physique athlete planning to transition to bodybuilding may incorporate more leg exercises. A fencer may spend more time on footwork training or a rugby player may incorporate more explosive deadlifts with band work.

Supplementation At the Optimal Time

Given my history with supplementation, I am careful to recommend things and even more careful to implement them in my planning. In the off-season, this isn’t an experimental free-for-all. Instead, it’s a calculated approach to guided supplementation.

As a vegan athlete supplementation with a protein powder supplement and a multivitamin is enough. However, as athletes, we may be prone to the buy-in to taking three stacks of mass gainer plus a high stim pre-workout and other things that might not be necessary under individual circumstances.

In my off-season I take less things in order to give my body a rest from additives and instead I focus on my meals. Currently, creatine and a multivitamin are staples for me and I cycle off creatine once my prep starts because my coach doesn’t find it as necessary.

With the supplement industry being overcrowded it’s best to take the off-season to do more guided research into what products are useful, and what needs to be discarded.

Off-Season Prep Is In-Season Gain

For some athletes, they have a year-round sport. As previously expressed, others do not. In the off-season as a fencer, my coach Kornel Udvarheyli of NYU Fencing encouraged us to go to fencing clubs and practice. If possible, compete in local meets.

Our coach required us upon return to the season to relinquish a card that we filled out demonstrating the times we did open bout versus competitive fencing. For rugby, we often did intra-team scrimmages between our 15s and 7s teams as per the direction of our coach Russell Lamb of NYU Rugby.

As a bodybuilder, my off-season focuses on challenging my previous weight limits in order to add size and improve the mind-muscle connection between lagging body parts.

Utilize these tips next time you are preparing for your next off-season to streamline your efforts.

The post Staying On During Your Off-Season appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Why You Should Take a Break in the Post Season

The end of season break allows for the body to fully repair any tissue damage. During this period, body fat levels may increase slightly, but that’s okay. This time will also allow stores of essential vitamins and minerals to be renewed.

The immune system has had to work overtime all season, as it is trashed by hard training and competition. A prolonged break gives it a chance to fully recover and reduce the risk of illness throughout the winter. It will also reduce the risk of overtraining or underperforming syndrome.

The post season break is also the time to rest or follow a rehab program for a recurring injury. Use the time away from training to get a proper diagnosis and the correct treatment. An extra couple of weeks off of running, for example, will have no effect on next year’s performances. Bur running all winter with an injury certainly will.

Taking a planned break also allows you to spend quality time with family and friends, recover from the pressures of training and racing, recharge your batteries, and fall in love with the sport again. This is where you get back to enjoying your life.

To get the most from your post-season break, come up with a plan to:

• Review the previous season and identify strengths and weaknesses
• Set goals for the forthcoming season
• Do baseline tests after the first 4 weeks
• Sort out any recurring injuries
• Plan your winter training to match your new goals

Sample Post Season Protocol

The first 1-2 weeks should be very easy and require little programming. Research has shown little drop off in performance by reducing training volume for this period of time. I always recommend that you leave the watch on the dresser. Swim, bike, and run for the enjoyment, and don’t worry about the time or distance. This is also where you are allowed to leave a workout if it is not enjoyable or becomes a mental strain.

After that, do 1-2 weeks of different activities than normal. For example, try mountain biking, racket sports, yoga, a weight program, hill walking, or just shorter runs/bikes/swims. You should come back refreshed and rejuvenated, ready to start the winter training program. And hopefully by this point, you are no longer fighting any injuries.

Here is a template I’ve found useful:

Weeks 1-2:

• Train only when you feel like it or with a social group, and only for fun
• Try some other sports or activities
• Zero high-intensity work or races
• At least two rest days per week
• No running (you heard me!)
• Maximum 30 minutes per session
• Train only once per day

Weeks 3-5:

• Swim 2x per week, maximum 45 minutes. Perform drills and technique work
• Weights 2x per week
• Yoga 2x per week
• Optional bike/run sessions, maximum 45 minutes per session
• Train only once per day
• No high-intensity work or races
• At least one rest day per week

Week 5: Test your baselines to see where to start your full training program next week

Week 6-8:

• Time to ramp up workload. Break time is over!
• Continue one rest day per week
• Add in intensity work
• Set your race goals

Set Goals for the Post Season

This holiday season, try to give your friends and family the gift of a break from the endless training talks. Take the time to recover from any injuries, recharge the batteries and mental strength, and do some fun activities to maintain a base of general fitness. Sit down and analyze what went well and what went badly this season, and use that evaluation to set goals for next season. Most of all, don’t forget to enjoy life!

Weights aren’t just for the offseason:

Want to Race Endurance? Better Hit the Gym

The post Get Faster and Stronger With a Post-Season Break appeared first on Breaking Muscle.