There Is No Offseason Anymore

There really isn't.

Teenage athletes today are playing on club teams, school teams, and layering private lessons on top of all of it.

Just 15 years ago, summer was the universal offseason.

Athletes with big goals would spend the summer in the gym four days per week, train three days per week during the rest of their offseason, and continue lifting twice per week during the season.

Today?

Most athletes train in the gym twice per week at best during the summer and offseason, and many take the entire sports season off from strength training altogether.

The problem is that there isn't much true "off" time anymore.

Sports have become year-round. The calendar is packed with practices, showcases, tournaments, camps, lessons, and travel teams.

And while more sport isn't necessarily bad, it does create a problem:

If athletes are constantly competing but rarely developing the physical qualities that support performance, they eventually hit a ceiling.

Or worse, they start the season feeling great and finish it feeling run down, fatigued, weaker, slower, and less confident than when they started.

That's not because they're lazy.

It's because strength, speed, power, and muscle are all perishable qualities.

If you don't continue training them, they gradually fade.

The Gym Is the Great Equalizer

Professional athletes are freaks.

Yes, they work incredibly hard, but they also possess genetic gifts that most of us simply don't have. They naturally jump higher, run faster, throw harder, and change direction better than the average athlete.

For the other 95% of middle school and high school athletes, the gym is where ground can be made up.

Strength training helps athletes:

• Get stronger so they don't get pushed around.

• Develop speed and acceleration to get to the ball, puck, or loose rebound first.

• Build power to jump higher and move more explosively.

• Improve confidence by knowing their body can keep up with the demands of the game.

This is where the old saying comes from:

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

The Formula Is Pretty Simple

Train hard during the offseason.

Continue training during the season.

Repeat.

For most athletes, that means prioritizing strength and conditioning three days per week during the offseason and continuing to train one to two days per week during the season.

You can absolutely get into sport shape through practices and games.

But practices don't reliably build strength.

They don't consistently build speed.

And they certainly don't maintain muscle mass through a long season filled with practices, games, travel, and the increased calorie demands that come with them.

Without continued strength training, athletes often lose body weight, muscle, strength, and power over the course of a season.

The Return on Investment Is Huge

Here's something most parents don't realize:

The return on two to three hours per week spent in the weight room often dwarfs the same amount of time spent on additional skill work.

That's not because skill work isn't important—it absolutely is.

But improving sport skills enough to truly move the needle often takes hundreds and thousands of repetitions over many years.

Strength and speed improvements, on the other hand, can occur relatively quickly and with a surprisingly small weekly time commitment.

A stronger, faster, more resilient and confident athlete is usually a better athlete.

And perhaps more importantly, they're more likely to stay healthy enough to enjoy the season.

So don't take the season off from the gym.

You've worked too hard to build your athletic abilities to let them fade before the games matter most.

Your goal shouldn't be to feel your best on the first day of the season.

It should be to feel your best at the end.