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Off
Season Training:
Coach Gil. Navarro
Athletic
preparation is about optimizing the attributes ideal to your specific
sport, or a particular position in that sport.
No
amount of training in the gym can ever produce a world-class athlete by
itself. Sport-specific training can make the difference in your talent.
Athletic
preparation is as much about spirit, heart, and soul as it is your
physical body. Any training program designed to prepare you to perform
your best will be as demanding mentally as it is physically. Most every
champion athlete had to get to the 'point of no return' in their
mind before their body followed. You may not have dreams of pursuing a
professional baseball career but that doesn't mean you don't want to get
the most out of the talent you already possess. There is nothing better
you can do to prepare your spirit, mind, and body to withstand the
immense competition than to commit to excellence in your out-of-season
training.
There
is no "one way or best way" to prepare for a particular
athletic activity other than the specific activity itself. You need a
solid physical base of strength, endurance, and flexibility. These areas
of physical preparation are broken down into subcomponents such as agility,
speed, balance, injury prevention, muscular
endurance and
power.
Your
mindset is ultimately the controller of what your body is allowed to do
in the "heat of the moment". When you're bombarded
with thoughts of doubt and fear and your body "suggests"
to you it can go no further, all of the physical readiness in the world
will be wasted if the mind is not already at the point of no return.
Athletic
preparation is ultimately a matter of unleashing the potential that
already resides in your body. Effective athletic preparation is not
necessarily a glorified version of boot camp. It's not about seeing
how much you can tolerate by driving yourself into the ground. It's
about capturing, uncovering, and polishing attributes previously not
utilized to their full potential. Regardless of the specific position
you play, the base regimen will be similar. What will vary is the
emphasis put on each area and the auxiliary drills and exercises that
may need to be added or substituted. The actual tools of choice in
athletic preparation are as widespread as the imagination. There is no
use in performing exercises or drills that offer little in the way of
return-for-effort or increase the chance of injury.
All
training whether in the gym or on the field engrave into your ability to
recover. When you spend greater amounts of time on the practice field,
you naturally decrease gym time. The most important element in any
training program is consistency and compliance rather than gut-busting
effort in every workout. This is where a personal strength coach can be
invaluable in coordinating your workout and practice schedules to
optimize your performance.
Keep
in mind: too much of a good thing can be even worse than no
preparation training at all. Many athletes have been seriously injured
due to over-training in the gym and by allowing fatigue to build up to a
point of injury on the field. Most every serious injury in high-level
athletics can be avoided with wise preparation. Your preparation must
include off-season training, pre-season training, pre/post-competition
practices and in-season training. Your most demanding training will be
in the off-season from which you will taper-off and specify as the
season approaches. In-season, you want to maintain what you have
achieved during the off-season and pre-season without
performance-hampering fatigue.
The
time is now... Start preparing for the 2004 season so you can be in your
best shape when you hit the ground running.
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