Participating in adult sport leagues is a fantastic way to stay active, socialize, and compete while having fun. Whether you’re playing soccer, basketball, pickleball, or golf, balancing sports and your strength training goals can be a challenge. If your goals are to be the best athlete you can be in these sports, training can certainly enhance your ability to perform. If your goals are related to your strength training, know that these sports will interfere with your training, but this article will cover strategies mitigate the damage while having your fun playing. Here’s a comprehensive guide to strength training while playing sports or having an active, sport-filled lifestyle.
1. Tethering Expectations: Adjusting Goals for Strength and Performance
As an active adult participating in sports leagues, your goals for strength training should complement—not compete with—your performance on the field. While you might not be aiming for elite powerlifting numbers, strength is essential for improving athletic performance, injury prevention, and overall health.
Set realistic expectations for yourself. You won’t be able to lift like you would normally while playing competitive sports one or more times a week. Instead, focus on gradual progress or simply maintaining strength in your lifts, while keeping an eye on the physical demands and adaptations in your sport. Scaling back your lifting schedule to the bare bones of your program to help with recovery is usually the best option.
For example, if you are used to lifting four days a week, but now are playing basketball two nights a week, cutting out one or two of those lifting days is the likely best option. If you are on a traditional four-day split with a 'main lift' followed by accessories, you would eliminate all of your accessory work and condense the main lifts from four days down to two. You might also take 5-10% off the bar to start.
2. Focusing on One Lift at a Time: The Power of Simplicity
When balancing sports with strength training, less is more. Instead of overwhelming your body with multiple complex movements, focus on improving one major lift at a time. This allows you to maximize your gains without compromising your energy or risking burnout.
Key lifts to focus on:
Squats: Builds lower-body strength and explosiveness, which helps in sprinting, jumping, and overall athleticism.
Deadlifts: Excellent for building posterior chain strength, which improves balance, posture, and core stability.
Bench Press: Helps with upper body pushing strength, crucial for sports requiring upper body power (basketball, volleyball, etc.).
Overhead Press: Improves shoulder and upper body strength, enhancing throwing, reaching, and overall endurance.
Select one of these lifts as your primary focus for a training cycle (4–6 weeks), gradually increasing the weight or volume while allowing the other lifts to "maintain" in similar rep ranges. This way, you give yourself room to grow without overloading your system.
3. Increasing Calories and Hydration: Quality Over Quantity
If you’re participating in an active sport league while trying to build strength, you’ll need more calories than the average gym-goer. However, it’s important that these calories come from high-quality sources to ensure you’re fueling your body properly for both sport and strength gains.
Key dietary principles:
Protein: Prioritize lean protein sources like chicken, fish, eggs, turkey or leaner cuts of ground beef. Protein supports muscle repair and growth, helping you recover faster from both sports and strength training.
Carbohydrates: Choose complex carbs like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and whole grains to fuel your workouts and sports performance. Carbs are essential for energy and muscle glycogen replenishment.
Fats: Incorporate healthy fats (avocados, nuts, olive oil) to support overall health and sustained energy.
Water: Hydration is crucial for both performance and recovery. Aim to drink more water than previously, by about 15-20%. If you previously were consuming 100 oz of water a day (the amount I normally recommend for average adults), bumping that number up to 120 oz will likely be helpful. As you’re sweating more often and more heavily during sports or workouts, it's also important to consider electrolytes. Sprinkling in some electrolyte mixes or consuming sports drinks may help keep your energy levels high.
Tracking your caloric intake and ensuring you’re getting enough to support your activity is essential. Under-eating will hinder both performance and strength gains.
4. Getting More Sleep: The Secret to Recovery
Sleep is the most overlooked aspect of recovery, especially for adult athletes balancing careers, families, and sports. Strength training and competitive sports place significant stress on your body, and sleep is when your body repairs and rebuilds muscles.
Aim for at least 7–9 hours of sleep each night. If that seems impossible, focus on improving sleep quality by:
Going to bed at the same time every night
Creating a relaxing pre-bedtime routine
Reducing screen time an hour before bed
Optimizing your sleep environment (comfortable bed, cool temperature, dark room)
Without adequate sleep, your recovery will suffer no matter how good your diet, and so will your strength-building efforts.
5. Scheduling Considerations: Integrating Sports and Strength Training
When you’re involved in adult sports leagues, proper scheduling is crucial to avoid overtraining and burnout. You’ll need to carefully plan your strength training sessions around your game days and practices.
Tips for balancing both:
Post-game or post-practice recovery: It's best to avoid heavy strength training immediately before a game or practice. Taxing your muscles before playing can increase the likelihood of injury. If you must do it beforehand, try to split up the training and playing by several hours, like a morning lift before an evening game. Conversely, if you can manage it time-wise, lifting immediately following an intense game might be beneficial. This is a tactic that is becoming more and more popular in professional sports leagues, because it increases full recovery time. Instead of your body being strained 4-6 times a week, reducing this number down to 3-4 times allows greater recovery.
Strength training on off days: If your sport leagues have a set schedule (e.g., games on Tuesday and Thursday), aim to lift heaviest on non-game days and get in some additional volume after games. If you can't manage this, leave at least two days of full rest in your schedule. This gives your body time to recover without disruption.
Periodization: Adjust your strength training intensity based on your sports season. During off-season, you can focus more on heavier lifts, while during the competitive season, prioritize maintenance and recovery.
Don't forget to listen to your body, and adjust based on how you feel. If you’re starting to accumulate nagging soreness and pains, it’s okay to skip a lifting session or opt for rest.
Conclusion
Strength training while playing sports is possible with the right approach, but advanced trainees will find it difficult. By adjusting your expectations, focusing on one lift at a time, increasing your caloric intake, prioritizing sleep, and carefully scheduling your training, you can enjoy the benefits of both sports performance and strength gains or maintenance. Keep in mind that consistency, proper recovery, and listening to your body are the key factors in achieving long-term success in both strength training and athletic performance.
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