When the lights turn on Friday night, athletes need to be ready to perform at their absolute best. Unfortunately, one of the biggest mistakes high school football players often make is thinking the work in the weight room ends once the season begins. In reality, in-season strength and conditioning is just as important as the off-season, if not more.
Why In-Season Training Matters
The season is long and demanding. Between practices, games, and schoolwork, athletes are putting their bodies under constant stress. Without a proper in-season plan, strength, speed, and explosiveness can decline within weeks. That means the athlete who spent months grinding in the weight room may actually get weaker as the season goes on. The result? Higher risk of injury, decreased performance, and less confidence when it matters most: playoffs. As the old saying goes, if you don’t use it, you lose it!
The main goals of in-season training are to maintain strength, mitigate the risk of injury, and keep athletes feeling fresh and powerful for when it matters most: the fourth quarter! When done right, in-season training can even lead to all-time PR’s. Yes, you heard that right!
Key Principles of In-Season Training
- Quality over Quantity
Athletes likely don’t need two-hour gym sessions during the season. Short, focused lifts two to 3 x per week depending on schedule demands and manageable training loads are typically enough to maintain strength, size, and power without adding unnecessary fatigue.
- Emphasize the Big Lifts
Movements like squats, hinges, lunges, presses, and pulls are the foundation (not unlike our offseason training programs). These compound exercises provide the most “bang for your buck” while keeping workouts efficient. There may be some time for “dessert,” like our biceps and triceps pump work, but these things are certainly not the main focus; you can’t have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat!
- Keep the Explosiveness
Jumps, medicine ball throws, sprints, and Olympic lift variations should stay in the program all year long in appropriate volumes. They maintain and continue to improve the speed and power athletes need to dominate on the field, no matter what position you play.
- Don’t Skip Mobility & Recovery
Long practices and hard hits take a toll. Mobility work, soft tissue care, and proper warm-ups go a long way in keeping athletes healthy across a 10-12 week season. When possible, consider using more resources like massage therapy during the season as well to ensure you’re ready to dominate on game day!
- Adjust Volume, Auto-Regulate Intensity
Not every week is the same. If a player feels beat up after a physical Friday night, the weight room will likely need to adjust. The goal is to train smart: not to leave athletes sore on game day. Louie Simmons said it best: “we don’t train minimally or maximally, we train optimally.”
Compared to the offseason, you will likely need less volume during the inseason. At IPC, we use technology to seamlessly measure athlete readiness which allows us to make changes on the fly when necessary. These include force plates (comparing to baseline jump and IMTP testing) and Velocity Based Training protocols, to name a few! These can help us ensure that we’re training with appropriate loads and volumes depending on the version of each athlete that shows up to train with us on any given day! After all, we’d rather shoot with a sniper than a shotgun.
- Fuel Your Body, Don’t Sabotage It
Training is only half the battle; the other half is nutrition. Late-night pizza, fast food, and sugary drinks might be convenient and enjoyable, especially after a big win, but they’re working against performance. Athletes need real fuel: lean proteins to repair muscles; complex carbs to provide energy; healthy fats for sustained energy, vitamin absorption, and hormone balance; and plenty of water to stay hydrated. The difference between showing up sharp or short in the fourth quarter often comes down to what you put on your plate Monday through Friday.
The Payoff
Athletes who stick to a smart in-season program finish the year stronger than they started, and we have years of data to prove it! Instead of crawling to the finish line, they’re still explosive in Week 10, still powerful in playoffs, and far better prepared heading into the next off-season. It’s no surprise, they’re usually the ones holding a trophy over their heads in November as well.
In Closing
In-season training isn’t optional, but rather it’s a competitive advantage. The strongest, fastest, and most durable athletes are usually the ones who kept their edge in the weight room all season long and fueled their bodies the right way.
Thankfully as athletes reach the next level (post-secondary football), strength and conditioning programs are built into their routine. Having said that, why not develop these habits early while you’re still in high school? At Iron Performance Center, we’ve been training the best football players in Niagara for the last 7 years. If you’re ready to take your game to the next level, stay healthy through the season, and separate yourself from the competition, it’s time to train where the pros train. Send us an email to learn how!