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Pre-Season At-Home Workouts for Fall Sports

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Get Ready For Fall Sports

It looks like the fall sports season is moving forward in many schools across the nation and that means that official practice is less than two weeks away.

In recent years, student-athletes had opportunities to keep on top of off-season training and conditioning through sport-specific camps. This year, however, many of the camps simply were not available, and these athletes may be coming into their fall sports season a bit more de-conditioned than usual.

Without the coaches giving them a workout plan and motivation to push them through, student athletes may feel a little unprepared for the upcoming year, but at a loss of where to start leveling up their conditioning. Before athletes can dive into sport-specific speed, skill, and power training, it is beneficial to focus on regaining full-body strength. Having a strong foundation is prudent for skill improvement, injury prevention, and improving overall fitness.

To help, we’ve put together a few at-home strength and conditioning pre-season workouts for your student so they can come into their first practice ready to rock.

Although these exercises are great for the traditional fall sports starts of volleyball, football, soccer, cross country, golf, and hockey, these conditioning exercises could be used across any sport to build up cardiovascular endurance, strength, coordination and balance.

The Workout:

Structure: Interval based.

Timing: 30 seconds for each exercise working straight through all 4 moves for a total of 2 minutes. Rest for 60 seconds.

Repeat: Do the interval 5 times for a 15-minute workout. Add a second interval session for a 30-minute workout.

Equipment Needed for Intervals:

SMART Medicine Ball

Equipment for extra workouts:

SMART Weighted Jump Rope

Kettlebell Sandbag

SMART Modular Acceleration Ladder

SMART Resistance Training Bundle

 

Interval 1

Bump and Shuffle with SMART Medicine Ball

Put your body into wide squat position and hold the SMART Medicine Ball in both hands in front of you at hip level. Keeping your upper body aligned, shuffle to your left, stop, and then raise the medicine ball over your head, hands above your shoulders.

Broad Jump SMART Medicine Ball Burpees with a Zig Zag Return

Start in a wide squat position and hold a SMART Medicine Ball in your hands at hip position. Jump forward as far as you can while raising the medicine ball in the air. Next, put the medicine ball on the ground and hop your legs back into plank position, while holding yourself steady on the ball. Jump forward and return to standing position. Then, zig zag backwards until you reach start position, touching the medicine ball to the hip of the grounded leg, and alternating as you go.

Skaters with Pendulum SMART Medicine Ball Side Swings

Start in standing position, feet under hips, holding the SMART Medicine Ball in front of you. Leap onto one foot and swing the medicine ball in the same direction as the leap. Leap to the other foot, with the medicine ball following, allowing the ball swing to mimic a pendulum.

V-Up SMART Medicine Ball Kick Touches

In a seating position, raise your legs up into the air, making a “V” with your body, while keeping your upper body aligned and holding a SMART Medicine Ball over your legs. Scissor your legs up, one at a time, and touch the medicine ball to your leg.

Interval 2

Side Shuffle with 180 Rotational Turns and SMART Medicine Ball Chest Press

Start in wide leg position, knees bent, holding SMART Medicine Ball at chest position. Shuffle to the side and press the ball straight out and back. Holding the medicine ball to your chest, jump your body in a complete 180 turn, sticking the landing. Press the ball straight out and back again. Return the 180, and shuffle back. Repeat.

Explosive Jump Squat with Overhead Press with SMART Medicine Ball

Starting with feet outside of hips, hold the SMART Medicine Ball at chest level. Push your bottom back and down, knees behind toes. Explode up in a jump and push the medicine ball straight up in the air. Land softly, repeat.

High Knees with Rotational SMART Medicine Ball Knee Touches

Standing with feet outside of hips and holding a SMART Medicine Ball just below chest level, bring one knee up, and then the other, rotating the upper body to tap the medicine ball on each elevated knee. Repeat.

Sumo Squat Drop with Heel lift.

Push your bottom back and hold the SMART Medicine Ball at chest level. Touch the medicine ball to the ground (or close) while you are holding the squat. Return the medicine ball to the chest while maintaining the low, wide squat. Lift one heel, then the other. Repeat sequence.

Also Try:

Hill Sprints with Kettlebell Sandbags

Agility Ladder Heisman

Resistance Band Runs

Squats with SMART Strength Band

Weighted Jump Rope

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Strength Training Without Weights

While there is no denying that traditional weights (barbells, dumbells, free weights) are the first thing that comes to mind for a weight training session, you can do plenty of strength exercises without them. Many people are finding ways to creatively build their own resistance training programs with modified equipment, while access to their regular […]

Read more

Move Your Body: The Power of Play in Exercise

Is Play Important? It’s a given that a structured training plan is the best path to achieve a particular fitness goal or skill. But that training may not offer enough creative movement throughout the day and may even hinder our ability to move within our full range of motion. For many adults, most movement comes […]

Read more

Rest + Recovery

  Rest and Recovery are Key When Making Changes to Fitness Routine With all the changes to indoor facilities, there has been a surge in outdoor recreational sports like hiking, trail running, and biking over the past few months. While the benefits of outdoor exercise are immense, a change in routine may leave you feeling [...]

Read more
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Meet the Writer!

Linda Shober

Linda Shober is a Certified Fitness Instructor and burpee lover!  She is NETA Certified, Les Mills BODYPUMP Certified, PiYO Live Certified, and SH1FT/L1FT Certified.

Squats with SMART Strength Band

Weighted Jump Rope

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Strength Training Without Weights

While there is no denying that traditional weights (barbells, dumbells, free weights) are the first thing that comes to mind for a weight training session, you can do plenty of strength exercises without them. Many people are finding ways to creatively build their own resistance training programs with modified equipment, while access to their regular […]

Read more

Move Your Body: The Power of Play in Exercise

Is Play Important? It’s a given that a structured training plan is the best path to achieve a particular fitness goal or skill. But that training may not offer enough creative movement throughout the day and may even hinder our ability to move within our full range of motion. For many adults, most movement comes […]

Read more

Rest + Recovery

  Rest and Recovery are Key When Making Changes to Fitness Routine With all the changes to indoor facilities, there has been a surge in outdoor recreational sports like hiking, trail running, and biking over the past few months. While the benefits of outdoor exercise are immense, a change in routine may leave you feeling [...]

Read more
Load more

Meet the Writer!

Linda Shober

Linda Shober is a Certified Fitness Instructor and burpee lover!  She is NETA Certified, Les Mills BODYPUMP Certified, PiYO Live Certified, and SH1FT/L1FT Certified.

Strength Training Without Weights

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Strength

While there is no denying that traditional weights (barbells, dumbells, free weights) are the first thing that comes to mind for a weight training session, you can do plenty of strength exercises without them.

Many people are finding ways to creatively build their own resistance training programs with modified equipment, while access to their regular gym and/or equipment may not be fully available right now.

Bodyweight exercises, along with some key, easy-to-store, equipment (fitness cables, SMART Strength Bands, SMART Medicine balls, and weighted SMART Sticks) are making up the perfect at-home strength training toolbox.

How can you build strength without weights?

Create Tension

In order to build muscle and increase strength, you will need to place your muscles under tension by using significant resistance.

Time under tension is a term commonly used in strength, conditioning, and bodybuilding and refers to how long a muscle is under strain during a set. 

Muscle tension created through resistance training stimulates the growth of new muscle proteins and can lead to gains. According to ACE, muscles that are exposed to that tension long enough can build up various metabolites (e.g., lactate, hydrogen ion, inorganic phosphate, and creatine), and it is this process that creates metabolic stress in muscle tissue triggering hypertrophic growth. In other words, muscles must experience a load that they are not used to, and they must experience that load for a certain duration.

Time under tension includes making mindful movements and focusing on motor control. One way to increase your time under tension without weights is to vary the tempo during the different muscle action phases.

Time under tension includes making mindful movements and focusing on motor control. One way to increase your time under tension without weights is to vary the tempo during the different muscle action phases. Click To Tweet

Progressive Loads

Successful weight training should, of course, include progressive loads, meaning you challenge yourself by increasing the weight load. In order to build muscle without using weights, you will need to continually challenge your muscles by increasing the difficulty of the bodyweight exercises, the pull of the tension, or the tempo (speed) of the exercise, just as you would progress to heavier weights in the gym. The idea is to place gradual, increased demands on the body, making it an effective way to build muscle without weights. 

Ready? Here’s a place to start:

Your SMART STRENGTH Toolbox:

Sample workout

Lower Body

Front squat with SMART Strength Band

With your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, stand on the band. Wrap the band over your shoulders and behind your head. Loop your thumbs under the band at the shoulders to control tension and keep the band from pushing your head forward. Sit back and down, keeping your knees behind your toes and lowering your bottom to knee height, or parallel. Return to stand. Repeat 8-12 reps. 

Standing adductor with Mini Flat Band

Loop the mini band around both of your ankles and stand with feet under hips. Lift leg to the side, out and away from the body, while keeping your other leg on the ground. Return to start position. Repeat 12-15 reps and then switch sides. 

Front/Back Lunges with Weighted SMART Stick

Position the SMART Stick behind your head on the upper part of your shoulders (avoid the neck). Standing tall with your feet under your hips, step one foot back with a wide stride and then lead your knee toward the ground into a 90-degree lunge angle. Return to start position. Next, step forward with a wide forward stride. Bend your knee into a 90-degree angle position while keeping your upper body aligned. Repeat 8-12 reps on each side. 

Upper Body

Standing Bicep Curl with Fitness Cable

Place your feet shoulder-width apart and stand with your feet on the middle of the cable. Hold a SMART Quick Flip Handle in each hand, palms out, and pull your arms toward your shoulders into a bicep curl position. Slowly lower and repeat. 12-15 reps.  

Push-up with SMART Strength Band 

Your push-ups will never be the same after this! Start in plank position and wrap the SMART Strength Band across your upper back, looping the ends of the bands through your thumbs. Place your hands on the floor and push your body up until your arms fully extend. Lower back down. Try to start with 5 reps and build up to 20. 

Overhead Triceps Extensions 

In a standing position, position your feet hip-distance apart. Hold your SMART Medicine Ball behind your head, elbows pulled in, and facing front. Raise the ball straight up, so your hands are directly above your shoulders. Slowly lower and repeat. 12-15 reps. 

Move Your Body: The Power of Play in Exercise

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Fitness Play

Is Play Important?

It’s a given that a structured training plan is the best path to achieve a particular fitness goal or skill. But that training may not offer enough creative movement throughout the day and may even hinder our ability to move within our full range of motion.

For many adults, most movement comes from doing their daily workout. We’re lucky to get a 60-minute workout session in before our responsibilities beg for attention.

Make Time for Play

As a kid, you are naturally moving your body all day playing tag, riding bikes, swimming in ponds. You probably weren’t thinking about fitness goals, just plain fun.

This exploration of movement, which we lived by throughout childhood, can fall off the radar at some point, but it doesn’t cease to be important. Studies suggest that active play can be just as important for adults as it is for children because it challenges our bodies in new ways, and provides an opportunity for stress relief and social connections. In fact, you can gain more freedom in how you move your body when you start engaging in different movements and positions.

Studies suggest that active play can be just as important for adults as it is for children because it challenges our bodies in new ways, and provides an opportunity for stress relief and social connections. Click To Tweet

With small gatherings gearing back up, and plenty of backyard family BBQ’s on the weekend calendar, we’ve come up with a few fun ideas that bridge the gap between fitness and fun.

Resistance Band Cone Touch

Pair up in groups of two. Wrap the resistance band around the waist of person 1 while person 2 holds the handles. Person 1 stands on the start line, directly in front of person 2, each facing the same direction. Place a cone within the pull range of the band. Make as many paired-up teams as you have people, bands, and cones. At the word “GO,” person 1 runs to the cone, touches the top, and runs backward to the start line. Repeat 5 times in a row. Next, person 1 and 2 swap places as quickly as possible and completes 5 cone touches. The paired team who finishes first WINS!

Medicine Ball Hot Potato

Gather your group into a circle and choose a SMART Medicine Ball with a weight that all players can handle. Put on your favorite music and assign a “DJ.” The “DJ” will be prepared to randomly pause the music throughout the game at their own discretion.

The goal of the game is not to be holding the ball when the “DJ” stops the music. Players will toss the medicine ball as if it’s a “hot potato” as quickly as possible to another player in the circle. If a player is holding the ball when the music stops, they are out. Players are also out when they drop the ball. The last one standing in the circle is the WINNER!

This game is excellent for hand-eye coordination, with an extra dose of challenge because the weighted ball. 

Medicine Ball Relay Runs

Gather a group of people and have them stagger locations evenly in a very large circle (think all the way around the house, or around half of a football field). The starting person will hold the SMART Medicine ball. Assign a person to be the “timer” and have them start a stopwatch at the word “GO.” Once the stopwatch has started, the starting person runs as fast as they can to the next person in line and hands off the ball. Then, that person runs to the next person and hands them the ball, and so on until the final person runs back to the starting person’s position to complete the relay. Once the final person has crossed the starting person’s position line, the “timer” presses stop on the stopwatch. Now you have a base time. Repeat over and over to see if you can beat the time!

Rest + Recovery

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Rest

 

Rest and Recovery are Key When Making Changes to Fitness Routine

With all the changes to indoor facilities, there has been a surge in outdoor recreational sports like hiking, trail running, and biking over the past few months.

While the benefits of outdoor exercise are immense, a change in routine may leave you feeling pretty sore and tired in the first few sessions as your body tries to adapt.

 

What’s Happening to Your Muscles?

Muscles that haven’t been worked in a while may go through a period of adaptation. During exercise, your muscles start to break down. This muscle micro-trauma can result in something called “delayed-onset muscle soreness” or “DOMS” for short and is entirely normal. When your body becomes accustomed to that type of exercise, the delayed soreness is often minimal.

Fortunately, you can do things to help relieve muscle soreness while your body recovers and repairs the muscle fibers.

 

What Should You Do?

Stretch

When moving tight muscles toward full length after a workout, you may experience resistance or pain. The purpose of a stretch is to have more muscle length available, otherwise known as full range of motion.

Try these:

 

Light Exercise

Active recovery can be important after a tough workout because it can help your body circulate waste products caused by rigorous activity while promoting blood flow and tissue repair. Be sure to choose activities that don’t get you winded or cause further fatigue to your muscles.

 

Active recovery can be important after a tough workout because it can help your body circulate waste products caused by rigorous activity while promoting blood flow and tissue repair. Click To Tweet

Try these:

 

  • Light Walking or Gentle Bike Ride
  • Standing Crosses with (light) SMART MEDICINE BALL (gently move the medicine ball up and down in front of your body, and then side to side)
  • Banded Walks (wrap a light flat band around both shins and side-step back and forth)

Massage: Foam Roll

Massage can also push out the fluid carrying waste products of muscle breakdown, encourage fresh blood to flow, and help muscle rebuild. In fact, massage following exercise can often improve circulation for up to 72 hours later.

Foam rolling is a form of myofascial release, which is a way to use pressure to release tension in the muscles, much like a sports massage. It’s not always feasible to schedule a sports massage right now, so having a foam roller as part of your smart recovery plan is a perfect alternative.

Try these:

 

Rest:

You should not only schedule days off from exercise, but focus on getting proper rest at night. When your body gets the recommended 7-9 hours, it produces much of its hormones and growth factors that can aid in daily muscle repair and recovery. In fact, rest is one of the most significant factors in the entire recovery equation.

 

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Why Flexibility Exercise is Important

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Flexibility, along with strength, cardio, and balance, rounds out a solid fitness lifestyle. A well-stretched muscle is more likely to achieve a full range of motion, which can improve athletic mobility and performance as well as daily functional activities, such as bending, reaching, or stooping.

