By Amy Taylor
Sponsored by Competitive Edge
Student athletes spend so much time training during the season that it may be tempting to let things slide during the off-season. Off-season training is critical to keeping up strength, endurance and getting adequate rest for muscles to heal.
How off-season training helps
According to an article by the University of Ohio, “The off-season is when athletes can improve their strength and learn how to correctly access this newfound strength. No matter the sport, athletes place unequal pressures on parts of their body. These imbalances can be dangerous if left unchecked; therefore correcting them can improve an athlete’s health and prevent injury.”
For example, a baseball or softball player would rely heavily on his or her arms, which means more rest for the upper body in the off-season while the athlete focuses on developing cardiovascular endurance and leg strength.
Off-season training helps:
- Prevent injuries during the season. Off-season training builds muscle strength, bone density and improves reaction time, which can all be injury-preventing factors when it’s game time.
- Maintain cardiovascular health and endurance. Cardiovascular endurance takes a comparatively long time to gain when you look at how little time it takes to lose. The off-season should be a time for some rest and recovery, but too much can take away from the hard-earned endurance athletes develop during the season.
- Develop focus. Students should train less frequently during the off-season and slow training down. This gives them the opportunity to get back to basics and really hone in on which skills they want to develop, in a time when the pressure of the season is off.
- Keep sports-specific skills sharp. Athletes can keep muscle memory sharp by continuing to use those sports-specific skills during the off-season.
Where can students train in the off season?
Competitive Edge has everything student athletes need to stay in shape and practice sport-specific skills in the off-season. Here are some of their facilities and offerings.
- Batting cages – Keep batting skills sharp during the off-season.
- Weight room – Weight-training keeps athletes strong and helps injury-proof them for the upcoming season.
- General athletic training – They offer Sports performance and Vertimax resistance jump training, cardio, adult fit classes and more.
- Simulated golf – No matter the weather, golfers can keep skills sharp for the season in their simulated indoor golf experience.
- Clinics – They offer clinics specific to various sports like baseball, basketball, volleyball and soccer, as well as general clinics like speed and agility training.
- Professional instruction – Train as a team or one-on-one with professional coaches that can help with both sport-specific and general off-season training.
Train as a team
Competitive Edge offers team packages so that everyone can work together to develop themselves as athletes and as a team. In addition to Competitive Edge’s team packages, they also offer teams use of the studios where they can watch gameplay videos or have presentations if they need to. Teams can rent space at the studio and the equipment as well. For more information or to set up any of these services, please email info@competitiveedgeva.com.
Amy Taylor (ataylor@princewilliamliving.com) is a Contributing Writer for Prince William Living.
