Life is seasonal. Sports, the weather, holidays, activities, are all seasonal. There is an ebb and flow to all things. Embracing, not ignoring, this reality can be a really meaningful way to to add structure and longevity to your training and fitness, especially for outdoor athletes.
Static vs Dynamic
Things either change or stay the same. This is also true of how we approach training on a long term scale, say over the course of an entire year.
A ‘static’ approach might be exemplified by an individual who diligently works out 4x a week. Monday they strength train, Tuesday is cardio on the treadmill, Thursday is back to the weights again, and Saturday isa pickup basketball game with friends. They do this every week, every single week.
This approach works best for individuals who like extreme consistency and routine. It is also best suited to those who wish to maintain a good level of fitness but don’t have physical performance goals outside of the gym.
A ‘dynamic’ approach might be exemplified by a passionate backcountry skier. They train hard in the summer time, in the gym 3-4x a week building strength in preparation for winter when they may almost entirely discard with gym workouts in favor of skiing as much as possible.
This approach works best for individuals who have a distinct seasonality to their pursuits. Best suited to those who are simply utilizing training as a means to maximize their abilities doing whatever physical endeavors they do outside of the gym.
Why the pros do it
Across the board, professional athletes train with a very high degree of seasonality. Their training is very dynamic and it changes constantly throughout the year.
The reason for this because they want to perform at their absolute best when it counts. They want their fitness to reach its absolute peak state when they have the most important competitions. Conversely, they utilize the times when there are no competitions to rest, recoup, and begin building up for next year.
Top level athletic activity means stress on the body, a lot of it. Exceptional performances mean using up everything in the tank. After a season of emptying the tank, the body is worn out, risk of injury increases – the body is stressed to a point where performance is going to decrease drastically without time off. If you want to be able to go really hard for a ‘season’ you need to understand this means going easier somewhere else.
A year in the life of a nondescript pro athlete might like this
Off-season – spending a lot of time in the gym, building base level fitness, often referred to as GPP or general physical preparedness. This would be a good time to gain muscle, or improve body composition. Very little to no emphasis on sport specific practice
Preseason – the focus of training here is becoming more and more sport specific. Time here may be split between sport practice and peaking fitness in the gym. This may be the best time to focus on developing more perishable traits like power, and speed.
In-season – its game time. All energy and focus is allocated to performance. Any time spent in the gym serves to simply maintain the high level of fitness achieved by previous seasons while accruing the absolute minimal level of fatigue.
Post-season – Rest, rest, rest. The body needs to recover from the stress of the competition season and return to a healthy state. This is usually when athletes take a compete break from sport and simply relax before heading into the next off season.
Why you should do it too
Even if you are not a pro athlete, or even a competitive amateur athlete, there are some really good reasons to consider adopting some form of seasonality to your training structure.
Optimize performance – maybe there’s one sport or activity that you’re most passionate about and you want to drive continued progress in your performance. Tailoring your training year can help ensure that you’re in your best shape when that activity is in season
Avoid burnout and reduce risk of injury – having a straight forward time frame for when you know you’ll be going really hard and when you’ll be taking some time off is a great way to avoid burnout and running yourself into the ground. If you’re trying to just go hard all the time, its likely you will experience some degree of overtraining.
Life balance – taking time away from really focused training can be very healthy and is important to ensure that your not neglecting other parts of your life. Having a post-season where the main objective is to kick back and enjoy other things feels really good and provides enough time to reproach training again with vigor.
Life is seasonal – sometimes we don’t get to decide when we’re having a ‘post-season.’ Things like school, work, weather, traveling for the holidays etc. all dictate times when training may be much more difficult and instead of fighting this, we can incorporate it into our training. Thanksgiving to New Years can be a great time to slow down, enjoy time and food with loved ones.
Variety – Doing the same things all the time can be brutal. People don’t call going to the gym and working out regularly ‘the grind’ for nothing. Having a strong seasonality to your life and training can keep things feeling exciting and fresh.
Your passion 365 – if your sport has a specific season, maybe only a couple months, you’re left hanging around until next year. If you spend the off season, pre season training with in preparation it can make you feel like you’re now able to enjoy your passion all year long.
What it might look like
Here’s a brief example of how this approach might apply to the training of a backcountry skier.
Off-season – Big focus here on building up the body. Its summer time and there’s no snow so instead of hitting the slope, you’re using this time to build lean mass, strength, and aerobic endurance. You’re becoming physically prepared outside of practicing your sport. This phase could last anywhere from weeks to months.
Preseason – This might be late fall-early winter. Maybe its starting to snow and there’s an opportunity to get outside and ski a little bit but focus here is on putting the final touches on your gym work to reach an optimal level of fitness when its full on in season time.
In-season – its dumping snow and its time to ski your brains out! All focus is on enjoying your time outside and or performing at a high level. You might spend some time in the gym trying to retain your fitness but the real goal here is to put all your hard work to use. Spending too much time in the gym here can be counterproductive as it can add unproductive fatigue that only serves to take away from skiing.
Post-season – Its spring, the last turns of the season have been made and its time to put the skis up for the year. Relax, let your body recover from a long winter of pushing it hard and enjoy downtime or non skiing related activities. You need time to let your soft tissue heal up and let your body transition from a depleted state back to baseline.
Is this right for you?
If you are a focused athlete with a competitive season, or you just want to prioritize your training towards a certain activity, adopting a seasonal approach can be a game changer. That said, maybe it isn’t for you.
Some people prefer the consistency and stability of a more static training structure and that’s great. Maybe taking a chunk of time off from exercise makes it really hard to startup again, or maybe your primary goal is simply to be consistent in moving your body and being active.
Either way, you should train in a way that works for you, is in alignment with your goals and lifestyle and most of all, in a way that is healthy and sustainable.
Seasons
If its right for you, adopting a seasonal approach to training can take your performance to the next level. Whether you’re a professional skier, or you just want to get the most out of your summer mountain biking. For many of us, life outside of sport has a built in seasonality that might be better thoroughly embraced than blissfully ignored. This approach might be a really great way for you to get the most out of sport and the most out of the other aspects of your life as well.
