Creating a Sustainable Training Program

We’ve discussed the dangers of detraining. The strength, conditioning, and speed loss that has occurred due to lockdowns is bigger than anything the sports community has seen before. We broke down how injury risk has increased, and what can be done to combat that and ease your athletes back into a training and conditioning routine.

But now the question remains. How do you sustain it?

Two critical factors in sustaining your athlete’s training program and its positive impacts are establishing a base energy system focus and then creating an action plan around it.

The Base Energy System 

Every athlete has multiple energy systems they pull from to be successful in their sport. If an athlete focuses too much on only one or a few of these systems, they’ll be missing critical areas in their skill set. The best athletes are skilled in every energy system, not just a select few. These energy systems include:

  • Aerobic 
  • Anaerobic 
  • Mobility 
  • Flexibility 
  • Strength

Every athlete needs ample work on all energy systems to ensure their success. When creating a sustainable training program for your athletes, work on maintaining or improving different energy systems with a variety of exercises and movement practices to give them a well-rounded edge on their competition.

The Action Plan in 4 Steps

While all coaches want the best for their athletes, they are human and are facing many uncertainties, just like their athletes. While we can’t plan for every unknown, there are four basic principles for creating a sustainable training program as sports begin to return to normal.

  1. Progressively increase volume and intensity 
  2. Retrain specific physical qualities for the sport your athletes are involved with
  3. Monitor your athletes’ responses to the training & practice 
  4. Recommend recovery efforts to ensure adaptation and prevent overuse/injury 

True Athlete Performance is working with teams to create phased-in training plans, athlete readiness screenings, and load monitoring. This means helping athletes and coaches plan how to balance the athlete’s needs, with the likely scenario of getting back to seasons quickly.

Our Return to Sports Guide has a lot of vital information that will give you the edge to get prepped, planned, and ready to welcome back your athletes very soon! 

Download the Return to Sport Guide