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Off Season Training
Eric Belliveau • June 25, 2018

Why Do We Need Off-Season Training?

For any athlete, competitor, race, or season there is always an end-point. Quite simply (in my eyes) if you want to become better at what you do, both physically and mentally, off-season is a must for personal growth. Summertime especially is a popular off-season for many athletes. This may not always amount to the same span of time or involve the same activities or lack of. Each individual and circumstance requires its own recovery process. But to make sure someone does not overtrain or exhaust themselves, it is also necessary. Off-season can be used as a lense into seeing what needs improving, how to build on potential, and a time to remove yourself from the exhaustion of the competitive nature and critique.

I’m sure you can think back to a time when a coach, game, individual, even a teammate completely ruined your mood or mindset. And if not yourself, someone else’s. It could have been the pressure of something they said, circumstance of the game, a critical mistake, etc. that began to eat away at you. That pressure or negative energy begins to flood into a reaction. A downward spiral of energy into the wrong places and your mind begins to build mental stress. All of these mixed feelings caused by some factor or feeling can cause you to lose interest in what actually love. That is why stepping away from something you love isn’t always a bad thing. It creates a sense of excitement and desire to get back into it when the time comes.

Consider also the last time an athlete in season rested a whole week or two (not due to injury). Consider the last time you got a full 8 hours of sleep for a week straight. Or spent a day in which you made sure to stretch every other hour. My point is off-season allows you to engage in habits or actions you may not normally think to take or have the time to. Stopping the go, go, go mentality and slowing your routine down is a key element. You allow your body to rest, heal, move through different movements, and then dive right back into action. You can still do all of that and keep up your training. Your program should not reduce in its intensity or intentions. There is no reason to deload during this time. Yes rest, but do not stop working. The program you follow should be challenging and working you towards improvement.

Maintaining a strong work ethic during this time will lead to a more successful year to come. Building on your potential in off-season is vital in preparing your body and making sure it is healthy, strong, and ready.

During summer there are often “premade” deloading weeks. Many families or individuals take the week of Fourth of July off, have a planned vacation, or end up having a few more “off” days than they had accounted for. So when push comes to shove, your training sessions should keep a challenging intensity, volume and structure. This time can be focused on developing power, explosiveness, strength, speed, mobility, you name it. Whatever skill is needed most, zone in and get it done. You are allowing your body to move away from so much repetition, for example throwing a baseball every, single, day. The body can mend itself while still getting the mobility and strength it needs so that your shoulder and body are ready again come baseball season. As time moves towards pre-season then you can begin to shift back to a more sport-specific training

Bottom line - Maintaining a strong work ethic during this time will lead to a more successful year to come. Building on your potential in off-season is vital in preparing your body and making sure it is healthy, strong, and ready. All parts of your body need to be able to work together to properly work and execute what you are working towards. Create a competition with yourself so you can be the last one standing at whatever your finish line looks like. So it’s time to ask yourself: Are you doing everything possible to be at your best performance?

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • October 7, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • September 23, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • October 7, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • September 23, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.
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