5 simple basic steps to prepare athletes for success

Athletes of any level physically work harder than most people. Bones, joints, muscles, soft tissues and nerves are all working together to ensure that the person is able to complete the task they set out to do.
Unfortunately, many athletes are either injured or do not adequately prepare their bodies for the activity. When this happens, athletes can feel stiff, sluggish, tight, etc and performance suffers drastically. In some cases, the athlete may injure or reinjure themselves.

In Part I of the "How to functionally train athletes that win championships", we cover 5 SIMPLE BASIC steps for FUNCTIONAL PREPARATION.


FUNCTIONAL PREPARATION includes STRUCTURAL techniques like Sports Massage, Self Myofasical Release (SMR), Joint Mobilizations, as well as other well known soft tissue techniques like Active Release Techniques or Functional Soft Tissue Transformation.


These various modalities address the actual structure of the body. For instance, in any injury there will be "scar tissue" that may not have been rehabbed properly so that is not coordinating with the original structure thus creating a cycle of dysfunction. Using these modalities in a logical way will prepare the body for the next step in the athletic development process, which is FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS.

As with anything, please stay within your scope of practice but most of the techniques can be self administered.


THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT ANY INJURIES. PLEASE CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE BEGINNING ANY PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE INJURED OR HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY INJURED.


Here are 5 Simple Basic steps:

1) STIMULATE BLOOD FLOWAND HEAT BY MASSAGE:
This can be either administered by a qualified health practitioner like a physical therapist, massage therapist, athletic trainer, etc or by the athlete. (This is of course if there is no acute injury.) This step will stimulate blood flow to the area to pump in health nutrients for proper healing and prepare the tissue for the next step.


2) MYOFASCIAL RELEASE:
Again, this can be done by a number of ways on the table, lying on the ground or even upright. If you have a person who is skilled at myofascial release techniques like Active Release Techniques (A.R.T) or Functional Soft Tissue Transformation (FSTT), they can use their manual skills to free adhesions in the soft tissue thereby allowing the proper 3-D movement of the adjacent tissues. Other modalities that can be self administered can be using a FOAM ROLLER or THE STICK with good results.

3) ECCENTRICALLY STRETCH MUSCLES AND CONNECTIVE TISSUES:
After the soft tissue work is done freeing the muscles and connective tissue from adhesions, the muscle should be eccentrically loaded or STRETCHED in a FUNCTIONAL POSITION that will mimic the activity the athlete will eventually get into. If a runner wants to get back from an ankle sprain, we should have the athlete get into a running stance with one leg forward and the other one behind. Focusing on the back leg, we would want to make sure that they are stretching the calf muscles as well as the peroneus and tibialis muscles.


4) UPRIGHT FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT:
This step is vital to the neuromuscular system which has just been "cleared" of soft tissue dysfunction. It will require upright movement that will send a message to the brain so that this new movement of bones, joints, muscles, nerves and connective tissue is registered as FULLY FUNCTIONAL and available for use. Remember, we must not forget the NEURO in the neuromuscular system. The brain is the center of movement and it needs to know what it can now do.


5) CHECK FOR QUALITY MOVEMENT:
In most cases, the athlete will feel a difference in movement that can also be seen by an experienced professional. If the athlete does not have a change in QUALITY of movement, then reasses and start again as it can take more than one round.


These are simple but very powerful strategies for preparing athletes for the next step of FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS which will be discussed in Part II of our "HOW TO FUNCTIONALLY TRAIN ATHLETES THAT WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS" series.

Here is a short video (7 mins) demonstrating the steps above.



As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Thanks!

Will
Many thanks to the Gray Institute, in particular Gary Gray, PT, David Tiberio, PT, PHD and Lenny Parracino, CMT, FAFS for all of their support and education.