Taking Advantage of Off-Season Time

Winter is ending rather quickly on the east coast. For the average person, spring means that the end of the financial year and the school year is approaching. However, for athletes and coaches, it is also the end the competitive season for most winter sports, as well as most school indoor sports such as volleyball and basketball. Once the championships, exams, term papers or year's review are completed, it is a good time to get ready for the next season, but first it is very important to take time to recharge our batteries, take some time off, and re-discover the passions that drive us to do what we love. 

This time of the year is also important to take time and reflect on the season that is ending: what was well done, what was less successful and what needs to be done to improve in the future. Personally and with the athletes I work with, I like to put those reflections in writing (on paper or on the computer), which might me more time consuming, but ultimately helps to organize thoughts and gives us the opportunity to share ideas with people that can help us to develop (coaches, mentors, friends or family). 

In addition to reflecting, the upcoming off-season is an ideal time for working on technical and physical skills to help performance. To illustrate the importance of this point, imagine two pyramids, a wide one and a narrow one. Both are equally steep, however the wider one will be able to reach higher because its base is stronger and allows to support more weight. Developing skills works the same way: each year, when you start working during the off season, you work on basic technical skills, basic strength or flexibility and those basics increase your overall potential. 

Another benefit of working on those physical and technical skills is confidence. Confidence is the belief in our own ability to successfully perform at a task. In sports, there is a strong, direct link between confidence and athletic performance. Moreover, confidence facilitates the development of mental toughness. Back to our pyramid analogy, confidence is the mortar that holds everything together. Unlike other skills that you can work on directly, it improves with doing the work, day-in and day-out. More precisely, confidence comes from 3 main sources: training, feedback and pre-competition practice. If we take an exam at school as an example, doing your homework and studying (training) helps to increase your confidence that you will perform at the exam. Getting positive, precise and constructive feedback from your teachers, friends or parents also helps boost your confidence in your ability to master the content of the class. Finally, doing a practice exam or weekly tests (pre-competition practice) will seal that confidence and get you ready to perform on exam day. 

Now, let see how we can do the same process in sports: 

1- Plan 

In your end of the year/season debrief, you can reflect on specific areas in which you want to improve. Those can be physical (strength, vertical jumping height, flexibility, endurance...), technical (shooting precision, outside ski pressure, skating speed...) or mental (focus, visualization, mental toughness, decision making...). Once you have identified these areas, you can select 3 main aspects you want to improve and write them down. Then, identify your starting point (I can jump 20 inches) and your target (I want to jump 24 inches) with a time frame (by the end of June). The third step it to plan what you will do to reach that goal. It is the most important step! Setting a goal and not working on it daily or weekly is self-defeating. Imagine your plan like a stair case: your goal and target are the top of the stairs, and right now you are at the bottom of those stairs. What are the steps you need to make to get there? How do they unfold in daily, weekly and monthly training?

Example: 

Goal: Improve Jumping

Current performance: 20 inches

Target performance: 24 inches (22 inches)

Deadline: End of June (end of May)

Plan:  Twice a week in the gym for May and June do 10 squat jumps at the end of every practice

2- Social Support / Feedback

To help you achieve your target, you can use the help of others. You can use teammates, friends, parents or coaches by telling them your goal. That way, they can help you stay on track, give you that little incentive to go to practice on a tougher morning, and they will assist you to stay accountable to your goal. Your coach or teammates can also help you by providing feedback, letting you know how you're doing ("you're jumping higher than last practice" "your kicks are getting more precise") and giving you positive and constructive cues that will help you get better ("use your arms more to jump higher" "plant your foot closer to the ball" "keep your eye on the puck as you shoot"). Feedback is extremely important to reach your goal and to build confidence. 

However, just like the pyramid, you want to go up and build. Destructive feedback (and self-talk) is not going to help. To build constructive feedback, identify what you don't do enough and frame your ideas in a positive way: tell yourself what you want to do, not what you don’t want to do. You can find ways to give yourself feedback, too. An example for shooting precision would be to keep track of your accuracy (shots on target out of 10). When your accuracy is getting up, it is important to challenge yourself (increase the distance of the shooting, jump on a higher box...). Those are steps in the staircase and it will help you reach your goal and build your confidence. 

To conclude, the services of a coach, a strength coach or a mental training consultant can help you make your plan and guide you in identifying the steps of your “staircase” towards reaching your target. Don’t hesitate to contact one if you require support for your off-season training!

What are your goals for the off-season? How do you plan on achieving them? Feel free to share and comment in the section below!

• Zinsser, N., Bunker, L., & Williams, J.M. (2006). Cognitive Techniques for Building Confidence and Enhacing Performance. In J.M. Williams (Ed.), Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (5th ed., pp. 284–311). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 
• Connaughton, D., Wadey, R., Hanton, S., & Jones, G. (2008). The development and maintenance of mental toughness: Perceptions of elite performers. Journal of Sports Sciences, 26, 83–95.

