How Student-Athletes Stay in Shape Over the Summer

By: Allie Cunningham
Posted In: Sports

Running at least two miles a day to maintain endurance. Weight training at least five times a week to build and tone muscles. Performing speed and agility drills until improving upon a previous time. Maintaining a well-balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, and not overtraining in the heat.

Student-athletes have another part time job this summer, making sure to stay in shape for a grueling pre-season.

Whitney Bushee, a field hockey player at Salve Regina, takes advantage of the workout packet provided to her by her coach. The packet includes timed miles, different sprints and agilities and light weight training. She tries to run at least five times a week and lift weights, and she also plays in a summer field hockey league to make sure that she doesn’t lose her touch.

Bushee doesn’t follow any sort of special diet during the off season. She just tries to make sure that she stays hydrated. She admits that motivating herself to workout everyday can be hard at times with the heat and wanting to spend time with friends, but she makes herself because she knows that she will benefit from it once the season comes.

“It gets difficult in the summer too with traveling and jobs to keep your workout schedule going, but you find time,” Bushee said. “We do a lot of running in preseason with sprints and the timed mile so I like to come in feeling at my best.I was always scared that my coach would know if I wasn’t running and working out”.

Alex Clark, a soccer player at Salve Regina, follows the workout packet provided by his coach, but he also tries to incorporate some of his own habits and rituals. The packet includes speed and agility drills and certain routines in the gym like bench pressing, box jumps, and squats. He tries to make it to the gym between four and five days a week to do weight lifting focusing on his entire body, not just his legs, and runs at least two miles three days a week and various sprints two of those days.

On the off days he likes to go to the field and shoot on the net or try to organize a pick-up game. He also tries to eat five small meals a day and to eat more meats and vegetables to keep his metabolism going and ensure that he has enough energy to work out. Clark is going to Rome for the beginning of this summer participating in the study abroad program here at Salve, and he admits that he may have to tweak his workout a little bit. He is, however, planning on maintaining his running, packing his cleats for the trip and is excited to find the nearest soccer field once he gets there. Once he returns from Rome in July he plans on picking up his regular workout routine.

“Being named captain this off season is what I use to motivate myself each day in order to complete the tasks that were given to me to get in better shape,” Clark said. “Knowing that I need to be a leader on the field is what makes me work hard to get into the best shape I can. That way, when the season comes and I am in prime shape, I will be able to be a better all around leader”.

Natalie Magyar, Salve’s fitness center coordinator and the creator of the summer conditioning packets, helps train teams and individuals for better performance in a particular sport or others just looking to get into better shape. Magyar works with the student-athletes in the fitness center, and creates workout routines catered to the specific needs of the athlete for optimum performance in a particular sport. Her packets are designed for each particular sport and are meant to phase the athlete into readiness for preseason. Enclosed are also nutrition suggestions, conditioning and agilities, and a chart that helps student athletes know whether or not they are overtraining. Magyar recommends a well-balanced diet, yet suggests larger portions for football players who want to gain weight over the summer.

Elizabeth Quinn, M.S., an exercise physiologist and fitness consultant for About. com’s sports medicine sections suggests various tips for creating and maintaining an effective summer workout for athletes. She suggests that you set realistic goals for yourself-know what you personally are and aren’t capable of achieving, and to vary your workout after a while so you do not become bored and want to keep exercising. Quinn also suggests to be consistent with your workout – set a schedule and stick to it, and make sure to avoid overtraining so as to not get hurt.

According to WebMD, in order to stay hydrated during strenuous workouts, athletes should drink two cups of fluid two hours before exercising. Water is always the best and athletes should drink four to six ounces every fifteen to twenty minutes, and for longer workouts, sports drinks can also be used to replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat.