For good reason when we discuss the safety of a return to play plan, most of the emphasis is on the risk of transmission. Without neglecting this serious factor, we are going to look at ways we can prepare and look after our bodies as we return to sport.

If you are interested in hearing the science behind what we are talking about then Click Here to read a really good article.

What does a break for exercise do to me?

That changes to our body are more vast than you might think, we have all noticed that after a few weeks away from sport the first session back always feels that little bit harder. Our cardiovascular

Huge decrease in max  stats

Let us look at the way our body adapts to the strains we put it under:

• Anaerobic fitness increases capacity of oxygen and carbon dioxide capabilities, while aerobic fitness improves the efficiency of the exchange.
• Anaerobic fitness increases your ability to remove lactic acid from your system, allowing you to do more work without the burn.

[1]

What happens to all of these changes?

Our bodies are very good at adapting, and that doesn’t only mean increasing its capabilities, once you take some time away or scale down your intensity, your body winds down its level of red blood cell production, it creates millions of them daily, so after a week or so you'll be back to normal, out of shape levels. Other adaptations like capillary density may take a few weeks to return to normal levels Additionally, your mitochondrial content in your muscle mass can decrease by 50% over the course of a week. [2]

In a break of 8+ weeks, there is a significant decrease in muscle power and muscle strength and impact resistance of joints. In a study carried out to investigate the NFL lockdown in 2011, there was seen to be an increase in Achilles tendon ruptures in training and preseason with rookies being more at risk than veteran players. [3]

Preparing for training:

You might be tempted to hit the conditioning hard as you prepare to hit the ground running on your return. The main thing to remember is that building back Cardiovascular fitness is a marathon not a sprint. Rushing back to push yourself to exhaustion isn’t going to speed up your retraining time but will have a significant impact on your body and will greatly heighten the risk of injury, start slow and take care.

While sprints aren’t advised ahead of returning to training, you could see a large benefit from some stretching or yoga to regain the range of motion that you had before the period of detraining. Jools Murray, in association with UK Ultimate, has produced some excellent resources to aid your reconditioning to the game.

Part 1- Waking up the hips

Part 2- Waking up the shoulders

Part 3- Waking up the spine

What can you do to help?

• Take it easy
  • Don’t expect the same level of physical intensity at training from the start, ease yourself in and build up the volume and intensity slowly. [4] The risk of injury is significantly higher at the first sessions back, don’t rush it. [5]
• Rest
  • While returning to play is about conditioning and building strength it is also about allowing your body sufficient time to rest, during rest periods is when your body is most efficient at growth and repair, this is what you need to be able to recover your full fitness back.
• Warm up
  • Do the warm up, and do it well. Take as long as you need to prepare yourself for the session.
• Cool Down
  • Add a cool down, whilst often neglected they are incredibly effective, even if you only spend a couple of minutes stretching off the major muscle groups then you’ll really notice the difference
• Stay Hydrated
  • Dehydration increases your risk of injury and can directly cause cramps and increase to friction within joints, leaving you more at risk to cartilage and meniscus tears.[6]

As a coach or team mate

We have even more responsibilities as a leader to ensure that everyone is in a safe environment to look after themselves.

• Encourage each other to buy in to the longer warm-up/ cool down structure.
• Keep it fun, the main thing now we aren’t building to any imminent events is to get everyone back into the groove.
• Design your session to allow individuals to go at their own pace.
• Plan regular breaks, probably a few more than usual.
• Have a couple of extra subs per team.
• Keep a close eye on those with ongoing injuries, and reinforce the importance of listening to your body.

Returning to play after infection:

Contracting the COVID-19 Virus can have implications later down the line, if you are concerned about to Impacts on returning to sport then look at this Handy Infographic [7]

References