The time leading up to preseason is stressful. You never truly know if you are doing the right things or training enough until you start preseason with your team. Your coach will give you a preseason packet, but how do you know if it's enough? How do you know if it's too much? Here are 5 things to avoid during your training for your first preseason as a college athlete:
1. Not Training Enough
If your coach sees you come into preseason without being fit enough to withstand practice or conditioning sessions, it will not bode well for the rest of your season. Your coach needs to know that you are able to put the effort in on your own and that you want to come into the season as fit as possible and ready to play.
Related: 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before my First Day of Preseason
2. Training Too Much
The last thing you want is to show up to preseason with an injury. Pushing yourself too hard can be dangerous for your body. You can end up with muscle strains, shin splints, and much worse injuries that could put you out for a large amount of the season. The best way to avoid this is to follow the workout packet your coach gives you and listen to your body. If you feel that something is getting tight or feeling wrong, it's okay to take a few days off.
3. Running Your Fitness Test Too Many Times
Fitness tests are extremely mental. At the start of your training, you obviously aren't going to pass your tests right away. Running your test too many times can stress you out and make you think that you are never going to be able to pass it. Remember to take it slow; if you follow your team fitness packet and work hard, you will eventually get there. Run your fitness tests once every few weeks if it is stressing you out; you will see that you are improving incredible amounts each time you run it.
4. Doing The Same Training Every Week
This tip is an important thing to remember. Depending on your sport, you have to switch your workouts so that you get all the important muscle groups and skills for your sport. Different types of lifts, longer runs, short sprints, and agility are all things you should try to incorporate into workouts. However it needs to relate to your sport. Baseball players shouldn't be going out and running 5ks every day, and tennis players shouldn't only be focusing on legs in the gym. You should be able to get a sense of the type of workouts you should be doing every week by looking at your preseason fitness packet.
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5. Not Playing Your Sport
This might seem like an obvious one, but it's so easy to get so caught up in the stress of being fit enough for your season that you forget to actually practice your sport. Try to find local leagues to play in or invite some friends to play with you. It's important to come into the season not only fit, but also ready to play and compete. You don't want to come into the season rusty, because your coach will be able to tell that you did not play enough leading up to the season.
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* Originally published on June 14, 2023, by Bella Nevin
