1. Increase your Exercise Intensity
So you may be doing some exercise at home to prepare for your sports season but how intense is it? Are you adding sprints, jumps and changes of direction that your sport requires? You have a great opportunity before the season starts to really prepare your body for what is ahead.
We recommend having a sports specific workout at least twice a week for thirty minutes, be sure to make it challenging!
2. Try to shed some covid kilos
Have you increased your weight over the covid period? Don’t be afraid, you aren’t alone. Though you must be aware that carrying more weight than normal will affect you during your activities.
For every 1kg you have gained, your knee and hip joints will take an extra 4kg of weight. So if you have gained 3kg, expect another 12kg of force through your joints with each step you take. This can obviously add up to have a toll on your body.
In response to this, it is certainly worth trying two things:
A) Trying to lose the weight so your body has to cope with less pressure
B) Strengthen your body so that it can tolerate the new forces you are placing upon it
3. Start doing sports specific movements
What does your sport require from your body? If you are a cricket bowler you require a lot of flexibility, spine stability and muscular endurance. If you play six a side soccer, you need good balance, agility and cardiovascular fitness. If you play summer netball you need to be able to land and change directions swiftly.
Now is a great time to list on paper what your body requires of you and start to tailor your training to that.
4. Ease back into it
We know you love your chosen sport and you want to hit the ground running when the season restarts. Unfortunately this isn’t the best thing for your body if you haven’t prepared adequately. We advise having some sort of ‘pre-season’ where you work on your flexibility, strength, speed and balance.
It’s not uncommon for professional athletes to have a 4 month preparation phase for their next season. We don’t expect this sort of commitment from you, though anything is better than going from nothing to 100% game intensity.
5. Fix niggling injuries
Carrying a long standing injury into your sports season isn’t ideal at all. You may compensate with other areas of your body and turn one issue into two (or more). Normally with long standing injuries we find our clients have lost strength, flexibility and/or function.
At Forge West End we do a number of sports specific screens to ensure your body moves correctly for your chosen sport. We can put you through a number of different movements and tests to give you information on where you need to improve. Give us a call or get in touch before sports season starts again, book via the link now https://forgewestend.com.au/book-online/
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