Have you trained at full intensity after recovering from an injury, following a long period of rest, or before starting a new or unfamiliar activity?

Looking at the 4 scenarios below and the question posed in the title if this blog, is it something you can relate to, fallen foul of or never considered before?

Scenario 1: Returning from a hamstring strain to playing sport.

Scenario 2: Been asked to play rugby after 10+ years of no such behaviour.

Scenario 3: The work group are needing an extra player to make up their cricket* team (*insert any sport you’ve not played before and totally novice to).

Scenario 4 (A CLASSIC): Taking part in the parents race at the primary school sports day.

All of the above have the very inherent risk of catastrophe in the terms of embarrassment and injury, which surprisingly a lot of people don’t necessarily realise the gap in their training when preparing for these activities or agreeing to take part.

Unsurprisingly if you don’t match the demand in the scenario with your training there is an increased risk of injury at worst and really bad DOMS best case scenario. This risk is also elevated as we get older (after 25-30yrs old) unfortunately due to reduced engagement in activities, reduced high velocity training & poorer/prolonged recovery due to our wise old years.

Returning to sport after injury or a period of absence has its risks if not navigated correctly

So now we know the risk of injury if we don’t match the demands of the scenario, how do we fill the void and start to prepare so to prevent injury?

1. Make smart choices – Rather than being pressured into something your unsure of or unprepared for, put your body first rather than your pride & ego. Hindsight is a wonderful thing after the matter and injured for months as a result in a bad choice.

2. Ensure you have capacity – don’t add intensity into your training unless you have a good capacity for the movement you are adding intensity to. E.g. don’t do sprint intervals if you don’t have a cardiovascular base at moderate intensities.

3. Match movement patterns- build movement patterns of your intended activity into your training. E.g. running 15 easy miles a week has no bearing to multi directional movement at varying intensities you experience in racket sports or games like hockey, football, netball etc.

4. Build intensity – gradually build intensities up, build to 70-80% , then progress to 80-90% & then 90+%.

5. Don’t avoid the 95% to max effort – a common mistake is to avoid max effort, but its building up to it in training and then making sure you schedule in your weekly training correctly allowing enough recovery. Normally giving at least 2 days to recover before any other large capacity or high intensity event like a match or long run etc. It should account for 10-20% of your weekly volume of intense training.

If you follow these tips and incorporate them into your training generally or in the lead up to a specific event then you are reducing your likelihood of injury. Also remember adding power (high to maximal intensities), high load (strength) at high velocity (speed), into your training, is also a hugely missed component of resistance training which is so important. Have a look at an earlier blog here to see why.

Assuming you are fit and healthy isn’t always enough, you may be able to run a 10km or lift weights in the gym with no problem but don’t fall foul of this false confidence, add some solid decision making as well as specific high intensity movement patterns into your training to match the intended outcome. If you are training for something specific, novel or returning from injury and need help in preparation then its something I can guide you in, get in touch.