Off-season sport training for youth is important in order to prepare young athletes for the upcoming season. It is important for youth to focus on proper training to ensure that they are physically and mentally prepared for the upcoming season.
Strength and conditioning should focus on developing a strong foundation of core and lower body strength. This will help youth to move more efficiently and remain injury free.
Weight training exercises should be tailored to the athlete’s age and developmental level. Plyometrics, medicine ball exercises, and bodyweight movements can all be used to develop strength and power.
Flexibility and agility work will help to improve body control and reduce the risk of injury. Stretching and foam rolling should be done to help improve range of motion and flexibility.
Agility drills can also be included to help improve speed, coordination, and balance.
Finally, sport-specific work allows youth to focus on the skills required to excel at their sport. This can include drills that focus on shooting, passing, catching, kicking, dribbling, and footwork.
The off-season is a critical time for the development of youth athletes. However, this is a missed opportunity if young players don't take advantage of this time, as the lack of structure that inherently comes with the off-season can lead to reduced abilities for those who lack the self-discipline to adhere to a regular schedule. What these athletes are failing to understand is that you can absolutely lose games in the off-season by failing to prepare, as not only will your progress stall by neglecting to stack days of improvement on top of each other, you will almost certainly be getting outworked by your competition.
You can do any of the off-season sports training with weights, resistance, or just your body weight, but using VertiMax can help achieve results faster. It's incredible functionality allows users to perform almost any exercise and use movements just like when you play sports. The ability to transport and use VertiMax V8 Platforms or the Raptor equipment in the gym, on a field, or even at home makes working out convenient, especially for athletes who may not have access to high-level facilities.
There’s a reason that VertiMax equipment is used by countless trainers, coaches and athletic programs around the world across a variety of sports.. Whether you are training for football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, or track, VertiMax gives athletes the ability to focus their workouts with sport-specific exercises to help them prepare during the off-season. VertiMax can also help players no matter what their individual goal is, whether they are looking to improve their functional strength, increase their explosive ability, or develop their quickness. With that said, let’s take a look at some of the different ways VertiMax can support youth athletes during the off-season so that their performance stands out once the season gets started.
Having a strong core is essential for maintaining balance in any sport. With the VertiMax, developing a strong core is easy with versatility it offers.
Increasing your speed is a huge advantage in any sport, whether you need to beat your opponent down the field/court or are competing directly against them in a race. With the VertiMax, you can leverage the resistance it creates to maximize your ability to generate power in your running motion.
Most sports require more than just straight-line speed, but also the ability to move laterally or be quick in a short area. That’s where the VertiMax comes in, as there are numerous ways you can train to be more effective in these movements.
Explosiveness might not be inherent to every position in every sport, but for those who do need to be able to elevate vertically, it can give them a huge advantage over their opponent. The VertiMax is a great tool for improving your vertical jump, with a resistance system that is built to allow free range of motion. This video shows one of the best ways to use the VertiMax to increase your vertical jump, with the athlete doing box jumps while attaching the VertiMax to his waist and knees. This allows the athlete to really develop the power he’s generating from his lower body, therefore improving his explosiveness.
There was a time when it was ill-advised to encourage youth to strength train. It was a belief that strength training, especially weight-bearing programs (e.g., weightlifting), could affect a youth’s bone structure and growth plates. Recent studies show that you can do strength training and Free-Weight Resistance Training with youth. Resistance training can safely improve muscle and athleticism under supervision.
Another interesting fact is that most elite athletes were multi-sport athletes in their youth. A majority of the science shows that youth who played Multiple Sports were significantly more successful in their primary sport and were more athletic as adults.
The off-season is the best time to make any major strength gains and develop your body, as in-season training is usually focused on maintenance. Not only will adhering to a training program during the off-season help to increase performance in-season, but it also is necessary to help load the body for the workload of the season and prevent injuries. The best way to get your off-season training done without the wear and tear that comes with traditional strength training is with VertiMax. The VertiMax Raptor and V8 Platform can give you the appropriate amount of resistance to help advance your strength training without worrying about putting too much stress on your body.
Stay steps ahead of your competition during the off-season and get off to a strong start today. Contact our support team with any questions or check out our sport specific or goal specific sections for more detailed drills and instructions on how you can train like the hundreds of elite athletes around the globe do on VertiMax.
For more specific youth athletic programs, check out some of our previous articles here: