Making a Team Training Schedule with COVID Restrictions
How to Plan Your Workout Program With COVID Restrictions
Going into this fall, I had no idea where to even begin with regards to planning the logistics of the workouts for all 21 sports teams at St. Michael's College.
Not only did I have to manage the coordination of all these teams, but I also had to take into account the current COVID guidelines each step of the way, and plan on the reality that those would change. Because as we know, regardless of your state, things can change quickly.
So, not only did I need a calendar that worked for those restrictions, but also one that could adapt should restrictions constrict or alleviate.
This meant teams wouldn't be able to workout all at once, rather, they'd be put into "pods" of ten or fewer, further complicating the logistics.
The result was this calendar, based on restrictions placed with Covid 19 and the NCAA Resocialization plan to keep our athletes safe while also getting the most out of a workout program.
I prioritized all winter sports for the first month with pods of 10 or less. All Fall/Spring sports athletes were given workout packets to follow.
Phase 1: Getting athletes back to proper movement patterns and restoring proper tissue quality (Structural Reconditioning). All Bodyweight, as we were not allowed to share equipment.
Phase 2: 50% of the team is allowed to workout together and share equipment. Escalating density training is a great option for this as you can sneak volume in without compromising movement patterns. Great article here-
Phase 3: Hockey players go on the ice 3x a week and we shift to 2x a week in the weight room. Now, we're allowed to use the varsity weight room and the guidelines fit 18 people appropriately spaced out.
In this phase, we focused on building muscle back up before Thanksgiving. We have 6 weeks and will go 2 weeks Hypertrophy, 2 weeks strength/Speed, and then speed/strength.
Now, while I have the three phases and was prepared to progress with what we assumed would happen, I was ready to jump back to phase 1 and phase at any point if necessary.
With the new coronavirus wave in November 2020 we had to scale back our program back. The point is, you have progressions and regressions for each of the phases which you can move in and out of should COVID cases fluctuate.
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Thank you Ryan, for sharing how you're managing training teams in a college setting right now. In the links below you can see Ryan's home offseason program for the St. Mikes hockey team, our podcast with Ryan, and more.
You can follow Ryan on Instagram (@rygarrow) and Twitter (@garrowryan)
