Let’s face it, if you’re injured, you’re most likely not participating. If you are, it’s not at full capacity.
Being injured isn’t just physically uncomfortable, it’s mentally frustrating and athletes can easily fall into depression not being able to participate in the sport they love.
Preventing injuries happen in the weight room as well as the minutes prior to the event. Here are 3 tips to prevent injury:
INJURY PREVENTION TIPS:
- Address muscular imbalances in the weight room. In CrossFit, it’s not uncommon to see an athlete with glaring differences in their lifts. Like a 500lb deadlift and a 300lb back squat or a 350lb bench press and the same athlete can barely do a pull up. There should be areas of the body that are stronger than others, without a doubt, we just want more balance. Weak things break and when something is extremely weak in comparison to other areas, compensation will occur. Continued compensation will lead to an injury, eventually. The stronger you are, the longer you can get away with compensation. Focus on accessory lifts and address the weak links first. Nobody wants to work on their weak points, but the athletes that do get better and they tend to stay healthier than athletes that neglect their weaknesses. I can speak from personal experience on this subject. I neglected addressing glute, core, and hamstring weaknesses for a decade. I suffered habitual back strains and eventually a knee surgery. I can attribute this to overtraining as well as neglecting to address glaring weaknesses in my body.
- Have someone that works on your body that you trust. If you have a small tweak in your shoulder, back, hip, or wherever, you need someone that can help maintain your body. You can treat yourself some post workout or sport with mobility tools, but you should have someone you can go to that specializes in soft tissue, chiropractic, or massage therapy. In my opinion, everyone that is pushing themselves in a sport should have someone at least in their back pocket to see. Athletes will often delay in seeing someone because it’s a hassle and complain for months before going. Injuries don’t get better on their own. We use Indy Muscle and Joint and have since 2014. https://indymuscle.com/
- Warm up well prior to your sport. I’m a big fan of pumping blood through all of your muscle groups using dynamic exercises (butt kicks, leg swings, high knees) dynamic stretches (spidermans, baby makers, pvc pass thrus), then some body weight movements like air squats, push ups, sit ups, supermans, rows, single leg deadlifts ect. After than you can get more specific. If you are sprinting your run some sprints, if you are weight lifting you do some lifts or technique work, then go into your training. A lot of injuries can be mitigated by proper warm up.
-Coach Bryan McDowell
