As an athlete, the most important part of your training cycle is the off-season. While it may not be as glorified as competing, training to reach peak performance is what will allow you to play at your best.
From the strength and conditioning side of things, peak phase is where we test the athlete to be their strongest, fastest, and most powerful.
That way as you enter the season, all systems are firing.
During the off-season, training volume will decrease while the intensity will reach its max. In other words we’re doing a lower amount of reps with speed and power.
Today I’m giving you an off-season training session for athletes to reach peak performance. These workouts are all completed at maximum effort whether its strength or power.
It’s important to match your training and intensity based on how many weeks you have leading up to the season and current your level of performance.
TRAINING TO REACH PEAK PERFORMANCE
Warm-Up
Everything here is 50-75% effort. You need to train fast to be fast and leading up to your season, speed is most critical.
- Pogo Jumps – 2 x 10 sec
- Forward Pogo Jumps – 4 x 10 yards
- Straight Leg Bounds – 4 x 10 yards
- Power Skips for height – 4 x 10 yards
- Power Skips for distance – 4 x 10 yards
Sprints
Always begin your training with that which requires the most speed and power. I always start my guys out with sprints for two reasons:
- You’re fresh at the start of the workout. This means you’re able to give maximum effort in these sprints and make the most out of them. This goes back to my principle that you have to train at your fastest, to be your fastest.
- It prepares the nervous system to fire rapidly and cohesively. When you’re hitting high weight on your lifts, or performing fast reps, this allows you to overcome more resistance.
The goal of these sprints is to perform at top speed and work on acceleration mechanics. There’s a focus on keeping the chin tucked and driving the feet into the ground as you take off.
Speed & Power:
- Split Stance Starts – 4 x 10 yards
2. 4 Way Ground Starts – 2 x 10 yards each direction (8 total reps)
I also like to time my athletes in a 10 yard dash to finish off their sprinting. Even if it serves no purpose going into camp necessarily, you’re still able to watch yourself progress with each season.
For more like this definitely check out the 11 best acceleration drills for athletes.
Strength Training
The goal through peak phase when it comes to strength training is to excite the nervous system. Performing multiple sets of low reps provides ample rest time. Each time the body can fully recover between sets, you’re able to perform at your peak for each rep.
This is similar to the principle of why I have my athletes sprint first. You get the most amount of work done with each repetition.
This leads to a strong and powerful athlete.
Strength Session:
1A. Banded Back Squat – 3 x 2
1B. Box Jump – 3 x 1
2A. Front Loaded KB Forward Lunges – 2 x 3 each leg
2B. Front Loaded KB Lateral Lunges – 2 x 3 each leg
Core
Core training is something that should be worked on throughout the entire season. A strong and conditioned core enhances everything you do whether it comes to camp, the middle of your season or your training to reach peak performance.
Side Plank Hip lifts – 3 x 20 each side
PEAK PHASE TRAINING PROTOCOL
As you near the end of your off-season and approach the start of competition, you can take the strength training days down to 2-3 days a week. This was an example of a lower body training day so the other could be upper body with a bench press and maybe a full body session.
Want to be prepared going into your early season games?
The key to training to reach peak performance, and maintaining it, is to keep working on your speed.
For a season’s worth of speed programming, drills, and results check out the Athletic Speed System.
You’ll find these acceleration drills and more all installed in an expertly crafted program that I use with high level athletes.
Not to mention, you’ll find maximum velocity mechanics drills, absolute strength training, Triphasic Training, and a bunch more.
In other words, this is the most effective, all-in-one speed system available.
Don’t take my word for it though – see for yourself.
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