Off-Season vs In-Season Training
Oh the joys, pains, and even the struggles of Off-Season Training vs. In-Season Training.
The questions always come piling in every-time the off-season starts or the season (In-Season) begins. Mainly because there are certain changes one has to make when shifting from Off-Season Training to In-Season Training.
Let’s first start with off-season training - - If you are just finishing up your long in-season of matches, now is the best time to take some much-needed time off. Reason being is the body hasn’t had much of a break from the stress load it has been placed under from working matches and in-season training. A little “R and R” will help a referee’s body reset, heal any chronic or acute issues that have come up in the season, and also prepare the body accordingly to start off-season training.
After taking your time away, if any - - the off-season is the best time to work and focus on your fitness, especially on some of the items that may were lacking during the season. I.e. better endurance, better explosiveness, work on sprint speed, add more power, get stronger, lost fat, add muscle, the list can go on and on. What is great about the off-season is you can progressively overload the body with different types of stimuli without the worry of being too fatigued for upcoming matches or overtraining. Now that doesn’t mean you don’t take rest or recovery days; it just means you are training your body to be able to handle the extra workload during that time of year and see the correct progression toward your goals.
One example of off-season training would be building up one’s muscular endurance and aerobic endurance, while also still training explosiveness with shorts burst sprint work and longer repeated sprint training. This example leads us to properly working different muscle fibers - type I, type II, and type IIx or type IIa. - - while also still working our aerobic and anaerobic system by utilizing different energy sources - aka - Fat and Carbohydrates.
What is vital though during the off-season is to monitor your training load and making sure you are not overdoing it. You may need to take an extra active recovery day or do more passive recovery after these training sessions due to extra muscle soreness or fatigue. Plus, it’s always easier in the off-season to schedule added rest and recovery days - due to more time being available.
Now, time for the discussion on in-season training. Here is where we start making the shift in training load and mentality when it comes to training during the season. The first question I always get asked is
-“Why can’t I keep training the same way I did in the off-season?”
The answer is simple - - your body won’t be able to handle the workload of matches and progressive overload training for that length of time at that intensity, while also working matches. Meaning if you are continually training at a very high volume and high intensity, continually breaking the body down through exercise - it will never have time to repair itself, to where you are ever fully recovered - which can land us in the world over over-training, overreaching, staleness, and/or the dreaded land of possible injury. When injuries happen, we will then have to take a much-needed break, depending on how severe the injury, typically ranging from 4-8 weeks. This is based upon rest, recovery, and rehab to get the issue resolved; it could however take longer.
The whole idea of in-season training is to maintain our progress of strength, power, and conditioning as the season goes on. We don’t want to lose what we have worked so hard for in the off-season for it to just disappear, but we also don’t want to try to push ourselves too much that can result in overtraining/injury or become stagnant.
An example of in-season training for weight-training, would be two full body strength training days consisting of 3-4 upper body exercises and 3-4 lower body exercises. Using a rep range of 8-12 reps for 3 sets; you can rest one minute to ninety seconds between each working set of that prescribed exercise or you go from one exercise to the next without rest; with the benefit of this being a circuit training to keep the heart rate elevated.
Now the big questions when it comes to in-season training - -
-“What about running?”
-“How much running do I need to do during the season?”
This is always a double edge sword. Reason being is - yes, you should still be doing some form of running training during the season but at the same time you don’t want to overdo it. However, I have referees tell me all the time
-“I ran in my game that counts as my running.”
or
-“I did 6 miles that game, that counts for my running.”
My answer to that is yes, in theory you are running in your matches, and you are logging those miles, but we must look at the match overall as a whole not just at one aspect like just running or overall distance covered. We have to look at specific heart rate zones that was attained during the match, the overall heart average and max heart rate, number of sprints or high intensity running, overall distance covered, and perceived exertion. This is because every match is unique and comes with a different overall stress and load on our body. The better questions that need to be asked are,
-“Was it a fast paced up and down match?”
- “Was it a slow-down knock it around possession match?”
-”Was I reading play properly and staying close to play?”
- ”Did I have lots of short bursts of work or was I full out sprinting?”
-”Was my overall perceived exertion really high?”
-”Did I feel winded or tired at any point during the match"?”
Having that overall specific data, self-reflection, and understanding of your match workload is vital to your in-season training.
Now, depending on the number of games you are refereeing and how long it takes you to recover, referees should be doing one high intensity run throughout the week, one low-slow paced run, and one short burst explosiveness training. The slow-paced run can also be swapped out with a low-intensity bike ride as well, just to help take some of pressure off the joints.
Overall, for Off-Season Training we want to be able work on our fitness improvement areas, while increasing our overall volume of work and intensity, without overtraining or becoming injured. For In-Season Training we want to decrease our overall volume of work while keeping the intensity moderate and being able to maintain our fitness levels that we achieved in the off-season leading up to in-season. During both these training cycles it is very important to understand muscle soreness, fatigue, overtraining/overreaching, and staleness. Being able to understand them as it relates to your own fitness goals is important to avoid injury.
BE RELENTLESS in stating your dreams.
BE FEARLESS in pursuing those dreams.
Always TRAIN WITH HEART.