Injury prevention on training return

PLAYERS

• Take responsibility for your own warm-up (foam rolling/ mobility exercises/activation).

• Arrive early and take 10/15 minutes to complete, even if the same exercise is completed in the team warm-up.

• Concentrate on hip and shoulder mobility (range of motion), as well as groin and hamstring flexibility in your own warm-up.

• Refer to the GAA 15 Warm-Up programme to learn your warm-up exercises (https://learning.gaa.ie/gaa15).

• Try to complete a similar mobility programme on rest days as well as some active recovery such as walking, leisurely cycling or swimming.

COACHES

• Begin with linear conditioning (straight line running drills with reduced twisting/turning) and move towards game-based conditioning (small-sided games) over a number of weeks. • Spend more time than normal on your team’s warm-up in the first weeks and plan it to build to training speed at the end.

• Dynamic stretching is preferred, although some degree of static stretching can be incorporated into cool-down (slowly reducing heart rate).

• Try to introduce speed work slowly (low reps at beginning) and always have it straight after warm-up (without fatigue).

Members of the Moorefield club in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, easing back to normality on their return to training on Wednesday.