Warm-up

Warm-up before your activity, make this dynamic and specific to what you are going to do. There should be no standing stretching as this lengthens the muscles making them slow to react to sudden contractions required when performing. The best warm up exercises are drills like fast high knees for sprinters, arm swings with a racket to prepare the body for serving in tennis, bowling in cricket without the ball to warm up the shoulder. Why go for a 2 lap jog to warm up when you’re a sprinter? include short fast explosive drills as well. Why go for a run in a straight line when you’re a tennis player, you should be changing directions, get someone to blow a whistle so you have to react like you would if you were on court.

Cool-down

This is important to recover from your sport. Again repeat what you did in the warm up at a slow pace, wind down, get your heart rate back to normal. Now you can stretch, but again make them specific. Why, do an arm stretch pulled across your body when you are a runner concentrate on your legs. Stretch to the point of tension never into pain, stretch gently and slowly holding for at least 20 seconds. This allows you to get past the bodies own reflex response to stress. 30 seconds is a good time to hold a stretch.

Technique

It is important to work with a coach to get your technique right for your sport. You also need to discuss proper exercises to help condition you for your activity which will help your techniques. This includes sports specific conditioning. Many amateur level athletes will do a general exercise programme in the gym. Why not make it sport specific. If you are a runner, why do double leg squats when you are never on both feet at the same time, use a one leg squat. It is important to strengthen the movement patterns you perform regularly in your sport. Think about what is required from your sport, in golf you need good hip and thoracic spine flexibility for your swing.

Protective equipment

It is your responsibility to make sure your equipment is not damaged in any way. You need to make sure your equipment is suitable for your sport and you, this includes correct footwear, racket size and weight, gum shield moulded to you only, correct helmet size ect.

Taping

Many people will use taping to prevent injury. Taping techniques are used to help support correct posture or limit certain movement. What is forgotten is as soon as you start your sport the tape will lose its hold after a few minutes. It can still be used as sensory feedback of limb position. Braces can be used to support joints but remember you should not rely on this, you should be strengthening the area which is affected so you will not need the brace. Wearing a brace for a long time can weaken muscles as they get use to the support.

Recovery

Recovery is just as important as your training. Allow your muscles to adapt. For many this may be hard due to time restrictions, sports massage can help. Sports massage is a great preventative method. Imbalances and damage in deep tissues can be detected earlier and potentially corrected before an injury develops. It can improve self awareness, an athlete can learn to monitor their own condition and adjust their training accordingly. It can increase blood flow through the tissues and can improve the recovery process allowing the athlete to train more effectively and safely. It assists the removal of waste products and helps supply the tissues with essential nutrients to aid recovery. Increasing the knowledge of the deep tissues means advice can be given on specific stretching and training tailored to your strengths and weaknesses.