Flexibility Training

The best time to work on flexibility is when the muscles are already warm. Hitting up a stretch session after a cardio or strength workout would be a perfect time.

Stretching: Grab a mat and work through a series of moves that stretch each muscle group for at least a minute and a half.

Foam Roll: Foam rollers work by applying pressure to targeted muscle groups and help to restore the body back to normal function after strenuous activity. The pressure helps to break down the knots in the tissue, improving tightness and allowing for greater mobility range.

Yoga or Pilates: A class or session that integrates muscle flexibility within the workout is another great option to keep on top of muscle care.

What happens during a flexibility workout? 

Flexibility has a lot to do with how your muscles can move. When we are sedentary, our joints settle into a limited range. In addition, the normal aging of tissues leads to a lack of moisture in our muscles and can inhibit the body’s movement. During a session of flexibility movements, you not only increase the elasticity of healthy muscle tissue, but you stimulate connective tissue and improve joint lubrication.

Why we need it?

When you improve flexibility, you improve your mobility. Flexibility is the action that allows muscles to stretch while mobility is the ability to move freely within your joints.

Flexibility Training has many benefits:

  • Increased movement and improved posture
  • Improved physical and mental relaxation
  • Reduced muscle soreness and tension
  • Lowered injury rates

How Often to see results?

All major muscle-tendon areas can be stretched at least two to three times a week, but if you have a problem area, such as tightness in your back or hamstring, you may want to stretch every day or even twice a day.

At home flexibility training

Sometimes the hardest part of a fitness routine is coming up with a practical set of exercises. Our self-guided products, such as the SMART Mat and the SMART Recovery Foam Roller, have the exercises printed right on the product so you’ll never be guessing.

 

If you need some inspiration, follow the links for our short video workout that you can follow along. 

 

Stretch Sequence with the SMART Mat

Foam Roll Leg Session with the SMART Recovery Foam Roller

Sun Salutation Sequence with the SMART Mat

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Weekly Motivation!

Pin It For Later!

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Check Out Our Best-Selling Products!

Read More from Our Fitness Experts!

Strength Training Without Weights

While there is no denying that traditional weights (barbells, dumbells, free weights) are the first thing that comes to mind for a weight training session, you can do plenty of strength exercises without them. Many people are finding ways to creatively build their own resistance training programs with modified equipment, while access to their regular […]

Read more

Move Your Body: The Power of Play in Exercise

Is Play Important? It’s a given that a structured training plan is the best path to achieve a particular fitness goal or skill. But that training may not offer enough creative movement throughout the day and may even hinder our ability to move within our full range of motion. For many adults, most movement comes […]

Read more

Rest + Recovery

  Rest and Recovery are Key When Making Changes to Fitness Routine With all the changes to indoor facilities, there has been a surge in outdoor recreational sports like hiking, trail running, and biking over the past few months. While the benefits of outdoor exercise are immense, a change in routine may leave you feeling [...]

Read more

3 Workout Routines You Can Take Outside

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If you’ve been feeling a little cooped up these days, maybe it’s time to give yourself a change of scenery and take your workout routine outside.

Outdoor workouts are sometimes referred to as “green exercise,” because it combines the wellness benefits of getting outdoors with moving your body.

Studies show that adding an outdoor element to your workout can result in improved mood and immunity all while giving a boost of Vitamin D. In fact, physical activity in natural environments can even burn more calories than a climate-controlled environment due to factors such as wind resistance, varied terrain, and temperature extremes.

What to watch for:

While uneven terrain can enhance your training by providing you with varied muscle recruitment, it can also be a magnet for an ankle roll. Check out the direct area you choose for your workout so you are familiar with what you can expect.

In addition, pay close attention to the weather. Working against the wind and rain can provide some great resistance and challenge but be prepared to take cover if a true storm surfaces. And break out that sun protection to keep your skin healthy.

3 Total-Body Workout Options

 While these exercises might be a breath of fresh air to your stale routine, they are by no means a “walk in the park”, excuse our pun.

