5 Tips To Help Goalkeepers Get Over The Injury Hurdle.
With news of Dida and Kalac of AC Milan succumbing to injury over the last week or so, it serves as a wake up call for many goalkeepers to not forget that injury can and does happen. Just last night I got hit like a freight train...cold chills, nausea, the whole nine yards. It was my body's way of telling me to take a step back, and help it recover after weeks of intense training.
Over the last few weeks, I've upped my intensity into overload, to the point that I had tonnes of painful lactic acid floating around my body. Now the lactic acid came from very intense weight training, throw in a few screaming kids and the day job and over a short period of time you can have some serious trouble, and this is without any goalkeeper specific training!
The body has some brilliant feedback mechanisms developed over millions of years of evolution that give you an insight into how your body feels at any point in time. Yank the chain too much and then the pieces begin to fall apart, keep a fine balance in check and you have a strong and healthy body year round. One of the most significant ways to maximize goalkeeping performance is to have a few aces under your sleeve.
Following are 5 surefire ways to keep in super shape all year round and help maximize your performance without succumbing to painful injuries that can wayside your goalkeeping ability for a long time:
1. Periodization Is Everything: Periodization is not complex, in fact, having a detailed plan that changes constantly over the competitive season is the most powerful way to curb the effects of injury and help enhance your performance. Start with shaping your year, and then working backward, right down to a day to day regime that constantly evolves throughout the training year. There are many forms of periodization, but the most common is step-like periodization that allows for a three week block of increasing intensity, followed by a fourth week drop in intensity, followed again by an increase in intensity in the fifth week, and on it goes.
2. Change Everything...Everyday: In line with the concept of periodization, is the need for constant change in your training regime. The body has a beautiful way of adapting to change. Focus on just one body part forever, without any change in intensity or exercise type, you hit a brick wall in your development. For your body to constantly grow and adapt you will need to be able to constantly change exercise types and training intensities. With that said, there are hundreds of training prescriptions you can use to help your body to constantly evolve, from super sets (working two opposing muscle groups), to super heavy (heaps of weight and low reps), the choices are endless and should be aligned with your goals for the competitive season.
3. Rest Days Are The Best Days: If you don't have scheduled days for rest in your plan you WILL over-train your body. Don't think that a 7 day, super intense regime is the way to super huge gains in your goalkeeping ability. In fact, training constantly without rest will reverse any benefit you wish to gain from your training program. With that said, get at the very least one active rest day every week, even more than just one day if you are training super heavy or intense.
4. Don't Just Stop: The very worst thing you can do when it comes to your goalkeeping development is stopping dead in your tracks. Muscles begin to atrophy (lose condition) after a couple of weeks of inactivity. Make sure you have active rest days in your training week, that allow you to recover without losing any form. Doing activities apart from the usual goalkeeping training regime will help develop muscles and benefit coordination that may have never been used outside of football alone. Try a pick up game of basketball or touch footie with your mates during rest days as a way of diversifying your training regime.
5. Your Body Is Your Temple: Getting into a "Zen-like" state of mind might be over the top, but meditation and remedial therapies are a brilliant way of getting your body into awesome condition. Schedule a day of total relaxation that includes massage, physiotherapy and regular shut eye (easier said than done in our hectic 9 to 5 world). Being able to get refocused, and give your muscles a much needed break from the everyday toil of training will help prevent overtraining, keep you re-invigorated and ready to take your goalkeeping performance to new heights.
Getting injured is really the result of continual stress on the body without a structured or detailed plan and/or significant rest. Creating a structured periodized plan, continually diversifying your training prescription, having active rest days and taking time for much needed relaxation away from the goal posts will significantly enhance performance. Apart from this, taking in the above advice will also help the competitive goalkeeper stay away from the dreaded injuries that may detract from their performance.
John Stevanja
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Reader Comments (1)
I understand all the periodization principles but am looking at putting together a plan, but want to know how to fit weights in optimally.