Recovery and Injury Prevention

Joey Macauley
Complete Conditioning for Soccer
By: Greg Gatz

Mental and physical stress on your body precipitates from daily occurrences, from school to athletics, in which your body is the forced to resist or adapt to. In chapter 11 of Complete Conditioning for Soccer, Greg Gatz justifies valid information and daily practices to allow your body to recover and remain healthy. Initially, he explains that in order to keep your body in healthy composition, it's important to avoid overworking yourself. In the text, he says, "To develop a sound training plan, you must distinguish between volume and intensity" (Gatz 155). In essence, he's prescribing that tough workouts correspond with shorter time periods, or easier workouts can last for a longer duration. This promotes better improvement and maintenance for the mechanics of your body while participating in sports. Furthermore, Gatz specifies on essential techniques for recovering properly. This involve a nutritious diet, regular hydration, quality sleep, and various exercises such as massaging methods. Being able to commit all these aspects to a consistent daily schedule will translate into noticeable forward progress throughout training processes and performances (Gatz 157). 

(1) STAY HYDRATED!!
(2) Using the foam roller for glutes, quads, and hamstrings (book example)
(3) My ice/heat pad, smaller knot roller, and foam roller... all for recovery and soothing my small strains or injuries 

Personally, from playing soccer up to 5 days a week and with a possible 2 to 3 games a weekend, recovery is essential for me, day by day. After reading this chapter, I now understand the specifics for what I can and should be doing during and after training and competition to ensure that I continue maintaining and improving my muscle composition. The evidence I identified has altered the way I condition and train while making sure I'm avoiding injury or strain from overworking myself individually and with my team. Then, the information I paraphrased highlighted the check-list for the basics of what I need to incorporated while being involved with soccer. I know school hinders the amount of sleep I'm able to get, but I'm now aware of the extreme importance of hydration and nutrition, along with the use of different equipment to handle the soreness, knots, and stress with my muscles. 

Have you had to deal with over-stressing your muscles with an activity? If so, what methods did you do to recover efficiently, and if not, what would you have done?

Work Cited: 

Gatz, Greg. Complete Conditioning for Soccer. Human Kinetics, 2009.

Football Equipment

Football is a dangerous sport and  could not be played without the equipment. Things such as a helmet, shoulder pads and  mouth guard are required.

The head is the most important part of the body that is why helmets are required. They prevent constant head trauma and also prevents debris going to their face. " Head injuries, such as concussions, can be especially dangerous, so much thought has gone into designing the best protective helmets" (Wright  35).  On the helmet includes a mouth guard  which protects the jaw and teeth form injury.  The helmet is probably the most crucial piece of equipment in tackle football as it assures the safety of players heads.

Shoulder pads protect the upper body from collisions that are made with the shoulders. This piece of equipment is made from a plastic shell and a underlined foam, and cloth padding. "Shoulder pads , which are worn beneath the jersey and give players a broad-shouldered and powerful look, are vital because many tackles and other hits are made with the shoulders" (Wright  35). Theses work by absorbing and distributing the force making hits not as hard for the player.

 Football equipment Is a big part of the game which makes it so unique. In order for players to continue to play is to stay healthy and that is with the use of protective equipment. How is Protective equipment utilized in other sports? 

Wright, John D. Football. Mason Crest Publishers, 2005.

Strength Training: How to Properly Stretch Before Arm Workouts

Hello, welcome back to my blog! I hope all of you had a fantastic time celebrating this holiday season. Today, I will be writing about stretching and how to properly stretch before working out. There are various stretches you perform to warm up certain muscles. While some stretches work better for some then others, today I will be focusing on my personal favorite arm stretches.

Arms are frequently used in strength training, so they are very important to stretch. The first arm stretch is stretching your triceps muscles. In order to perform this stretch you need to stand shoulder width apart with your back straight. Raise one arm vertically beside your head and bend your arm at the elbow and touch the top of your back with our hand. Next, with the other hand grab the elbow and slowly pull it behind your head and stop when you feel a good stretch of the muscles. However,  remember not to pull to hard to where pain is felt because this can lead to injuries. This stretches multiple muscles which are the teres major, the triceps brachii, and the latissimus dorsi and is important in preventing tricep injury. Delavier writes, "These stretching exercises for the triceps help avoid tears, which may occur with heavy lifting on the triceps, but also when executing heavy pullovers or heavy vertical pulls" (Delavier 31). This shows that performing this stretch is very important when trying to avoid tricep injures while lifting heavy weights. 

 Another stretch is one that stretches the deltoids, trapezius, and neck. While stretching the deltoids and trapezius is important in preparation for arm workouts, stretching the neck is extremely important in preparing to do ab workouts. Stretching the neck is essential because some individuals depend on the strength of their neck in order to complete workouts such as sit-ups. This is very bad and can strain your neck, but if you stretch your neck before performing abdomen workouts, neck injuries can be prevented. To do this workout stand with your legs slightly apart and your back straight. Next, place one arm behind your back and grasp the wrist with your opposite hand. Slowly pull the arm down towards the outside of your body  to feel the stretch in your deltoid and trapezius. While pulling the arm that is being stretched bend your neck to the side opposite of the shoulder being stretched. Make sure to stop when you feel a stretch in your neck that does not include pain.

To conclude, there are multiple way to warm-up and stretch your arms before a workout but these are just a few ways you can do so. I enjoy performing these stretches before a workout and also before I play basketball. I believe they are a great way to stretch the muscles in the arm and to prepare me for a workout. Since I shared my favorite arm stretches, what are some of your favorite ways to warm up your muscles before working out?


Works Cited
Delavier, FreÌdeÌric. Strength Training Anatomy . Third ed., Human Kinetics, 2010.