Equipment Toolbox

The items in this fitness toolbox can create a multitude of cardio, strength, and core workouts while still remaining portable and easy to store.

  • SMART Guard Sleeved Tubing
  • SMART Medicine Ball
  • SMART Stick, 5 lb weighted
  • SMART Weighted Jump Rope
  • Mini Flat Bands

Workout 1:

Pyramid Interval

A pyramid workout stacks reps in subsequent order. Pinpoint a number and then count forward or backward by 10. Match the number of reps to the corresponding number. For example, a 10-1 pyramid workout will start with ten reps of your chosen exercise. Then a short rest. Next is nine reps, then 8, and 7, and so on. Repeat as needed. If you want to up the challenge, try a 20-10, or even a 30-20!

Try these:

Squats & Lunges with Smart Stick

Clean & Press with Smart Stick

 

Workout 2:

Supersets:

A superset workout pairs two exercises back to back without rest. The idea, also known as reciprocal innervation, is that you extend your workout set time, but avoid burning out by switching muscle groups.

Try these:
  1. Squat & Paddle with Smart Stick
  2. Front Raise & Upright Rows with Smart Stick

The squat and paddle works your legs, glutes, back and core, while the front raise focuses on chest, shoulders & triceps.

Try sets of 25 of each of the two exercises with a 30 second rest period in between. Shoot for a 10-15 minute session and you’ll have your muscles shaking!

 

Workout 3:

Personal Circuits

With just a few pieces of equipment, you can make your own personal circuit!

You can easily turn this into a group workout by inviting a few friends who also have the same fitness equipment toolbox. It’s a great alternative to group-shared equipment circuits.

Try this:

Rep-based circuits. Do each exercise for 20 reps, then move to the next exercise. Active recovery happens while transitioning to the next activity.

Complete all six exercises and then rest for 60 seconds. Repeat several rounds to create a 30 minute workout.

  • SMART Weighted Jump Rope
  • Round the World SMART Medicine Ball Jumps
  • SMART Medicine Ball Swing
  • Chest flies with Mini Flat Bands
  • ZigZag Twist with SMART Guard Sleeved Tubing
  • Deadlifts with Mini Flat Bands

 

 

Thompson Coon J, Boddy K, Stein K, Whear R, Barton J, Depledge MH. “Does participating in physical activity in outdoor natural environments have a greater effect on physical and mental wellbeing than physical activity indoors? A systematic review.” Environ Sci Technol. (2011)

 

Fellin, Rebecca E., Kurt Manal, and Irene S. Davis. “Comparison of Lower Extremity Kinematic Curves During Overground and Treadmill Running.” Journal of Applied Biomechanics 26.4 (2010)

Let’s Connect!

Join Us on Pinterest!

Check Out Our Favorite Posts

Join Our Newsletter!

Learn about the latest news and tips from our Fitness Experts AND receive exclusive deals.

Sign Me Up!

Check Out Our Best Selling Products!

Read More from Our Fitness Experts!

Strength Training Without Weights

While there is no denying that traditional weights (barbells, dumbells, free weights) are the first thing that comes to mind for a weight training session, you can do plenty of strength exercises without them. Many people are finding ways to creatively build their own resistance training programs with modified equipment, while access to their regular […]

Read more

Move Your Body: The Power of Play in Exercise

Is Play Important? It’s a given that a structured training plan is the best path to achieve a particular fitness goal or skill. But that training may not offer enough creative movement throughout the day and may even hinder our ability to move within our full range of motion. For many adults, most movement comes […]

Read more

Rest + Recovery

  Rest and Recovery are Key When Making Changes to Fitness Routine With all the changes to indoor facilities, there has been a surge in outdoor recreational sports like hiking, trail running, and biking over the past few months. While the benefits of outdoor exercise are immense, a change in routine may leave you feeling [...]

Read more
Load more

Meet the Writer!

Linda Shober

Linda Shober is a Certified Fitness Instructor and burpee lover!  She is NETA Certified, Les Mills BODYPUMP Certified, PiYO Live Certified, and SH1FT/L1FT Certified.

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