Use the Summer to Step Your Game Up
Are you taking the rights steps to reach your athletic potential? Are you looking to have a breakthrough season or potentially win a starting position on the team? Either way you’ve got to have a plan to reach your potential.
The majority of this year’s high school sports seasons have ended and the rest are coming to a close. With summer right around the corner, it’s time to take advantage of your free time and step your game up. Here are few key areas to focus on .
Manage Your Time:
We all know that the summer is the prime season to relax and hang out with your friends. However, with proper time management, you can definitely find time in your day to get workouts in and still enjoy the good life that summer has to offer. Sit down and create a specific schedule tailored to the demands of your sport. I recommend you schedule your intense workouts in the morning as it’s more difficult to do them as the day moves on. Also you should assign certain days for specific areas of your training program such as resistance training, speed / agility training and conditioning. Some days you might have a training session and practice, in that case I recommend handling your strength and conditioning workout in the AM and your practice in the PM. Once you create this schedule, be sure to stick with it. This will certainly pay off once your season comes around. To make sure you keep up with the schedule, post it on a calendar in your home or at least hang it up somewhere visible in your room.
Set Personal Goals:
It’s always great to actually notice and feel some improvement in your conditioning and skills. Go ahead and set some goals for yourself so that you can feel inspired to get out and train each day. The key point here is to write your goals down and be specific. Goal example: “To improve my overall strength by 10% over the next 3 months.” You can measure this by keeping track of your workouts and the amount of weight you are using per lift / exercise. Once you start seeing the slightest progression in your game, you will definitely want to continue making progress with your training program. You can set pre-season goals, so that you’re in top shape and ready once pre-season practices start, as well as set goals for the season to motivate you to strive for perfecting your overall abilities in your sport.
Tackle Your Weaknesses:
The downtime you find during the off-season provides the perfect opportunities for you to analyze your weaknesses and tackle them head-on. There is always some aspect of your game that could use improvement. Take a moment to reflect on past performances and list the areas where you believe you could improve the most and why. I’d also ask someone you trust, whether it’s a coach or one of your parents, what areas of your performance could you improve the most. This will help provide clarity on what areas you should focus on.
Your weaknesses could range anywhere from rehabbing an injury to improving your flexibility to working on your jump shot. In general, progression in any sport is highly dependent on athletes’ abilities to address their weak points directly in order to become successful, complete and consistent performers.
Stay Motivated and Disciplined:
There will always be days in which you just don’t feel the drive to go out and train on your own. If you feel yourself lacking this motivation, working out with a partner or a group will help you stay on track. Even if you don’t feel like doing a set workout on some days, you can keep it fun by playing pick-up games or mixing up the type of workout. In addition, having a set workout schedule can become pretty monotonous. To help you break away from this, don’t be afraid to add some variety to your workouts by doing things like cross training. Ex. Instead of running wind sprints you could do stadium stairs at top speed or run up a hill with interval speeds. You can even condense longer workouts into smaller increments of time. Your workout will be more rigorous, but it may serve as incentive to just get the training done quickly and open up more spare time in your day to relax and hang out. Ex. Instead of 45 – 60 min. upper body lift you could pick 5 upper body exercises and do a circuit routine from one exercise to the next with 30 seconds rest for two cycles and be done within 20 minutes. Whatever it takes, find your source of motivation and keep working towards perfecting your game.
In the end, the work you dedicate during the off-season will not only help you reach your potential, but it will also make you stand out to coaches by reflecting strong character, discipline, and dedication. Don’t be the kid who’s lagging and complaining during preseason sessions because you’re simply out of shape and rusty. You won’t be helping the team and you may potentially get dropped down or even cut from the team. No matter which sport you’re involved in, the bottom line is that commitment is key during the offseason. Managing your time, setting some goals, and working to eliminate your weaknesses should help you stay motivated and on top of your game. Once you start receiving feedback through your progression, you will want to push yourself to reach your greatest potential.
