August 7, 2019, by Charlotte Gauja

Preparing for the Season Ahead

The University of Nottingham Sports Injury Clinic provides expert advice on preparing for the season ahead and how to avoid injury.

Pre-season is a major part of the sporting year, where you set your physical, mental, technical and tactical foundations for the season. During this time, it is crucial you manage yourself as an athlete to reduce the risk of injury and ensure you maintain balance in your life.

It is a busy time of year due to the increased contact time to prepare for the season, and so managing your time is essential. Whilst training and strength and conditioning sessions will be intense and demand a lot, it is always important to go through the recovery process.

Here are some top tips on how to prepare for the season in order to reduce the risk of injury during pre-season.

1. Always warm up – whether it’s a short or long session, warm ups are essential for preparing your body for exercise. A 5-minute jog then stretches for the major muscle group, followed by some dynamic stretches and exercises will get you ready.

2. Recovery protocols – after a session it’s always important to recover well and go through the process to ensure maximal recovery, especially during times like preseason as your body is getting used to an increased load. Always start with a cool down but here are some other things that can be done post training.

• • Ice bath / plunge pool – this aids the recovery process helping flush your muscles of lactic acid
  • Active recovery in the pool – this will keep you moving but will take the majority of load off your legs allowing stretching and movement to occur without over working the muscles.

3. Any niggles or injuries – get them checked as soon as possible. In a time where the demand on your body is high it is important to get any injuries assessed and managed.

4. Look after yourself – in this time nutrition and hydration will also play a key role on performance and recovery. Make sure you are getting a good balance of food but also enough of it; with lots of training you will be burning a high number of calories which therefore need to be replenished. In the same way you will be losing fluid through sweat so make sure you’re keeping hydrated.

5. Know your limits – it is important that you know what your body can take. When preventing injuries, it’s about understanding your body. If you are feeling tired and achy then reduce the intensity of your session to help manage load. In addition ensure you are getting 2 rest days per week.

If you experience any injuries from pre-season or would like to recover in our on-site hydrotherapy facilities, book an appointment at one of our Sports Injury Clinic’s.

• Complete our  online booking form
  
• Email us at  sportsinjuries@nottingham.ac.uk
  
• Call us on: +44 115 74 87070

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