THIS Should Be the main Goal of Your Offseason Training Program
Whether your sport is built on strength, speed, power (or all three) a well-designed offseason performance program is essential.
But what if improving those qualities isn’t the most important part of the offseason?
What if the real goal is simply keeping you on the field?
Take the NFL, for example. Every year there are roughly 65 ACL injuries… that’s enough for every team to lose two players. My Detroit Lions currently have six starters on injured reserve. Not ideal… but hey, we’re still dominating.
Injuries can derail a season fast. One moment you’re a contender, the next you’re a “maybe next year” team.
Sure, it’s impressive when an athlete can power clean 315 or squat 600+. But none of that matters if they go down in Week 1 and miss the rest of the season.
That’s why a smart offseason program has to prioritize availability. Because the best ability is still availability.
And this isn’t just a football problem.
We’re seeing a rise in ACL injuries in women’s soccer, more elbow and shoulder injuries in baseball, and basketball players dealing with chronic ankle and lower-body issues all season long.
If you can’t stay healthy, you can’t perform, no matter how strong or explosive you are.
When I design an offseason program for an athlete, it’s built around these two principles.
1) Keeping you healthy and game ready
Injury prevention is the foundation of every effective offseason training program. The goal isn’t just to avoid getting hurt—it’s to build a body that can tolerate high training loads, repeated impact, and long seasons without breaking down.
This starts with addressing common injury risk factors like poor movement mechanics, strength imbalances, limited mobility, and inadequate recovery. A well-structured program emphasizes single-leg strength, proper deceleration and landing mechanics, joint stability, and tissue capacity to reduce the risk of injuries such as ACL tears, ankle sprains, hamstring strains, and shoulder overuse injuries.
Recovery is also a major piece of injury prevention. Managing training volume, improving sleep habits, and building in mobility and soft-tissue work allows the body to adapt instead of accumulate wear and tear. Athletes who prioritize recovery don’t just feel better—they stay available, consistent, and competitive throughout the season.
Staying healthy means you can train consistently, and consistency is what actually drives long-term performance gains.
2) Maximizing performance without increasing injury risk
Once injury risk is addressed, performance can be pushed without sacrificing durability.
A properly designed offseason program blends strength training, speed development, power output, and agility work in a way that supports injury prevention rather than fighting against it. Instead of chasing max numbers year-round, training phases are structured to progressively build capacity while protecting joints, tendons, and ligaments.
This includes improving force production and absorption, enhancing change-of-direction mechanics, and developing explosive power in positions that transfer directly to sport. When strength and speed are built on top of sound movement patterns and adequate recovery, athletes not only perform better, they’re far less likely to break down mid-season.
The athletes who dominate aren’t just the strongest or fastest. They’re the ones who can show up every week, stay healthy, and perform at a high level when it matters most.
Conclusion
I’m Jake Souva, and I’d love to help you write your rehab success story.
My experience as both a patient and a physical therapist shaped the business I wanted to create: an environment where you feel heard and are pushed to achieve greatness.
The best part of what I do is helping people like you see what’s truly possible through a personalized plan and relentless teamwork to get you back to your strongest self. Come visit us at our Sports Physical Therapy clinic in Shelby Township, Michigan to build your injury prevention playbook together.