Using Imagery in Strength and Conditioning

Mental training involves the use of skills that research has shown to be present in the training of successful athletes compared to less successful ones (Gould et.al., 2002 ; Weinberg et.al., 1994). Those skills, rather than innate characteristics, can be developed through formal training  (Durand-Bush et.al., 2002 ; Gould et.al., 2002). As athletes spend a good deal of their training time in the weight room it would be a good place to integrate mental skill training as performers using mental skills were more successful when they use them both in training and competition (Frey et.al., 2003 ; Thomas et.al., 1999). Psychological skills like goal setting, confidence building, seem to be more widely used by strength coaches, whereas more complex cognitive skills such as imagery seem to be use considerably less (Radcliffe et.al., 2015). Mental imagery can be very beneficial to athlete for motor learning, as it activates the muscles that are going to work during the real movement. Jody et.al. (1990) showed that the same muscles used for juggling are activated in the same sequence when visualizing the movement. Your brain is literally practicing the skill or movement you imagine. Imagery can also lead to improvement in strength. Lebon et.al. (2010) showed that imagery training, performed during a rest period, improved maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), which is the capacity to actively contract your muscle, a higher MVC indicate that you can activate more motor unit in your muscles and therefore produce more force. 

In the weight room context where complex movement requiring focus, good technical skills and strong muscle contraction, visualization can be very helpful. The first step is to prepare for visualization by relaxing and clearing your mind. Simple breathing routine can help to achieve this state and training make it more effective and faster (Nideffer, 1979). Then the athlete only have to imagine the movement he want to perform (like a squat), the strength coach role is simply to guide the imagery to relevant cues : « push through the heels », « chest up » etc. There are 3 important elements to effective visualization : Clarity, control and positivity (Weinberg & Gould, 2007). A simple way to help athletes progressively become better at visualization is to ask them how clear or in control their visualization was (out of 5 using fingers in a group setting work well). You  can also help the athlete get better at a specific element, for clarity give them progressively more details to imagine. For control, guide them to do specific part of the movement, like taking a pause in a squat or feeling stronger through the push. Finally, positivity of the image is very important as Murphy et.al. (1988) showed that visualizing with fear, anger or relaxation lead to lower strength level. It is essential to visualize what you want as an outcome. Key words can be use as a reminder when you are about to start visualizing such as « Strong core » « Stiff legs », to keep the focus toward the outcome : getting stronger.

• Radcliffe, J, Comfort, P & Fawcett, P. Psychological strategies included by strength and conditioning coaches in applied strength and conditioning. JSCR : 29 (9), 2641-2654, 2015.
• McGill, S. Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance. Backfitpro Inc. p183-184, 2014.
• Lebon, F, Collet, C, Guillot, A. Benefit of motor imagery training on muscle strength. JSCR 24 : 1680-1687, 2010.
• Weinberg,S, & Gould, D. Foundations of Sport and Exercice Psychology. 4th ed., 2007.
• Jowdy, P, Harris, V. Muscular Responses During Mental Imagery as a Function of Motor Skill Level. JSEP : 12, 191-201, 1990.
• Murphy, S, Woolfolk, L, Budney, J. The Effects of Emotive Imagery on Strength Performance. JSEP : 10, 334-345, 1988.
• Deci, L & Ryan, M. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. 1985.
• Nideffer, R. The inner athlete : mind plus muscle for winning. 1979.

Women’s motivation toward RE training

Motivation is a very important factor in maintaining commitment towards training. In there research, Focht et.al. (2015) assessed the effects of resistance exercise (RE) on the affects of further participation. Their subject were recreationally trained women that performed 3 sessions at different load (40% 1RM , 70% 1RM and Self-Selected). Their results showed that the Self-Selected (SS) condition reported the highest intention towards future RE training. This is a direct representation that Autonomy-Supportive (AS) environment can increase motivation (Deci & Ryan 1985). Motivation is affected mainly by 3 aspects : Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness. An AS climate is designed to give some freedom of choice to participants to help increase motivation towards the activity. Self-Selected RE seem to be an effective strategy to increase motivation. 

 A second result from the study was that « affective response » were not related to intention or self-efficacy post-training. In the SS and 40% 1RM session, subjects rated increase in pleasure during the RE. Whereas in the 70% 1RM session they rated « displeasure » , which was only a transient situation and affect improved post-training. The authors suggest that affect improve after acute RE irrespectively of the load. Those results indicate that immediate pleasure is going to be higher if the subject use light load or SS load, however heavier loads have no effect on post-training affect and intention of future training. These findings are similar to those of Ekkekakis et.al. (2008), where they use aerobic exercise Below, At and Above ventilatory threshold. Higher intensity was link to more acute displeasure, where affect post-exercise was irrespective of exercise intensity. These results are very interesting since they show that it is possible to impose higher intensity of work without negatively influencing motivation. The authors suggest that preparing women to manage the potential discomfort will help reduce the acute displeasure associated with imposing higher intensity.  

• Focht B.C., Garver M.J., Cotter J.A., Devor S.T., Lucas A.R., Fairman C.M.AFFECTIVE RESPONSES TO ACUTE RESISTANCE EXERCISE PERFORMED AT SELF-SELECTED AND IMPOSED LOADS IN TRAINED WOMEN. JSCR 29-11, 3067-3074. 2015.
• Ekkekakis, P, Hall, EE, and Petruzzello, SJ. The relationship between exercise intensity and affective responses demystified: To crack the 40-year-old nut, replace the 40-year-old nutcracker! Ann Behav Med 35: 136–149, 2008.
• Deci E.L. & Ryan R.M. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum. 1985