How's Your Pre-season?

Happy New Year to the TSIC community,

All of us at TSIC hope you have had a restful and recuperative Christmas and New Year.

Today's article outlines the importance of completing pre-season training to bulletproof yourself for the in-season demands of your chosen sport. Australia has a wide range of winter sports creating a unique landscape when it comes to physical preparation. Whether you are a soccer player, Australian Rules athlete or a rugby player, do you know the value and importance of completing a sufficient amount of pre-season training?

Dr. Tim Gabbett is a Sports Scientist, published author & a trusted expert in the area of load management. He has found that completing eighteen weeks of pre-season training, gives an athlete a protective effect when it comes to sustaining or avoiding in-season injuries. Dr. Gabbett also found decreased injury risk to be associated with athletes who have built up higher chronic training loads. These are most easily described as an average of training completed in any 4 week block. Lastly, undertraining was found to place the athlete at increased risk of sustaining an injury.

As a Post-Grad Scholar at the Australian Institute of Sport I worked with a wide range of Olympic athletes and during my tenure at Hawthorn Football Club (2010-2013), I was successful in ensuring more than 80% of the squad completed pre-season which predicted a high ladder position for the upcoming season.

Whilst at the AIS, I was lucky enough to share many meals and chats in the dining hall with a range of Olympians and Olympic Gold Medalists. One that stands out is talking to 2008 Rowing Gold Medalist, David Crawshay. He spoke of the distinct feeling of lining up on the starting line, knowing' he was going to win the Gold Medal in the Coxless Pair with his partner Scott Brennan. When I quizzed him about why and how he felt this way, his response was simple, yet clear; "Because we'd done the work and put in during our preparation".

So, in conclusion, how is your training going? Have you, or will you put in the work at this time of the year to get the results you are after?

Best of luck for 2020 and we hope to see you tearing up the track over the coming months.