This post is from a very special guest. Jonny is a hardcore athlete and has alot of knowledge and experience in the field of fitness, sports and strength training. This week’s post is one very close to his heart, and it is one in which we should all pay attention to. Consider the fact that 8 time former Mr Universe Ronnie Coleman, is now in a wheelchair after 2 hip replacements…
Please enjoy Jonny’s post…
Injury Prevention
This week’s topic is very familiar to myself. Back in the summer of 2014, I was a Moseley U20’s rugby player training x4 a week and at the peak of my fitness. Everything was going to plan and I was given the opportunity to pre season train with the first team. It was very much my goal at this stage in my life to become a pro in this sport, so this chance was massive for me and an integral part of my progression. 3 weeks into training my body was starting to feel the impact of this high intensity explosive conditioning, however I was very much still focused on impressing and achieving my goal. Going into week 4, I developed a slight hamstring strain in my right leg and was debating sitting out, however the desire to impress clouded my body’s messages. 30 minutes into training, a structured game of non contact or ‘tag’ rugby was set up. I was breaking the defence, confidently showing my skill and working with team mates well when things took a turn for the worse. After a loop pass in the air in which I jumped to catch, I landed on one leg awkwardly and felt an excruciating amount of pain along with a popping sensation. Fast forward 5 months I was on the operating table having a hamstring graft to repair my snapped ACL ligament and torn medial and lateral meniscus. It is now 19th of May 2016 and I am sitting at my laptop writing this blog with a very different mind set into what my sporting future holds. I am now 2 years in to my physio and recovery which is slow but progressive. This now leads me on to talk about ‘Injury Prevention’.
I’ve put together a few rules that I would follow and have implemented in order to prevent such situations arising for you:
1) Be aware of your current weaknesses and injuries and make sure you understand how to practise proper technique/ form of any movement in your chosen area.
2) Implement a warm up or something similar before your chosen area to prepare your body for when it will be doing this exercise. Equally the use of a foam roller realistically after exercise will allow tension in the muscle to be released and maintain flexibility and functionality.
3) Give your body the best chance of recovery by practising a healthy and well balanced diet and planned rest.
4) When ‘training’ for your chosen sport or activity, make sure you use sport specific characteristics that interlink with movements or actions either in the field of play or simply pushing some weights in the gym.
5) Use the knowledge around you or ASK. If you know of people around you that could help or guide you don’t be afraid to ask advice. Examples of this include: qualified coaches, managers, elite athletes, physios etc. (note, especially in gym some ‘wrong ‘information gets thrown round, be aware of this.)
6) My last tip would be, if you know of a niggle or strain DON’T NEGLECT IT. Seek medical help either with: Sports related medics such as, physio, masseuse, doctor, chiropractor etc. This will help you avoid what I did and give you a longer shelf life in participating in sport and fitness.
These are only a select few of the ways injury can be prevented, however I feel these would have been the most important if I was to turn back time. I hope this is beneficial to you. If you’d like to see what I am now up to in terms of sport and fitness jump on Instagram and follow @jonnyhammondfitness
“Educate yourself, Train Hard and Dream Big”.
Jonny x
