I classify a weekend warrior as an athlete who participates in training only in their spare time and does not necessarily follow a structured training program. You might have young kids and a full-time job and do not have the time to dedicate to serious structed training. But over time circumstances might change. You might find yourself with more time to dedicate to a previous sport or find a new sporting passion that you now have time to pursue.

If so, where do you start?
If you are a weekend warrior, I can help you with these top tips:

• Specificity – analyse the demands of your sport and train to meet them.
• Progressive Overload – understand how to manipulate load to avoid injury and achieve results.
• Train with Intensity – this is the key to success in sport.
• Recover faster – use specific recovery strategies that allow you to train harder.
• Flexibility – essential, as poor flexibility decreases your body’s ability to maintain posture and limits joint motion increasing the risk for low-back pain, joint pain, and injury during everyday activities.
• Strength Training – essential, to prevent muscles atrophying over time and to maintain bone mineral density.
• Train Consistently and implement the Hard-Easy principle.
• Warm up and Cool down – It is true! Warming up and cooling down properly helps prevent injury and enhances performance.
• Periodise your training – utilise easy, medium and hard weeks during the preparation phase and maintain intensity and frequency and drop volume in the taper phase.
• Listen to your body – listen for niggles or signs of tiredness and act on them.

If you are a weekend warrior looking to take your training a little more seriously, I can help you understand where to start.