By Rob Gascoyne | Speed Academy Leeds
Most footballers and rugby players spend the off-season doing one of two things.
Either they switch off completely — which is fine for the first couple of weeks — or they head back into generic gym work with no real direction, hoping something sticks before pre-season arrives.
Neither approach is wrong, exactly. But both miss the most important training window in your entire calendar.
Because here’s what most players don’t realise: the off-season isn’t just a break from your sport. It’s the only time you can genuinely develop as an athlete.
Why You Can’t Get Faster During the Season
During the season, your training has one job — keep you ready to perform on matchday.
That means managing fatigue, maintaining what you’ve already got, and making sure you’re not carrying anything into Saturday. There’s no space for real development. Your coach isn’t trying to make you faster. They’re trying to keep you available.
Speed development — real speed development — requires a training load that your body simply can’t absorb when you’re playing competitive football or rugby every week. The recovery demand is too high. The risk is too great.
The same goes for building robustness. Strengthening the tendons, muscles and movement patterns that protect you from injury takes time and progressive loading. You can’t rush it, and you can’t do it properly mid-season without paying a price elsewhere.
So when does it happen?
Right now.
What This Window Actually Gives You
Four to six weeks of off-season isn’t a lot of time. But it’s enough — if you use it correctly.
What this window gives you that nothing else does:
1. The ability to train without consequence
No match on Saturday. No recovery to manage around fixtures. You can push harder, load heavier and work on things that genuinely challenge your body without it affecting your performance the next day.
2. Time to fix the things that have been quietly holding you back
Every player I work with has movement patterns or physical limitations they’ve been compensating around all season. Tight hips. Weak posterior chain. A hamstring that’s never quite right. These don’t fix themselves. But four weeks of targeted work can shift them significantly.
3. The chance to build qualities that transfer directly into next season
A stronger, faster, more robust version of you turns up to pre-season ahead of your teammates — not trying to catch up with them.
Why Most Players Get This Wrong
The mistake I see most often is players treating the off-season like a scaled-down version of in-season training. A few runs, some gym sessions, a bit of ball work.
The problem isn’t effort. The problem is direction.
Without knowing exactly where you are physically right now — your movement limitations, your strength asymmetries, the specific qualities your position demands — you’re essentially guessing. And guessing in a four-week window is expensive.
The players who make the most of this period are the ones who start with clarity. They know what they’re working on, why they’re working on it, and what success looks like before they do a single session.
That’s not complicated. But it does require someone to actually look at how you move.
How We Approach It at Speed Academy
Every athlete I work with starts in the same place — a Movement Profile.
It’s a 90-minute session where I assess how you move, identify what’s limiting your speed and athleticism, and give you a clear picture of exactly where to focus your effort. You leave with a report that tells you what you can load hard, what needs correcting first, and how to structure your warm-up to get the most from every session.
From there, we build a programme that’s specific to you — your position, your sport, your physical profile and your goals for next season.
No guesswork. No generic plans. Just a clear four-week process designed around where you actually are right now.
This Window Closes Fast
Pre-season doesn’t wait. And the players who show up having used this time well are the ones who hit the ground running — not the ones still trying to find their legs three weeks in.
If you’re a footballer or rugby player based in or around Leeds, and you want to make this off-season count, I have a limited number of 1:1 slots available right now.
Start with a Movement Profile — £69.
It’s the most useful 90 minutes you’ll spend this summer.
Book your Movement Profile here →
Or call Rob directly: 07780 994991
Speed Academy is based in Leeds and works with professional, semi-professional and serious amateur athletes in football and rugby. Our training methodology is built around speed development, movement quality and injury resilience.
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