Re-Season Training: A Post COVID-19 Training Plan
- Robert Reichert Jr.
- Jul 28, 2020
- 8 min read
Not in our wildest dreams would any of us have thought that a pandemic like this would have happened to us. Pandemics are things of the past. Albeit, the last pandemic was 102 years ago, but that feels like a millennia ago, right?! As naive as that mindset can be, history tends to repeat itself unfortunately in this scenario.
At this point we are all in our many different stages of “COVID-19 blues”. Depending where you live, your state may be trying to open back up, your job may have furloughed you, sent you home, or laid you off. Many, if not all of us are in a whirlwind twilight zone and its a tough one to navigate.
Looking at the sports and coaching world, COVID has turned it all upside down, thrown it all around and chewed it out. It has been a roller coaster of emotions and a series of unfortunate events for many individuals in front office positions, coaching positions and the athletes in the sports affected.
The NHL and the NBA have stopped their seasons until further notice with plans to start up in the near future. (Update: NBA Start date is 7/30/20). The NFL is playing around with options as their season has some ‘time’ before it starts and the MLB has been negotiating and renegotiating everything from salaries, games played, benefits and a myriad of other disputes. (Update: The MLB season started on 7/23/20)
The hope is that all sports will come back in full swing (pun intended) and finish seasons that stopped abruptly or start abbreviated seasons under safe precautions. Sports like baseball and football, though their seasons had not begun when COVID hit, will till be able to play some games, rather than none.
Many of you may be asking yourself, “yes, we know all of this; Now get to your point!”. I can’t resist a good build up and back story. Who knows, someone may come across this who has been living in a cave or some other interstellar universe and have no idea what the COVID pandemic is about
As strength and conditioning coaches, one of the main priorities that we account for on a daily occurrence is athlete management: From recovery, fatigue, strength, speed, conditioning, mobility, and nutrition, the strength and conditioning coach is there to assist all of his or her athletes in producing the most efficient and athletic product possible.
Weight training and conditioning programs are one of the many pillars of the strength and conditioning profession and countless hours are spent perfecting them for our teams. Coaches frequently look ahead in the calendar and consider many factors, as a means to best influence athletes and challenge them to physically adapt overtime.
As we transition into a post COVID world where our athletes have been quarantined at home with limited accessibility outdoors since March, eating a diet of inconsistent nutrition, and with limited to no weight training or conditioning, there are many factors that must be considered before we re-introduce them to regular training.
The approach that I have taken with my athletes has varied due to the wide range of athletes I have, in addition to a wide training age. One thing is for sure, not all of our athletes will be on the same level.
As we transition moving forward with our new COVID precautions, all athletes will need to make up for lost time. Below are some suggestions when re-programming and returning back to training
I. Reassessments
Time may be limited and everyones patience may be thin, but jumping into a program without any idea of how the athlete is performing is negligent. The first 2 days of a “re”season program should be “re-assessing” the athlete and re-introducing them to movements, regardless if its redundant. I say this in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but we need to find their PCP Level or Post-COVID Performance Level.
When re-assessing your athletes, create your battery of tests and assign a max score to each movement. An easy to follow method could be using a 0, 1, 2, 3 protocol, similar to an FMS Screen.
0 – Can not preform movement due to injury or severe discomfort
1 – Can preform the movement but has pain/discomfort
2 – Can preform the movement but shows movement faults and imperfections
3 – Can preform the movement with no issues or movement faults
FOR EXAMPLE:
Initial Questionnaire
Love it or hate it, Athlete Monitoring questionnaires performed with willing and honest athletes can provide a ton of feedback which will give the sports medicine staff the information they will need to develop sound “Return to Play” protocols and regular training programs
Example Topics: Sleep Quality, Sleep Duration, Hydration, Mood, Energy Level, Soreness, Stress Level, Fatigue level, Mental Focus, Nutrition/Hungry Level, Nutrition Quality
For more information, Google Search: Athlete Monitoring Questionnaires
Overhead Squat
Film 3 repetitions from the Front, Side (L/R) and back positions. Review, take notes and critique the videos. Look for movement faults as you normally would during an initial assessment to build your profile on your athlete. Over the break, many of them may have been sitting and inactive for prolonged periods of time which could have developed into problematic asymmetries leading to injury
Do your homework on your athletes before diving head first back into training
Core Stability Test
Can your athletes perform repetitive plank variations in a continuous manner without losing form or failing?
Plank Series Progression: Side Plank, Front Forearm Plank, Side Plank
Athletes should perform this progression for 3 sets. Resting :45 between each set.
Each Plank Variation should be held for 30 seconds.
Single Leg Balance
Balance is an undertrained aspect in my opinion. All athletes need to have a strong sense of balance, coordination and “know” where they are as they are performing on the field
A stronger sense of balance will improve processing, reduce stress and create greater opportunities for them to be successful on the field
Examples: Single Leg Balance Drill: Partners face each other, both standing on 1 leg (balancing as best as possible), tossing 1-2 tennis balls back and fourth to one another for X amount of reps, or time
Progressions can be added with certain eyes closed or catching with one hand.
Conditioning Test / Re-Evaluation
I tossed back and fourth on this issue several times and I ultimately believe that a baseline of conditioning is needed to be known before moving forward with your team or clients. At this point in your re-assessment, a full blow 300 yard shuttle, 1 mile run test, or beep test protocol that would normally take place in the offseason needs to stay on the shelf.
Ask the question: “If my athletes haven’t gotten off the couch once during all of this, what can I have them do?”
