With the GAA club season starting back this month, here are my top 5 tips to help stay injury free
- 1 ) Rehab your old injuries
A past history of injury means you are 2-3 times more likely to get that same injury again. If you haven’t completed a comprehensive rehab program then you are at an even greater risk. There are preventative exercises for all the common GAA injuries; hamstring, ankle, shoulder etc. find out which exercises you need to do…and do them!
- 2 ) Monitor your training schedule
There are two main training errors that increase your risk of injury
- a ) A sudden increase in load (ie the amount you are training)
Your risk of injury increases when you increase your training load by greater than 10% per week. Gradually increase the amount you are training and your body will adapt, increase it too quickly and you are far more likely to get injured.
- b ) Overtraining
If you are playing on more than one team you need to speak with team managers to ensure you are doing enough of but not too much speed, fitness training. If you are constantly training to fatigue your body does not have enough time to recover, leaving you open to injury.
- 3 ) Get your diet right
Get enough carbohydrates and protein into your system to
A. Fuel your workout: Insufficient carbohydrates pre-session means you won’t have enough energy to complete the training session efficiently
B. Recover after your workout: Inadequate protein post session means your body doesn’t have the building blocks to repair and rebuild new muscle.
Deficits in either puts you more at risk of breakdown in your subsequent training session as your body has not adapted to the previous.
- 4 ) Get enough sleep
Anything less than 6 hours of sleep per night lowers your immune system and decreases how well your body recovers from exercise. It also puts you more at risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and depression.
- 5) Keep up the Strength & Conditioning
The gym is not just for the winter! Ideally you should be on a program that incorporates sports specific periodization so you are maintaining power and strength for the competitive season. You should also include your preventative prehab exercises to decrease your risk of recurrence of an old injury.
If you want advice on how to help prevent particular types of injuries, let me know!
