(BPT) - The 2025-2026 school year is here, and many student-athletes have their eyes set on making the roster for their chosen sport.
But what does it take for young athletes to perform at their best? The U.S. Army's health and wellness experts can help with practical tips rooted in the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) system, a program dedicated to optimizing the performance of the force's tactical athletes - Soldiers - across all aspects of health: physical, nutritional, mental, spiritual and sleep.
These are the same experts who help the Army's elite Soldier-athletes - from the Army Warrior Fitness Team to the World Class Athlete Program - compete and win at the highest levels of their sports.
Ready to up your game? No matter your sport of choice, check out the following battle-tested tips to prepare for this year's tryouts and beyond:
1. Strengthen your bones and joints with multi-lateral movement
Long-distance running is great for building cardiovascular health and endurance, but the low-load, long-duration activity can desensitize the body's osteogenic response - the process of building and strengthening bones - and can sometimes lead to bone stress injuries (BSIs). Like running, rucking - or a long-distance march with a weighted backpack - has long been a staple of building physical readiness and morale among Army Soldiers. To avoid injury during this activity, Soldiers are encouraged to incorporate short-duration, high-impact multi-directional movements into their workouts to strengthen their bones and joints.
Maj. Gary Helton, Army physical therapist and sports medicine expert, stresses the importance of beginning this type of movement early in life to reap the benefits as one gets older. He notes that the foundation of bone health and architecture is laid during adolescence, so making sure that young athletes are exposed to bone stress early will set them up for success down the road.
In addition to cardio and endurance training, try incorporating multi-directional movements to help your bones adapt to different stress patterns, strengthen tissue and enhance balance:
- Jumps and plyometric exercises like jump squats and box jumps
- Forward, backward and diagonal lunges
- Agility and balance training like cone shuffles, ladder runs and grapevines
2. Work out with weights to build muscle and endurance
Like multi-directional movement, incorporating weights into your workout is essential for building muscle, increasing endurance and preventing injury. Weight work can give you the power and explosiveness needed to engage in a competitive sport as well as increasing muscle mass, which can improve speed and agility.
If you're new to lifting weights, it's not necessary to pick up the heaviest weights in the gym to reap the benefits. Army physical therapist and injury prevention expert Maj. Shay Lopez recommends:
- To start, incorporate body weight circuits or bands into your workout to continue challenging the bones and muscles.
- Once you have your foundation, start to steadily incorporate weights into the workouts.
- Pay special attention to the fatigue of your muscles, and if you're sore for more than a few days, try revisiting your workout with a lighter set of weights.
3. Strengthen your core to build athleticism
Building a strong core is crucial for maintaining balance and stability throughout everyday activities, but it can also improve your overall athleticism. Core strength allows you to change directions quickly and stay on your feet during a fast-paced game, and a strong upper body will help you build power and control.
Lt. Col. Jason Barber, high-performance coordinator for the Army's World Class Athlete Program, recommends leveling up a traditional strength workout by incorporating aspects of instability. This requires you to engage additional muscles to stabilize, successfully strengthening your core and upper body.
An effective movement is to complete a chest press on an exercise ball:
- Select your preferred weight of dumbbells. With one dumbbell in each hand, lie back on an exercise ball at a 90-degree angle with the hips lifted in line with the shoulders.
- From there, fully extend your arms toward the sky with your palms facing forward, then slowly lower each arm into a chest press with slow, controlled movement.
- By keeping your shoulder blades on the ball, your back flat and your core tight, you are effectively strengthening and stabilizing your upper body.
4. Warm up and cool down
Like the "summer slide" in academics, taking extended time away from your sport might require some extra attention on mobility to get back to full speed when tryout season comes around. Reserving time for a proper warm-up and cool-down will help prevent injury and help you feel ready to take on a hard practice.
Maj. Max Dummar, orthopedic and sports physical therapist, suggests starting with regular daily stretches in the areas and directions that you may utilize depending on your sport. "Dynamic stretches or foam rolling may be of value when you begin your workouts." These can include:
- Leg swings and walking quad stretches to open the hip flexors and loosen the leg muscles
- Arm circles to increase shoulder and chest mobility
- Torso twists to loosen the spine and core muscles
When you finish practice, Maj. Dummar recommends that you "take some time to do sustained static stretches for the areas that you used during your workout and any specific muscle group that you know you are particularly tight in."
5. Take your prep off the field
As you prepare for a big tryout, remember that training is just one piece of the puzzle. During your back-to-school shopping, be sure to include healthy snacks and hydration on the grocery list. Lt. Col. Kelly Calway, Deputy Athletic Director at West Point, says, "School days are long and involve a lot of walking around. Making it to practice with a full battery at the end of the day requires good hydration and fueling. If you need to eat less than three hours before practice, look for a snack with simple carbohydrates like pretzels or a bagel to help prevent stomach issues."
Additionally, incorporating rest and recovery into your routine is essential for making progress and staying healthy. Your bones and muscles regenerate when you sleep, so to see the results of your work in the gym, you need to develop a routine where the rest is just as important as the work.
Maj. Lina Ochoa, occupational therapist and sleep readiness expert, says, "Teenagers usually require 8 to 10 hours of sleep […] When you are well rested, your brain functions more efficiently, you think clearly, process information faster and make better decisions." A few ways you can set yourself up for a successful night of sleep include:
- Incorporate muscle relaxation and breathing exercises to your sleep routine to unwind from social stress and schoolwork before bed
- Dim the lights to release melatonin, the hormone that helps you fall and stay asleep
- Limit screentime and keep electronics out of sight at least an hour before bed to improve your sleep
As tryouts approach, remember that great performances are built long before game day. By incorporating small, consistent elements of holistic health into your routine, you can begin building habits that last well beyond this year's roster. For more advice on how to maximize your training, visit the GoArmy channel on YouTube.