Tips for summer training from Sanford POWER
June 6, 2019
This paid piece is sponsored by Sanford Health.
Summer is no time to take a vacation from your workouts.
The Sanford POWER team believes that summer is perhaps the best time to really dig into performance training, whether you’re an interscholastic athlete or an active adult.
“Even though an athlete might have other commitments, school is out — so the available time increases,” said Randy Martin, manager of Sanford POWER in Fargo. “The summer months give a perfect window to commit and focus one’s mind and body to improving his/her performance traits.”
Focus your off-season training
Martin said summer performance training should focus on several areas:
- Flexibility
- Mobility
- Power
- Agility
- Quickness, speed and acceleration
- Strength
- Cardiovascular endurance
- Nutrition
Summer is the time to get prepared for the sports season. It can lay the foundation for athletic performance for the entire year.
Sophomore Noah Fosland of Bismarck Century High School learned that firsthand last summer. The basketball and football player increased his commitment to athletic performance during a summer session at Sanford POWER in Bismarck, N.D..
He committed to becoming a better athlete.
“Last summer, I got a lot stronger and faster, and saw that translate into my sports this school season,” Fosland said. “(The key was) just making sure to show up every day and work your butt off.”
Summer training’s physical, personal benefits
That can be done individually — one-on-one with a certified strength and conditioning coach — or in group settings. There are benefits to both beyond the physical components. Productive, off-season training can be good for personal confidence, and great team workouts can improve camaraderie.
“All junior high and high school athletes should participate in a supervised, structured and progressive strength and conditioning program,” Martin said. “A summer eight-week training program should focus on improving flexibility/mobility, power, speed, quickness, agility and strength.”
That rings true even for athletes who compete in the summer. Partly, that’s because injury prevention has become so important.
Train for summer weather
The summertime is unique environmentally, especially in places that have cold winters. Athletes need to respect that in terms of their pre-workout prep, their workout and their after-workout routine.
“Athletes should tailor their warm-up and cool-down routine to the conditions they are in,” said Scott Hettenbach, the manager of Sanford POWER in Sioux Falls. “They may need to shorten their overall routine or add some additional rest in between movements to allow for the proper warm-up needed without creating additional fatigue. Likewise, they may need additional time to cool down during warmer weather and account for that during the events they participate in.”
Sanford POWER is in its 20th year of developing athletes. It offers a variety of programs for athletes of all ages and abilities this summer in Sioux Falls, Fargo and Bismarck, plus satellite programs in Aberdeen, Bemidji, Minn., and other cities.
More stories
