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Season and timing

What should I do in the off-season?

Short answer

Take a genuine break first — two to four weeks of little or no structured training, which is short enough that you lose very little and long enough that the accumulated fatigue of a season actually clears. Then rebuild: general strength, the movements the season crowded out, and whatever niggle you managed around for months.

The off-season is the only part of the year with no match at the end of the week, which makes it the only part where you can train hard enough to be sore and not pay for it.

In more detail

Why

Two mistakes bracket this period. One is treating the off-season as an extension of the season and never unloading, which carries fatigue into a pre-season that then cannot be trained hard. The other is stopping completely for three months, which turns the first six weeks of pre-season into recovering ground you already had.

This is when to fix things. A shoulder that hurt all year, a hamstring that kept tightening, a glaring left-right difference — these need consistent work over weeks, and there is no other window where that work can be the priority.

Build what the season does not. In-season training is constrained by the game. The off-season is not, so it is where general strength and muscle are most efficiently added.

Not every sport has one — Train Smart's rugby league calendar runs pre-season November to February and competition March to October, with no off-season block, because that is the year the sport actually has.

This is general information, not medical advice. Train Smart gives training and nutrition guidance for healthy adults. It is not a substitute for a doctor, physiotherapist or accredited dietitian. If you have an injury, a medical condition, or you are unsure whether an exercise is right for you, get it checked first. Every recommendation on this site is sourced.
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