There is no doubt that as athletes, we can all agree that we hate getting injured. Today, I want to talk about how to minimize your chance of injury.
This starts with a belief. In Sports Psychologist Stan Beecham’s book, “Elite Minds,” he discusses a Division 1 basketball program having the least amount of injuries compared to other programs. When the coach was asked how this was possible, he responded, “At the beginning of the season, I get all of my players together and I simply tell them that we are not going to get injured this year!” This belief is at the core of your injury prevention plan.
As you dig deeper into this successful basketball program, you also find that the coach also creates a framework for injury prevention. They do prehab exercises, practice smart, do strength training, and take care of their bodies to prevent these injuries like other programs
In a society of busy schedules, training fills almost every bit of free time that we have. As a result, strength training, prehab, and stretching get neglected until we get injured. At this point, we are often forced to rehab. I cannot stress enough the importance of hip and glute strengthening exercises. I’m not saying that this will 100% prevent injury, but it will go a long way in helping us do so. Exercises like clamshells, lateral band walks, bridges, lunges and squats are highly effective in strengthening and stabilizing the muscle groups that power most of our training. Additionally, take time before every session to do prehab exercises to make sure you are properly warmed up. Doing so will help ensure you are never doing rehab exercises instead.
As you all continue to work with your coach to map out your training and offseason, I would encourage you to plan to incorporate these exercises. This will set you up to have your best season yet!
Watch this blog post at https://youtu.be/xlwVZ6QlDZI