Cardiovascular Conditioning Reevaluation
Sounds fancy, right? Ok maybe not But the intent is to have a baseline of information by using the equipment you have at hand and factoring in what type and how much workload your athletes can handle. In addition, the weather has been very hot in many parts of the U.S. which poses another risk factor when conditioning our athletes.
Ex: Recumbent Bike Conditioning Reevaluation
Have your athlete perform 10 sets of 30 second moderate sprints on a bike at 120 RPMs, resting 120 seconds in-between each set to maximize recovery
Speak with them, gauge their intensity and document their recovery over the next few days
Ex: Jump Rope Conditioning Reevaluation
Have your athlete perform 10 sets at 20 seconds each set, varying foot positions to minimize the intensity on their calves, and resting 80 seconds in-between each set
Speak with them, gauge their intensity and document their recovery over the next few days
Ex: Shuttle Run Conditioning Reevaluation
Have your athletes run 6 x 50 yard shuttles (change direction at 25 yards), at a 65-70% intensity rate, resting 60 seconds in-between each set
Speak with them, take notes, gauge their temperment, and document their recovery over the next few days
All in all there are several methods to consider when reevaluating your athletes, but taking into consideration the outside factors from COVID and what your ultimate fitness goal is. A scaled reintroduction to testing will only benefit your athletes moving forward.
II. Initial Programming
As Strength & Conditioning professionals we have a myriad of methods to choose from when designing and programming for our athletes. From Standard linear periodization, Undulating periodization, Conjugate method, French Contrast, West Side Variations, and the list continues.
At the heart of our programming are the athletes we train and the adaptation we want them to receive. When returning, keep your exercise selection and verbiage consistent, as it was pre-COVID. This is not this time to introduce all new exercises, however, some variety, with the proper intensity, can be beneficial.
If timing allows, a re-season program should last 4-8 weeks before going back into more consistent, pre-COVID training. Some athletes will need longer to catch up, as well.
Moving forward we can look at important programming factors which will best suit our athletes as they are returning to team activities. In addition, we have detailed information from our “re-assessment” tests which can lead us on the right programming path.
Frequency
Week 1: 2x/week + Conditioning
Week 2: 2x/week + Conditioning
Week 3: 2x/week + Mobility Day (optional) + Conditioning
Week 4: 3x/week + Mobility Day + Conditioning
Volume
Week 1: 1×20 Repetitions
Week 2: 2×15 Repetitions
Week 3: 3×10 Repetitions
Week 4: 3×10 Repetitions
Intensity
Week 1: Light
Week 2: Light
Week 3: Moderate
Week 4: Moderate/Hard
Type
Week 1- Total Body
Week 2- Total Body
Week 3- Total Body
Week 4- Total Body
As the next 4 weeks approach, expanding the exercise selection and other training factors should be considered only after assessing and reevaluating your athletes. Note: All of the information and suggestions above need to be determined on a case by case, team by them basis.
III. Conditioning
As with weight training, conditioning must be programmed into the re-season program. Using the same intensities and frequencies above for weight training should be considered with conditioning.
Sprints, Shuttles, Build Up’s, and Agility Circuits are some to name a few. As mentioned above, taking a simple approach will be best suited for optimal performance.
One factor to keep in mind is soft tissue and hamstring health, as these injuries are far too common and can sideline an athlete for several weeks. As we know, with shortened seasons and limited games to play, athletes can not afford to miss more time due to injury because they were too aggressive training post-COVID.
IV. Recovery
The final piece of a re-season program is addressing proper recovery post activity. Recovery tactics in itself can be an entire blog post, however a few factors are important and must be repeated on a daily basis to your athletes and teams
Sleep
Research shows that athletes need between 7-9 hours of sleep each night in a cold, dark room. Limit and remove exposure to blue light from cell phones while laying in bed to increase sleep performance and to recover fully.
Hydration
As a rule of thumb, all people need to drink 1/2 their body weight in water. For athletes, this may be more, as during practice and games, sweating will increase fluid loss.
A daily test, prior to practice or a game is to weight yourself.
For example: If you weigh 200 pounds before the game and you weight 195 pounds after the game, 5 pounds of fluids were lost.
In order to recoup that fluid loss, 16 ounces per pound lost need to be consumed (16 ounces is 1 bottle of water)
Diet
Eating whole, nutritious foods is where recovery and strength gains come together. Like fuel to your car, nutrition is sometimes a forgotten key and underserved when designing a program or when discussing recovery.
Eating whole, non-processed, nutritious foods is where recovery and strength gains come together. Like fuel to your car, nutrition is what drives our bodies and supplies the resources needed to perform. However, nutrition is a forgotten component and is underserved when designing a program and discussing recovery methods.
As much time as athletes spend in the gym, a quarter of that should be educating and learning about nutrition and healthy tactics to building a competitive diet. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins make up the important macronutrients that are needed on a daily basis to making strength gains on the field while recovering properly during bedtime.
In short, total consumption of carbohydrates should be around the 50-60% range where fats should be consumed around the 15-20% range. Lastly, proteins should be consumed approximately 20-25% of the total diet.
Finally as we all (hopefully) return to our jobs and adapt to the “new normals” of Strength & Conditioning, lets continue keep in mind the simple mindset of helping our athletes overcome the physical effects of the pandemic and traverse this journey with them. This will be a time in our life and career that we will surely never forget, so when the time rolls down and we get to look back at our response to the pandemic, let is be one of success and accomplishment; keeping the athlete first and foremost.
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