Training Tips


Training Tips

1. Stop and start to fight muscle strains. Sprint-based sports like baseball and basketball churn out a lot of lower-body muscle strains. The fix: stop-and-start drills. "If you train your body to do something that's specific to your sport, then that training should take you through a full season," says Arizona Diamondbacks veteran shortstop Royce Clayton. Try his drill: Run 40 yards at about 70 percent of your maximum effort, slow to a jog for 10 yards, then pick it up again for another 40 yards. Repeat four or five times. You'll be conditioned to sprint to first base, slow down, and charge for second, or run out for a pass if your teammate steals the basketball. There's glory for the first man downcourt. 2. Crouch, tiger. Seventy percent of ACL injuries occur when players are pivoting or landing awkwardly after a jump. Hitting the ground with your knees bent instead of nearly straight greatly reduces the risk, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 3. Figure the heatstroke equation. Heatstroke harms many an unwary athlete. Do the math: If the temperature and relative humidity combined equal 160, stay cool and hydrated, says Dave Janda, M.D., director of the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. If the number tops 180, exercise indoors, or move to Canada. 4. Protect your nose. Once you wipe out, your surfboard becomes a weapon—boards inflict 55 percent of all surfing injuries. Make it less dangerous by applying a rubber "nose guard" to your board ($20, ronjons.com). Acting as a front bumper, it wraps around and caps the pointy front end of your board. "If it hits you, it doesn't really hurt," says pro windsurfer Tristan Boxford. 5. Replace your funky equipment. Stressing joints that are out of alignment, also referred to as overuse, is a major cause of sports injuries. Even a bike or racket that's not properly sized for you can cause improper movement patterns that spawn overuse injuries, says Mark Verstegen, M.S., C.S.C.S., director of performance for the NFL Players Association. The extra hundred bucks you spend at the pro shop can save you 10 times that at the orthopedic doctor's office. The choice is yours, sport. 6. Correct your funky swing. "If your technique isn't right, you'll predispose your body to injury," says Edward Laskowski, M.D., codirector of the Mayo Clinic sports medicine center. That's why you need to seek advice from the golf pro, the basketball coach, the trainer, the mountain guide. M.J. and Shaq didn't win NBA titles until they met Phil Jackson, after all; you're only as good as the advice you get. 7. If your sport is multidirectional, your warmup should be, too. Think about the wild gyrations you perform during one turnover from offense to defense in basketball. If your groin, back, and leg muscles aren't ready, you'll pull up in pain. Before the game, run backward, forward, sideways, and in quick combos of all directions. 8. Videotape your mistakes, just like Pam and Paris. The camera knows and sees all, Dr. Laskowski says. "But only when you have a knowledgeable person to interpret it." Which is where that coach or pro comes in. 9. Swing a racket with your legs. "People forget to use their legs when they're hitting their serve or other strokes," says Doug Spreen, A.T.C., trainer of tennis pro Andy Roddick. For instance, when you toss the ball up for a serve, you'll stress your lower back if you're not using your legs. Bend your knees and push up and through the serve with your legs, Spreen says. You'll gather power from the strongest part of your body. 10. Loosen your shoulders. An injured rotator cuff can shut down a shoulder, says Spreen, who suggests adding external- and internal-rotation stretching to protect your cuffs. External: Stand with your right arm straight out to the side and parallel to the floor. Bend your elbow so your arm forms a right angle and your forearm points straight up. Keeping your elbow in place, move your hand back until you feel slight tension in your shoulder. Internal: Same as above, except that your forearm should point straight down toward the floor at the start. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds. 11. Hit the pool early. Inhaling organic material, such as hair, skin, and urine, can cause breathing problems. Schedule your lap sessions early: Fewer people in the pool means less splashing, and less of their debris left behind in the water. 12. Arm yourself to the teeth. Men who wear custom-fitted mouth guards reduce their risk of dental injuries by 82 percent, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lay out the money for a custom-fitted guard and it'll last for years. So will your smile. 13. Smooth out tendon problems. Ask your doctor about ultrasound needle therapy. The minimally invasive procedure uses ultrasound to guide a needle, which doctors use to smooth bone, break up calcifications, and fix scar tissue. Sixty-five percent of patients who underwent the therapy saw improvement, and a session takes only 5 to 15 minutes. 14. Buy running shoes after work. Shop at night, when your feet are swollen after a day of pounding, advises Chad Asplund, M.D., a physician at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Georgia and a running-shoe researcher. It approximates how big your feet will be after the first three miles of your run. 15. Exercise off road. Unstable surfaces train stable ankles. 16. Beat the heat. Humid environments—i.e., anywhere south of, say, Maine and east of Colorado—only make asthma worse, as Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis well knows. He passed out on the field in 1997 from an asthma attack. "You can't just react to the problem. You have to make sure it's controlled," he says. Even though he can't change midday practice times, you can. Run early. Temperatures are lower, and so are the humidity and ozone levels that can induce an attack. (Find more tips online at lungusa.org.) 17. Face your attacker. In a lot of sports, it's not whether you'll be nailed, it's whether you'll be able to absorb the blow. Bettis does a footwork drill based on a Latin dance move—the carioca—to maintain his agility and to face linemen squarely. Try it: Move laterally along a straight line, using crossover steps. Facing forward with your shoulders squared and both hands held out in front as if to absorb a tackle, swivel your hips from side to side, rotating to face the sideline. "The more relaxed your hips are, the more responsive they are, and the better your body's going to react to a hit," Bettis says. 18. Assess the course. It doesn't matter whether you're biking, paddling, or skiing—take a dry run down any route first. "You see a lot of paddlers injured because they just don't know what they're getting into," says Tao Berman, a world-class kayaker who holds the record for running the highest waterfall (98.4 feet) in a kayak. "If I look at a fall and think I'm not going to be able to control the way I land, then I walk away." As should you. 19. Take the path of least resistance. Crash landings require stuntmanlike instincts, whether you're smacking the water or the turf. "You want to be as aerodynamic as possible when you hit," says Berman. "Just before impact, I lean forward against the front of my kayak so I don't take a huge hit to my chest as I reenter the water." Use the same technique on a bike or in touch football: "I don't stop short; I just go with the fall and let my body roll through the impact," he says. 20. Practice hard. Performance anxiety narrows your peripheral vision by as much as three degrees and slows reaction time by 119 milliseconds, according to the Journal of Sports Sciences. When the going gets tough, the tough rely on the skills they've practiced. It helps keep them cool under pressure, widening their range of vision so they see that linebacker coming and react within milliseconds.

