Fight camps are harder on your body than the fight itself. We teamed up with leading Sports Physio Jamie Stewart, who dropped some knowledge on how to avoid injuries and train sustainably. All words by Jamie below.
One of the things I get asked about the most is injury prevention, and it’s probably an area that has the most myths surrounding it. Too often I see people doing things like foam rolling, wearing compression garments and using massage guns. If you’re trying to do these things to prevent injuries you’re literally papering over the cracks. Start doing the stuff that really matters!
The most valuable aspects to preventing injury are:
📈 Managing Your Load Appropriately
What does this mean? People often expose themselves to too much volume or intensity of activity, without giving themselves sufficient time to adapt and get used to it. If you've been out of training for 6 months and just pick up from where you left off then you’re massively increasing your chance of getting injured. Don’t do something you’re not ready for!
💪🏻 Strength Training
Strong muscles and joints = resilience. By doing regular strength training your body will be in a much better position to be able to deal with the stress you put through it during camp. This doesn’t have to be training in the gym with heavy weights, you can get massive benefits from just doing bodyweight sessions or using things like heavy backpacks.
🛌 Recovery
A huge contributor to preventing injuries and is so often overlooked. I will often see people who are overtraining, under sleeping and not eating well who come to me injured. Give your body the rest it needs, as during this rest is when adaption takes place and you get fitter and stronger. There’s so much research around lack of sleep increasing injury risk, getting up at 4am to train is pointless if you’re compromising your sleep to do it. Get your diet right, eat high amounts of protein, fruit and veg, stay hydrated and minimise alcohol and processed foods.
🏋🏻♂️ Moving Well
Poor movement patterns may be causing an area of your body to be overloaded. Get these checked out by a professional and address these. Try to add full range of motion throughout your training and include fundamental movement patterns. Dedicated mobility sessions can be an easy win.