6 Reasons Your Athletes Should Be Training Year Round
After being involved in high school athletics for over two decades, we truly believe that every coach has the best intentions for the athletes they coach. However, due to the fact that most coaches are more comfortable teaching the specifics of his or her particular sport, strength and conditioning often takes a backseat at points during the year.
When your team is lacking certain skills, it will unfortunately result in missed opportunities to develop the culture and chemistry it takes to win a championship.
Culture and chemistry aside, athleticism and confidence are tremendous advantages to being able to produce as an athlete. Set your athletes up for success and allow them to reap the benefits the weight room has to offer.
Reduce Injury
Injuries are a part of sports. While contact injuries can’t always be avoided, the goal of a properly designed strength and conditioning program is to minimize the risk and specifically reduce non-contact injuries that occur while running, jumping or cutting.
A study conducted during the 2015 America Cup showed that muscle strains and ACL ruptures rose significantly during the end of each half. As athletes wore down, non-contact injuries occurred at a higher rate.
As athletes fatigue, movement quality and mechanics begin to break down, allowing them to become more susceptible to injury. A well-designed program will give your athletes the strength and stamina needed to play the entire game while minimizing their risk of injury.
Develop Athleticism
While this is the most obvious of the benefits, it must be mentioned. Regardless of your individual sport, strength, speed and the ability to change direction quickly, will benefit you in competition. I have yet to meet a coach who does not want their athletes to be more explosive during the season.
Consistent training is important for young athletes. This investment will pay off long-term and their development won’t be limited to the offseason. You have an opportunity to gain 4 to 6 months on your opponents that only choose to train during the off-season.
If you only have 30 minutes, lift for 30 minutes. Focus on big multi-joint movements and maximize the time you do have.
Measurement = Motivation
As in life and business, “what gets measured gets done.” This holds true for a 5 year old looking to mark off their chore list and earn an allowance, or the executive looking to achieve their end of year bonus. Constantly check in on their progress throughout the year and have measurable qualities that will carry over to their sport.
This doesn’t mean you need to hit a new personal record (PR) everytime you step in the weight room (although that would be great!). For a baseball coach who is looking to increase power in his lineup, this could be as simple as weekly plate pinch challenge with his team since bat speed and power have been shown to improve with grip strength.
Athletes thrive off of competition and you can foster that drive by measuring their progress throughout the year. Create team standards and watch how your athletes will start to live up to the expectations you’ve set.
Confidence is Key
Confidence can be traced back to the Latin root word, confidere, which means an intense or deep trust. In order to develop trust in yourself, you must prepare and know that you have put in the work and time it takes to be successful.
“The #1 transferrable trait from the weight room to the field is confidence.” — Joe Kenn
Weights never lie. If you have an athlete that couldn’t bench press 135 pounds at the beginning of the school year and six months later is performing the same weight for 5 reps, they are going to feel invincible. You can build more than size and strength in the weight room, use it to gain confidence and momentum for your season.
Culture over Strategy
Every team has a defining culture; some good, some bad. Culture is not something that can be talked about in Monday’s team meeting and never reinforced. If you are not taking the time to encourage the behavior you want from your athletes, culture can make a quick turn for the worse.
You can have the greatest set of talent and strategies but if everyone is pulling in opposite directions, you will never get to where you want to go.
“Culture eats strategy for lunch.” — Peter Drucker
A strong culture allows your team to consistently move in the same direction. Instead of having 25 or 80 individuals seeking the spotlight, you have one team in search of one common goal. It is no longer about ego, but all about we go. Everyone is working for something bigger than themselves.
Develop Chemistry
Metals cannot be joined together until the temperature is over 2200℉. Welding takes a tremendous amount of heat and so does building great teammates. Working through tough, hard, grueling workouts creates tension and heat for your team. Hard work forces you to respect your teammates.
Regardless of the individual differences, if you know someone has faced the same challenges and adversity as you and found a way to overcome them, you know you can trust them to have your back during competition.
Skill development is important for every athlete and team, just remember to take advantage of the weight room and the benefits that it can provide your athletes.
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