Training Tips

1. Stop and start to fight muscle strains. Sprint-based sports like baseball and basketball churn out a lot of lower-body muscle strains. The fix: stop-and-start drills. "If you train your body to do something that's specific to your sport, then that training should take you through a full season," says Arizona Diamondbacks veteran shortstop Royce Clayton. Try his drill: Run 40 yards at about 70 percent of your maximum effort, slow to a jog for 10 yards, then pick it up again for another 40 yards. Repeat four or five times. You'll be conditioned to sprint to first base, slow down, and charge for second, or run out for a pass if your teammate steals the basketball. There's glory for the first man downcourt.

2. Crouch, tiger. Seventy percent of ACL injuries occur when players are pivoting or landing awkwardly after a jump. Hitting the ground with your knees bent instead of nearly straight greatly reduces the risk, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

3. Figure the heatstroke equation. Heatstroke harms many an unwary athlete. Do the math: If the temperature and relative humidity combined equal 160, stay cool and hydrated, says Dave Janda, M.D., director of the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. If the number tops 180, exercise indoors, or move to Canada.

4. Protect your nose. Once you wipe out, your surfboard becomes a weapon—boards inflict 55 percent of all surfing injuries. Make it less dangerous by applying a rubber "nose guard" to your board ($20, ronjons.com). Acting as a front bumper, it wraps around and caps the pointy front end of your board. "If it hits you, it doesn't really hurt," says pro windsurfer Tristan Boxford.

5. Replace your funky equipment. Stressing joints that are out of alignment, also referred to as overuse, is a major cause of sports injuries. Even a bike or racket that's not properly sized for you can cause improper movement patterns that spawn overuse injuries, says Mark Verstegen, M.S., C.S.C.S., director of performance for the NFL Players Association. The extra hundred bucks you spend at the pro shop can save you 10 times that at the orthopedic doctor's office. The choice is yours, sport.

6. Correct your funky swing. "If your technique isn't right, you'll predispose your body to injury," says Edward Laskowski, M.D., codirector of the Mayo Clinic sports medicine center. That's why you need to seek advice from the golf pro, the basketball coach, the trainer, the mountain guide. M.J. and Shaq didn't win NBA titles until they met Phil Jackson, after all; you're only as good as the advice you get.

