How to Create a Yearly Training Plan

How to Create a Yearly Training Plan

So you want to get better in your sport, and are enthusiastic about entering into a new training program. You have many goals that you want to accomplish: getting stronger, gaining a little muscle, improving your speed, and getting in great shape for your season. Like most people you want to start working on these things right away, but are unsure how to do them all at once.

A critical, yet often overlooked starting point is to map out a yearly training plan. To do this, you will need to analyze which goals are most important for your situation. Then, you will need to look at the upcoming year to identify periods when you can train full-time, part-time, or not at all. Finally, you will put these two topics together to outline a schedule that is unique to your situation. In this article we will pass along some sensible training guidelines to help you devise your own individual plan.

What can I work on in my training?

There are many fundamental physical skills you can develop through training. The following is a list of the main areas that athletes should focus on.Gaining Muscle - The number one goal of almost every male athlete in this world is to have more muscle mass. Although gaining muscle usually makes you somewhat stronger as well, for our purposes we will consider them to be separate goals.

Training to get bigger is a major stress on the body, and any time this is a priority it will limit the amount of work you can safely do on other goals.Getting Leaner/Losing Bodyfat - This is the number one goal of most female athletes, and goal #1A for males. Athletes who are actively looking to get leaner need to be careful that they do not take this goal to the extreme and lose muscle gains they have built up in previous phases of their training.

Increasing Strength - Strength is the foundation of creating powerful sport movements, and is simply how much weight you can lift with proper technique. Strength can vary from one region of the body to another. For example, you may have strong legs but a weak core or upper body.Improving Speed - Speed specifically refers to your ability to sprint in a straight line from Point A to Point B with no changes in direction.Improving Agility & Quickness - Technically, this is different from speed. Agility refers to your ability to stop and change direction. Quickness mostly refers to how fast you can react to a situation, specifically within the first couple of steps.

Building Explosive Power - Power is simply strength displayed at fast speeds, and sports revolve around powerful movements. From baseball pitchers throwing fastballs, to slap shots in hockey, to driving the ball off the tee in golf, and countless other skills, power is critical to improving your game.Improving Balance & Athleticism - Balance and coordination have no place in a bodybuilding workout, but they are critical skills for any athlete. Balance is usually displayed on one leg in progressively more challenging environments. Athleticism can be thought of as efficient, coordinated movement in a sport skill, and requires practice and repetition. These two goals go very well together in a training program.Increasing Flexibility - Flexibility, as many people are already aware, refers to a muscle's ability to be lengthened. Most athletes simply need to be flexible enough to properly perform skills in their sport, and to keep from getting hurt.

Often times there are only a handful of muscles that are tight on any individual, and targeting those muscle groups can make a major impact. Identifying which areas are too tight, and applying an aggressive stretching program to loosen them up can further improve athletic ability.Conditioning/Building Speed Endurance - Getting in shape allows you to play your sport longer without fatigue. This skill comes and goes pretty quickly, and is often best trained right before a season begins (the pre-season phase).

How to determine where your focus should be

To really figure out which of these areas to focus on in your training, you should go through a full series of skill tests to find your own unique strengths and weaknesses. For every category mentioned above, there are some simple tests you can complete to judge whether you are advanced, adequate, or below average at a particular skill. Once you have done this, it is time to look in the mirror and confront the weaker points of your skill set.

No one wants to dwell on what they aren't good at. It is much easier to flaunt your strengths and try to build them to the highest level possible. But as an athlete, your value is always going to be judged by your weakest link.

You may be the strongest player on the field, but if the other team is running past you all day, that strength is never going to matter. You could be the fastest player on the field, but if your balance and coordination are poor you likely will never be able to harness that speed to use to your advantage.Once you learn what to target over the coming year, and are comfortable with the idea of training to eliminate your weaknesses, then you are ready to begin mapping out what to focus on at different times of the year.