Preparing for Winter Sport

I’ve just enrolled my son into Football again this year and although games don’t start for another month it got me thinking about the upcoming winter sports season and how a little bit of pre-season preparation can go a long way to making sure you ‘hit the ground running’ for the first match. In my experience (a long time ago now!) the fitter and more prepared I’ve been for sport the more I’ve enjoyed it. So I’ve put together some guidelines for what you can start doing now in the pre-season before team training starts. Schedule in a few sessions per week to work on the following aspects of fitness, but don’t overdo it. Get some advice from a professional or your coach to make sure your sessions are more quality over quantity.

Rugby, League, Soccer, Netball, Hockey – it doesn’t matter which sport you’re into, now is the time to start preparing your body for the upcoming season. Although there is another month or two until games start, there are many aspects of fitness that need attention and you can get working on some of those now: Strength, Power, Aerobic fitness, Speedwork, Agility.

Strength/Power: Muscle strength is hugely important in sports that have physicality such as Rugby and League. You want to build your strength in the off-season and then combine it with speedwork to develop the power required for scrummaging, rucking, pushing players off the ball, dragging defenders and powering up the field. Lower body exercises should be working your Gluts, Quads and Hamstrings with core exercises such as Cleans, Squats and Lunges. Shoulders, Chest and Back core exercises include Clean and Press, Bench Press, Pull downs and Pullups and Pushups. As you transition into Power training you need to increase your speed of repetitions and include more functional exercises such as Squat Thrusts and Burpees. Don’t forget to strengthen your core too: Abdominals and Back Extensors, to protect your spine. Pilates and Yoga are great systems to naturally increase your core strength.

Aerobic Fitness: The off-season and pre-season is the ideal time to build up your Aerobic capacity. Although most sports require short bursts of activity, it’s when you get tired late in the game that you tend to lose focus and concentration. Stamina developed pre-season will ensure you maintain your technique and skill execution later in the game when it counts. Running, cycling, mountain biking are all good forms of exercise for developing an aerobic fitness base. Try to vary your distance and terrain.

Speedwork: Most winter sports require multiple short bursts of activity for about 30 seconds duration. To develop your speed and anaerobic capacity, interval sessions are invaluable. Try interval sessions of 30 secs on/30 secs active rest to prepare more specifically for your sport. You can vary exercises such as running, squats, pushups etc. The session should last around 40 minutes including a warmup and warm down. You can also incorporate hills, steps or drills using cones to develop change in direction and other skills.

Flexibility: These days Dynamic stretching is favoured over Static stretches as it has shown to be more effective. However care should be taken to ensure you are well warmed up to the point of sweating to protect your muscles, tendons and ligaments from injury. Yoga is also an excellent way to stretch your whole body and help to recover from training and matches.

Recovery/Rehab: Don’t neglect your recovery as it is just as important as physical training. It’s often after the challenge of training and during the recovery time that your body actually makes it’s improvements to strength, aerobic capacity, flexibility etc. Rest, stretching, massage, nutrition and hydration are all important elements of recovery. If you have any tight muscles or joint pain see your Chiropractor or Physiotherapist to rectify any niggles before they become major problems.

Freedom Chiropractic
Remember we treat sporting injuries and biomechanical issues very well. We love to get you back on the sports field/court as soon as possible so give us a call if you need any niggles sorted before the season starts or if you get injured during training or games we are here to help.