7. If your sport is multidirectional, your warmup should be, too. Think about the wild gyrations you perform during one turnover from offense to defense in basketball. If your groin, back, and leg muscles aren't ready, you'll pull up in pain. Before the game, run backward, forward, sideways, and in quick combos of all directions.

8. Videotape your mistakes, just like Pam and Paris. The camera knows and sees all, Dr. Laskowski says. "But only when you have a knowledgeable person to interpret it." Which is where that coach or pro comes in.

9. Swing a racket with your legs. "People forget to use their legs when they're hitting their serve or other strokes," says Doug Spreen, A.T.C., trainer of tennis pro Andy Roddick. For instance, when you toss the ball up for a serve, you'll stress your lower back if you're not using your legs. Bend your knees and push up and through the serve with your legs, Spreen says. You'll gather power from the strongest part of your body.

10. Loosen your shoulders. An injured rotator cuff can shut down a shoulder, says Spreen, who suggests adding external- and internal-rotation stretching to protect your cuffs. External: Stand with your right arm straight out to the side and parallel to the floor. Bend your elbow so your arm forms a right angle and your forearm points straight up. Keeping your elbow in place, move your hand back until you feel slight tension in your shoulder. Internal: Same as above, except that your forearm should point straight down toward the floor at the start. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds.

11. Hit the pool early. Inhaling organic material, such as hair, skin, and urine, can cause breathing problems. Schedule your lap sessions early: Fewer people in the pool means less splashing, and less of their debris left behind in the water.

12. Arm yourself to the teeth. Men who wear custom-fitted mouth guards reduce their risk of dental injuries by 82 percent, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lay out the money for a custom-fitted guard and it'll last for years. So will your smile.

13. Smooth out tendon problems. Ask your doctor about ultrasound needle therapy. The minimally invasive procedure uses ultrasound to guide a needle, which doctors use to smooth bone, break up calcifications, and fix scar tissue. Sixty-five percent of patients who underwent the therapy saw improvement, and a session takes only 5 to 15 minutes.

14. Buy running shoes after work. Shop at night, when your feet are swollen after a day of pounding, advises Chad Asplund, M.D., a physician at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Georgia and a running-shoe researcher. It approximates how big your feet will be after the first three miles of your run.

15. Exercise off road. Unstable surfaces train stable ankles.

16. Beat the heat. Humid environments—i.e., anywhere south of, say, Maine and east of Colorado—only make asthma worse, as Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis well knows. He passed out on the field in 1997 from an asthma attack. "You can't just react to the problem. You have to make sure it's controlled," he says. Even though he can't change midday practice times, you can. Run early. Temperatures are lower, and so are the humidity and ozone levels that can induce an attack. (Find more tips online at lungusa.org.)

17. Face your attacker. In a lot of sports, it's not whether you'll be nailed, it's whether you'll be able to absorb the blow. Bettis does a footwork drill based on a Latin dance move—the carioca—to maintain his agility and to face linemen squarely. Try it: Move laterally along a straight line, using crossover steps. Facing forward with your shoulders squared and both hands held out in front as if to absorb a tackle, swivel your hips from side to side, rotating to face the sideline. "The more relaxed your hips are, the more responsive they are, and the better your body's going to react to a hit," Bettis says.

18. Assess the course. It doesn't matter whether you're biking, paddling, or skiing—take a dry run down any route first. "You see a lot of paddlers injured because they just don't know what they're getting into," says Tao Berman, a world-class kayaker who holds the record for running the highest waterfall (98.4 feet) in a kayak. "If I look at a fall and think I'm not going to be able to control the way I land, then I walk away." As should you.

19. Take the path of least resistance. Crash landings require stuntmanlike instincts, whether you're smacking the water or the turf. "You want to be as aerodynamic as possible when you hit," says Berman. "Just before impact, I lean forward against the front of my kayak so I don't take a huge hit to my chest as I reenter the water." Use the same technique on a bike or in touch football: "I don't stop short; I just go with the fall and let my body roll through the impact," he says.

20. Practice hard. Performance anxiety narrows your peripheral vision by as much as three degrees and slows reaction time by 119 milliseconds, according to the Journal of Sports Sciences. When the going gets tough, the tough rely on the skills they've practiced. It helps keep them cool under pressure, widening their range of vision so they see that linebacker coming and react within milliseconds.