The competitive season presents a quandary to the athlete because regular competitions and intensive skills training tend to reduce the athletes ability to recover from strength training sessions. At this time it is important to moderate the volume and load of strength training to enable the best possible efforts to be made on the competitive field, instead of in the weights room or at practice. Far too many athletes struggle through the latter part of the competitive season as insidious fatigue builds up thorough improper training practices. It is common to see performance levels peak early to mid-season and then drop off, or for niggling injuries to develop, as the season goes on. In order to avoid this occurrence in-season training must be geared up towards maintaining reasonably high levels of strength fitness, without overtaxing the recovery abilities of your body.
In addition to a reduction in strength training volume other factors play a vital role in "surviving" a competitive season such as:
State of preparedness in the offseason.
Competition schedule / Choice of competitions.
Travel schedule / Time zone changes.
Maintenance of an adequate diet.
Use of restorative means such as contrast bathing, salt baths, massage etc.
Mental state, which can be affected by both your actions and those of your competitors, coaches, friends etc.
All of these factors should be taken into consideration by an athlete when planning the competitive season. This all-encompassing approach to planning is the basis of the "integrated approach" to strength training. Acknowledgment of the wide range of factors that can influence performance is the first step in maximising your efforts. To approach athletic performance with just two variables (training and nutrition) is over simplistic and inadequate, but obviously these two factors will have a massive influence on your season and they are where the focus of this article lies.
With regard to training I have already mentioned the possible use of reduced training volume during the competitive season. This approach assumes your sport requires weekly competitions, sports with less frequent competitions will allow for more progress to be made through the season through the use of stress microcycles and de-loading phases or tapering prior to important competitions. For those sports with weekly competitions / games such as rugby, hockey, soccer etc a low volume schedule that will enable the maintenance of strength gains can be extremely abbreviated in nature.
A single set with 90% or more of a 1 rep maximum performed once a week is sufficient to maintain Fmax (maximal force), and one can assume that power output could be maintained by a similarly low volume of work with around 50% of a 1 rep maximum for around 50% of the usual volume of 8 - 12 sets. In addition to this direct work there will of course be the usual skill work and team practices. For most athletes extensive inclusion of the repeated efforts to failure method geared to towards hypertrophy will be totally inappropriate during the season as this work is typically fatiguing and requires long (around 72 hour) rest intervals for recovery to take place. Instead, concentrate on skills and the maintenance of appropriate levels of strength through the maximal effort method and then if you do require extra muscle mass, put it on in the off season when skill work is a lesser priority.
In this low volume training regimen you should utilise movements that work the major structures of your body by using multi-joint exercises that include a horizontal push and pull, an vertical push and pull, and a hip hinge movement or two. Training will be split in to 2 sessions per week, one focusing on Fmax and one focusing on power output with lighter loads. An example is shown below:
Monday.
Squat 90% 1 RM for 2 singles.
Bench Press 90% 1 RM for 2 singles.
Row 80% for 1 set max reps.
Overhead Press 90% 1 RM for 2 singles.
Chin / Pulldown 80% for 1 set max reps.
Clean / Powerclean / Snatch 90% 1RM for 2 singles.
Thursday.
Clean / Powerclean / Snatch 55% 1RM for 5 sets of 3.
Bench or Overhead Press 55% 1RM for 5 sets of 3.
Sunday - Game day.
Remember that throughout the season your best performances should come on game day. There is no point in exhausting yourself in training to the point that your game performance suffers so save your best efforts for the game and if you feel fatigued prior to training, just don't train! Recover instead.