Off Season to Pre Season – 6 Month Training Program
The goal of active recovery is for the athletes to tend to any injuries that have occurred during the season, and remain active but not participating in basketball specific activity. The goal of the off season program is to build muscle mass and aerobic capacity and then moving into pre season the goal is to refine all of that growth and prepare for sport specific demands and movements.
The first month is active recovery, the next three months is off – season training and finally the last two months is pre season training.
This 6 month set is a macrocycle with each phase being a mesocycle and each week a microcycle.
Active Recovery (1Month):
During this month, athletes are encouraged to seek out professionals to tend to any injuries and to remain active and enjoy a break from training specifically for basketball.
Athlete should be active at least five days a week and should try new activities they do not normally get to participate in during the season. Athletes should participate in activities that are 60-80% intensity twice a week for 1 hour minimum. The other three days the athletes should participate in activities with an intensity between 40-50% for an 1 hour to 2 hours. Athletes are encouraged to not exceed this expectation because their bodies require active rest to prevent overtraining and injuries that are acquired from it. On the other hand, athletes should remain active to ensure there is not an excess in muscle lost.
Some examples of activities are hiking, swimming, running, yoga, and other recreational sports.
Off Season (4 Months):
During these next 3 months, the primary resistance training goal is hypertrophy. We want the athletes to gain muscle mass so that we can then train the muscle for sport specific movement in pre-season. The program will consists of resistance training for hypertrophy three days a week, aerobic training in zone 1 two days a week and two days for rest (typically the weekend). The hypertrophy will consists of a day of upper body, a day of lower body and a day of core. Exercises will be about 12 reps, 3 sets, high weight (~ 80% 1 RM) and little rest. For aerobic training we will be prescribing zone 1 jogging (60-70% HRR) for 30 minutes.
A sample work out program can be found under the prescription menu or training program for 1 month. Program will increase by 10% each week typically either by increasing the percentage of 1 RM or number of repetitions in a set for the resistance training or by time duration for the aerobic training.
Pre-Season (2 Months):
During these 2 months, the primary resistance training goal is sport specific movement, power and strength. We want the athletes to fine-tune the muscles that they have built and the muscle fibers they have recruited. The program will still consists of three days of resistance training and two days of cardiovascular training with two days rest but the exercises on those days will be different. The resistance program will have fewer repetitions, more sets, quicker tempo and greater rest periods. This will insure that the athletes are training for strength and power. The cardiovascular training will become more sports specific with agility drills, sprints, and interval training. The athletes will be building to their peak when the basketball season will begin.
All three types of programs allow for the athletes to train, recover and build causing a linear increase in their exercise progression and abilities.
At the end of each month, we will test the athlete’s one rep max which will adjust the weight appropriately for their ability.