Just when you thought we couldn’t stress the importance of the offseason any more, we give you this “food” for thought. No, this isn’t some offshoot of Iron Chef: The Football Edition from The Food Network. It’s merely a reminder that your bodies are your temples and building said temples on shaky ground–although they may look like they’re strong–is a bad approach.

There’s one common goal during the offseason if you’re an athlete. Find the time–and energy–to maintain that physique that’s helping you earn a shot at the next level. Actually, that’s a common goal for most folks in all walks off life that are trying to stay athletic and in-shape. But specifically pertaining to football players, the rules of engagement with regards to the training table might have a bit more nuance than those that are trying to play soccer, basketball or hockey at the highest level.

The big-time schools have full-time strength and conditioning staffs that work in conjunction with nutritionists that are going to have you on-point if you follow the regimen, and the professional franchises are no different. The “key” (in your best DJ Khaled voice) is knowing how to self-regulate your own diet and workout needs before they even get you on campus or at the facility.

Understanding how your body works and responds to diet and exercise is simply paramount. After all, these temples your building are going to hopefully make you tons of money someday. If you think that diet and exercise in the offseason doesn’t effect your motherboard (aka your brain and emotional state) heading into the regular season, you’ve already missed the boat. If you don’t think that having a basic knowledge of this stuff is key to staying sharper as you get older–mentally more so than physically even–than keep abusing your bodies and see how well you fair cognitively once those playing days are done.

We caught up with our “guru” of all-things nutrition and exercise Raena Schmidt, an independent contractor and Certified Athletic Trainer who works our camps in addition to recently working with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team U-19’s to give us some answer to questions we had regarding the importance of the offseason plan. We asked about the “biggest” problem that she see with athletes and their offseason approaches. We also asked her about the nuances of the different regimens required for different sports–since we do have football players playing multiple sports. We asked whether or not offseason diets have a direct link to regular season injuries as well as the theory about “shutting it down” for a small amount of time to give the body what it really needs regardless of athletic prowess–which is rest.

While being on that “grind”–more on that at the end–may be good in some regards, it’s also a recipe for disaster if you don’t have the mental discipline to consider your offseason diet to be no different than the regular season. Once problem that Schmidt seems to encounter with athletes is that they simply “forget” to maintain that regular season discipline–which could set them back significantly.

“Often, during the off-season, athletes forget about the needs of their body. High level athletes need to have proper nutrition and diet year-round, despite the intensity of training or if they are in or out of season, in order to maintain the gains they have achieved during the season.” said Schmidt.

Like we mentioned, the goal of the offseason workout is to maintain the energy to keep the body producing–but there’s a little nuance to it. For the multi-sport athlete, it can be a little confusing. There’s obviously the different needs within football from position-to-position, but playing wide receiver and transitioning over to shooting guard or forward is quite popular–even though it’s a lot harder to be prepared properly than it looks. Schmidt does a fantastic job of breaking down the individual needs per sport. She uses examples from soccer as well since the training for that sport can be similar to basketball in terms of finding balance between strength/agility. The one thing that cannot be overstated is the need for balance in diet, regardless of sport.

“While all athletes need to generate energy despite their sport, each athlete must also focus on the needs of their sport, and the needs of their position on their team. Football often focuses on overall strength and bulk, while athletes who require more sprint type maneuvers such as soccer, not only should be aware of the amount of muscle they are putting on, but must maintain the ability for quick movement and change of direction. Often, these athletes will intake less protein as compared to a football player or weightlifter, but will ensure that they have energy-producing nutrients that allowed them to meet the demands of their sport. Similarly, although basketball athletes like to gain overall strength, they must be able to properly control their body’s plyometric movements for best results on the court, so they must be careful not to increase muscle bulk in weight by too much that would limit their abilities. All athletes should have a balanced diet of protein, carbs, and healthy fats, but the number of calories utilized per athlete per sport vary as well as their distribution and sources.”

We talked about the body being a temple, but how about a little more concrete-specific example. Schmidt talks about diet and its prevention of injury in terms of taking care of an automobile. Something all of us can relate to. The high-priced foreign models and economic and environmentally friendly models alike require proper maintenance. If you’re an elite athlete, just know that your body is like a Mercedes-Benz or Bentley. When stuff breaks, it gets expensive. One way to prevent you needing to literally spend thousands on maintenance is to simply give it what it needs in its proper order–starting with devotion to the food and drink. You can’t wait until you hear the belts squeaking or decide that your gas mileage isn’t very good. By that time, it may be already too late.

“As diet does influence an athlete’s physical form and abilities, diets which do not continue to fuel the muscle to maintain and/or gain muscle strength can lead to increased injury due to weakened muscles as a result of lack of nutrition.” said Schmidt. “Should an athlete be off of their diet, per se, they should ensure that they are able to properly fuel their body prior to the start of training, whether this is for preseason or in season play. This does not mean to start eating healthy the day before, as often it can take days or weeks to see improvements based on dietary changes. We often relate diet and health to car care. If you are continually taking care of your car, it will run in good condition. If you neglect your regular maintenance, you often will run into problems.”

Athletes in their true “alpha-wisdom” think they’ve got this whole “grind” down to a science. What they don’t know is grinding 365 days a year is actually kind of short-sided. Social media is a great source when it comes to watching high-paid athletes take a vacation, but just because you haven’t earned a multi-million dollar contract doesn’t mean your body isn’t worth a million dollars. Sometimes you simply have to power down and detach. Although “shutting down” for an elite athlete isn’t exactly the shutting down we as adults think it is–the general thought is that backing away from the “intense” stuff is recommended for peak performance.

“Rest is just as important as training is for an athlete. Some athletes are able to completely shut down and resume training after a few off days, but most prefer to do light aerobic activity such as walking, yoga, stretching, leisurely bicycling, and the like during the rest period. Not only does this keep the athlete focused, but it helps to maintain flexibility and overall health for the athlete.”