After a long and hopefully successful season, most have earned a break. Now it's time for regeneration. Very few like to hear that. Nevertheless: we will show you how to make the season break efficient so that you can start the next one refreshed and efficient.
Training according to your mood
The principle of loading and unloading cycles applies not only to preparing for a competition, but also to the entire season or a whole year. After the high levels of stress of a long season, the body needs time to regenerate, both physically and mentally.
This annual break should last between about two and four weeks and is referred to as the off-season or transition period. During this period, you don't train according to a training plan, but rather according to your mood. The scope of training is significantly reduced and, above all, intensive training content and competitions should be avoided completely.
Basis for a higher level of performance
Of course, this passive and/or active recovery also results in a certain drop in performance. However, the training theory assumes that a temporary loss of athletic form is the basis and prerequisite for a new, higher level of performance. Without this break, however, no further increase in performance would be possible.
On the contrary, the body would sooner or later start to strike. Injuries, illnesses and a drop in performance would be the result. When designing this recovery phase, it is therefore important to find the individually optimal mixture of regeneration and a temporary drop in performance.
Passive Recovery
Four basic variants can be distinguished for the design of the transition period. A passive break should last a maximum of one to two weeks. The body recovers very well, but being passive for too long reduces performance too much and also results in a certain sluggishness.
After a long break, the body and mind have a hard time getting back into a regular training load. Additional measures that promote active relaxation, such as massages or visits to the sauna, can also significantly accelerate regeneration.
Active relief
If you just can't cope with a life without sport and don't want to take a complete break, active relief is best for you. Only a small amount and low intensity is trained. Non-specific training means such as inline skating, hiking, aerobics, badminton and many more are mainly used. Swimming, cycling and running should take up no more than 20% of the training volume. In the final phase of the off-season, general athletic training and torso strengthening is also useful to increase the body's resilience.
Simply combine
The third variant is a combination of passive relaxation and active relief and is probably the most sensible variant for most people. For example, a week after the last peak of the season is actively relieved. This is followed by a completely passive recovery week with regeneration-promoting measures and two weeks of active relief, with the training volume increasing again somewhat in the last week.
Fluid transition
The variant of the flowing transition is particularly suitable for ambitious competitive athletes. The individual disciplines are reduced step by step and included again in the training. The transition period can be extended to around six weeks without suffering too much loss of shape.
Here's an example:
- 1+2 Week: No swimming training and training in the other two disciplines that was significantly reduced in scope and intensity
- 3+4 Week: Swimming training is slowly started again, cycling remains reduced and running training is canceled (alternative training instead, e.g. sports)
- 5th + 6th Week: The extent of swimming is further increased, cycling is canceled (instead of alternative training, e.g. inline skating, MTB), running training is slowly started again
