Quick inside on training during season(Discussion)

[RobertMoriRB]

As said above this thread is going to be about what I found during my football career(still playing) and wrestling career. In the last 5 years I have done about everything athletes can do for in season training. Most Strength Coaches will try to keep there athletes maintaining strength for the season. Is there any real reason behind there thinking or is it because they do not want to try something new when they could lose there jobs?

I have found from personal testing and some test subjects in the last two years, that not only I but the other athletes have excelled on the field. In stead of trying to maintain strength why not stick to gaining strength during the season? I have lived by this the last two seasons and Its starting to pay off, no injuries yet(knock on Wood) but there are days in practice i am sore. What do you think about having athletes training for strength gains instead of maintain for the season?

[jonmd123]

It's a noble idea, but pretty hard to execute. Training age of the athlete, time/energy demands of the sport, injuries, drill sergeant coaches - all these things make it extremely hard to make any gain during the season for any athlete that has been training more than a year or two.

The big mistake coaches make is to focus on light high volume sets during season to keep their athletes safe. If you keep the volume very low and the intensity very high, you should have no problem maintaining strength and possibly even increasing it slightly.

[krakkerz]

As said above this thread is going to be about what I found during my football career(still playing) and wrestling career. In the last 5 years I have done about everything athletes can do for in season training. Most Strength Coaches will try to keep there athletes maintaining strength for the season. Is there any real reason behind there thinking or is it because they do not want to try something new when they could lose there jobs?

I have found from personal testing and some test subjects in the last two years, that not only I but the other athletes have excelled on the field. In stead of trying to maintain strength why not stick to gaining strength during the season? I have lived by this the last two seasons and Its starting to pay off, no injuries yet(knock on Wood) but there are days in practice i am sore. What do you think about having athletes training for strength gains instead of maintain for the season?

I think there may be a disconnect here with the point of in-season training. The point is always to improve strength. The issue is that in-season training usually requires less volume and strength training competes with injury and game preparation.

For that reason, few high level athletes are able to improve strength over the course of an entire season. As the level of the athlete comes down and the levels of contact and intensity of the sport comes down, the athlete is certainly able to gain more strength during the season.