SLOW AND STEADY WILL WIN
THERE has been a long hiatus from sport and like many athletes who have started training post-lockdown there are protocols to adhere to and goals that have been set.
Germany’s Bundesliga started a couple of weeks ago with stands empty aside from some cardboard cut-out fans.
I think many of our current sports in Australia are looking closely at Germany to see what they can expect when they kick off.
Protocols have been released and new rules for some sports will be set.
Apart from the obvious fears regarding the coronavirus, there are fears there will be a rise in injuries caused by athletes rushing back into training and then competition.
Load management will be essential and the athletes/players need to understand that they can only “be the best they can be at training” each day.
Training must be gradual so that you don’t leave yourself vulnerable to injury.
Injuries are always present whether the sport is contact or not but now they are in a group once again, competition on the field is ever present and the coach needs to ensure that the load is gradually increased.
Athletes need to understand that they cannot make up for LOST time as this is an easy trap to fall into. They need to invest their time wisely and prepare at their own pace.
After having a fall last week myself, I went to the physio to see what damage was done. I was surprised to hear they had just had the busiest month this year.
Whether it was from people and athletes having the time to train – injuries were overuse.
Then there were the people who had not done anything and suddenly were in a position to do some activity.
Lastly, there were the people who had been physically active and have stopped.
Oh, and then there is me – just a “Wally” who does silly things and hurts themselves.
All I am saying, I suppose, is don’t be too ambitious to return to post-lockdown workloads in a bid to take off where you stopped.
It will be interesting to see how the NRL and AFL commence, having to adhere to all the social and political rules that have been placed on them.
No socialising, no family gatherings and continual testing.
This will need to be carefully managed to preserve sanity and physical performance.
So, what can you do to monitor how you are going?
It would be easy to monitor if athletes had kept training diaries in good times.
This would give them a measure of how sessions had gone in the past and offer them some measures to gauge how they were going now. The training log is perhaps the most underused and underrated tool in making the athlete better.
I must admit to being a hoarder and still have my own personal training diaries from my career. Why? Because when I was 15 my coach asked me to write down my sessions and how I felt – what worked, what didn’t work.
It made sense, so I started. As I trained hard and grew older it became even more meaningful as everything I wrote down helped me to gauge the training load I could handle and when and why some injuries happened.
When I began coaching, I emphasised to the athletes to keep a training log. I also encourage athletes in Academy programs to also keep a diary.
As part of the Future Stars program, athletes are actually given a model diary to start and continue through the six months. Hopefully this will start them in a routine that they can carry on once the program is completed.
Through my time coaching I began to notice over the years those who kept detailed logs had a better understanding of what they were doing, why they were doing it and could understand the process of training load and listening to the body.
They were able to give me more accurate feedback to what training was effective and what wasn’t.
I think it gives the athlete a sense of responsibility and ownership of what they are doing and trying to achieve.
A diary is a great resource to gauge progress or trace training errors and the onset of injury or sickness.
I wish there was a crystal ball to see what the outcomes might be but at the moment, athletes can’t be concerned with what might happen, they have to just do the best they can do each day at training.
At the end of the day, we are lucky to be at the point where we are. We have escaped the wrath of COVID-19 and are looking to start sport again.
We are not in the clear yet and there are probably many with concerns but it is great to see some progress.
It could well be a wild ride out of lockdown and I would like to stress the importance of taking it steady – injuries can impact the immediate future.
Like the old saying goes, “Slow and steady wins the race.”