The Three R’s Of Off Season
Have you ever heard of the three R’s when it comes to off season planning?
Any professional athlete will tell you the off season is one of the most important times in their athletic journey, this involves a period of rest, reflection and finally an element of reloading/rebuilding.
At SRA, our athletes use the three R’s every off season to ensure they are making the most of their time and energy. The greatest gift we have in our life is time, are you using your off season time wisely?
Read more below to find out.
1. Rest/Reset
- Rest your body from any niggles or injuries
- Enjoy some time away from your sport (commonly 1-4 weeks)
- The time you take off will depend on a variety of factors such as; training age, injury history, personal goals and timelines for returning to pre season
- We commonly tell athletes, when they get the “itch” to return, give it an extra 3-5 days
2. Reflect
- Reflect: On the season you just had, did it live up to your expectations, did you overachieve, underperform or somewhere in between?
- Goal Setting: Spend some time setting new goals and targets for yourself, is there a new team you would like to make? Do you need to become faster, stronger or put on more size? Do you have an ongoing injury that needs to be fixed?
- Planning: How many weeks until your pre season begins? How long does pre-season go for? Are there any tournaments or competitions during this time?
- Mental Preparation: Spend some time exploring our Power of Thinking blog to develop new ways of thinking
3. Reload
- Reload: Your body slowly and strategically, working back up to 3-5 strength sessions per week, 1-5 skills sessions and any top up conditioning as required
- Rebuild: Losing levels of strength, conditioning, mobility, power or speed can be common during the season, identify areas that need to be focused on and start rebuilding
- Prioritise: Strength and movement over anything else, the younger you are the more time you should be focusing on building strength, the older you are; the more time you should spend focusing on mobility, recovery and maintaining your strength levels
- Skills: If you don’t use it, you lose it – if you play a ball sport, keep the ball in your hands, if your sport is more seasonal such as snow boarding, find ways to keep your body moving in ways you move during the season
To further help with planning your off season, we have compiled a short list of common mistakes we see athletes make during their off season:
Common Mistakes:
- Resting for months, resting is good, but only for a short period of time (1-4 weeks)
- Immediately spiking training loads to 5-6 days per week (disaster waiting to happen)
- Following an online program that has no individualisation towards their training goals/needs
- Forgetting to schedule time to work on skills specific to their sport/position
- Falling into the trap of body building (unless they are a bodybuilder)
- Forgetting to include nutrition, sleep, recovery, goal setting, reflection and self development into their off season schedule
- Wasting time if they have been carrying any niggles or injuries, get them looked at immediately and plan rehabilitation accordingly
In our experience the most successful athletes will spend more time focusing on the following:
Road To Success:
- Take some time off to rest, reflect and reset your mind/body
- Set new goals and expectations for your off season
- Reintroduce training loads slowly and strategically
- Time block your calendar to optimise your schedule/training
- Spend a little bit of time each week planning/reviewing your goals to ensure you stay on track
- Look to find new experiences/opportunities that would not have been possible in season
- Find yourself a strength & conditioning expert or skills coach who can help you take your game to the next level
Bonus: If you are a student athlete, the off season is a perfect time for catching up on school work, extra study and planning to ensure you don’t become overwhelmed when the season gets crazy.
Need help planning your off season?
Fill out the attached form and one of our coaches will be in touch with you as soon as possible.