I wrote Football in the title, but this is what I'm using with Softball, as well.  I'll tweak a few little things, but the basic set-up will stay intact.

Before I write up the actual template I'll start by saying that I had this idea in my head and worked it over the last 4 weeks.  Originally, I had opted to write an off-season style in-season workout.

We're lifting 2 days a week (in-season) and I have 5 weeks before the first game.  One 4 week cycle followed by a deload into the game.  I was planning to write an off-season workout on an in-season schedule.  It looked awesome!  Made sense.  But, it was far too much work.  I got overzealous.  What it was boiled down to over the weeks is this:

Workout 1

  • Push Press
  • Rear Delts
  • Squat (Week 1)/Trap Bar (week 2)
  • Neck
  • Circuit
  • Upper Push - 40-50 reps
  • Upper Pull - 40-50 reps
  • Extras
  • RDL (Hinge): 20-30 reps
  • Lower Mobility
  • Abs

Workout 2

  • Hang Clean
  • Rear Delts
  • Bench
  • Neck
  • Circuit
  • Upper Push - 30-40
  • Upper Pull - 40-50
  • Extras
  • RDL (Hinge): 20-30 reps
  • Lower Mobility
  • Abs

I found this put some muscle on the guys and we have been able to make a little strength progress.  It wasn't so much that guys got beat up, but we were getting close.

Once the season starts we'll drop the Hang Clean,  Push Press (1st exercise of each workout) and Squat.  We'll focus on the Trap Bar, Bench and Pull-ups.  I hope to be able to at least maintain the Trap Bar.  The Bench will be used as a means of checking health and well-being.  When I lost weight, slept poorly, ate poorly, etc...  My upper body lifts would always take a dive far quicker than my lower body stuff.  If I notice any drops I can address the guys and talk about eating, sleeping etc...  I figure even if we lose weight our Pull-ups should improve during the season.

The 'Extras" section will be voluntary.  If they do it, great.  If not, it won't make a difference.

I'm trying to approach the in-season with the intention of increasing our lifts (obviously, within reason) without over-doing the workload.  I'll always err on the side of less, when in doubt.

But, if I give them solid goals, that may "motivate" them to stay on top of their work and maybe push a little harder when they feel good.  We shall see.