This is a loaded question that depends on a thousand different things. However, like with everything, there are general guidelines that apply for everyone.
If you are reading this, I’m going to assume that you have at least a small amount of “motivation.” A few among you might even be high on the motivation right now. I want to speak with you guys first. My advice to you is this: Plan for the long term. What I mean by this is to make your training regimen sustainable.
It does no good to train four hours a day for a week and then crash. Burn out. Or worse, get hurt.
I have tried this. I used to lift for close to an hour and a half in the mornings and then try to do skill work for two hours in the 90° heat in the afternoon. The problem was it would usually end up being two and a half hours.
By the third day (Not the “third day” like people who have never trained before experience. The third day as referred to by someone who has trained for years and knows what to expect.) I was thoroughly exhausted and burnt out. This is not what you want from a training program.
Now, will there be times you feel exhausted like this and need to move forward anyway? Off course. But you need to be able to recognize the difference between being disciplined and being stupid.
All the time, kids starting a new program or just feeling motivated want to “Kobe” (RIP) their way to the top. By “Kobe”, I mean put in ungodly hours of skill work while sleeping the minimum amount required to function. It doesn’t work. Kobe was different and had a special gift of recovering better than most athletes.
Here is a better off-season training schedule:
*by “train” I mean skill work*
Monday: lift one hour in the morning, train two hours in the afternoon
Tuesday: lift one hour in the morning, train two hours in the afternoon
Wednesday: train two hours
Thursday: lift one hour in the morning, train two hours in the afternoon
Friday: lift one hour in the morning, train two hours in the afternoon
Saturday: scrimmage for an hour and a half to two hours
Sunday: COMPLETELY OFF- REST
These are my general guidelines for you if you have no other commitments, no other sports, etc.; basically for if you have a clear schedule. This is because when training this hard, you need to spend around an hour recovering each day. If you can’t do that, you may want to decrease workload.
Here is a sample in-season schedule:
*by “train” I mean skill work*
Monday: lift 45 min-one hour in the morning, train one hour in the afternoon
Tuesday: lift 45 min-one hour in the morning, train one hour in the afternoon
Wednesday: train one hour
Thursday: lift 45 min-one hour in the morning, train one hour in the afternoon
Friday: lift 45 min-one hour in the morning, train one hour in the afternoon
Saturday: you won’t need to scrimmage because you will have practices and games; rest
Sunday: COMPLETELY OFF- REST
This schedule is on top of practices and games. When considering team practices and games, this more than likely will make in-season have more hours being put in than off-season, making recovery all the more important.
Here’s the deal: During the season, it is imperative that you are still putting in some time for skill work by yourself. If you don’t, how can you get better than your teammates who are also going to all the practices?
If you lift with the team, you obviously don’t have to lift more by yourself, too.
Special Occasions:
There are special circumstances outside of these where you can and may actually want to train more than what is generally advised. For example, week long camps will have you training all the time. There are also thirty-day transformation programs out there that are designed to push the limits but in a safe way.
You will notice, though, that both of these examples are for relatively short periods of time. Occasionally, these short stints of overworking your body can have positive effects in terms of shocking your body out of its normal routine and stimulating growth. Only do them in the off-season though.
Here is my final word to you:
When in doubt, train more. I always thought to myself “I would rather fail from overtraining and getting injured than fail and wonder if it was because I didn’t train enough.” My thought process was “I put in the time actively recovering, I can put in the extra time training.” This did not fail me, but I really did put in the time recovering, all the while being aggressive with my training regimen without being stupid. Now I play college basketball.
Anyone can give you advice but, as always, you are the one who has to live with the results at the end of the day.
If someone presents conflicting information to you and you are unsure of which course of action to take, always bet on yourself.
Athlete-Student
BucketsoverBooks
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