What would The Physio Centre Dubai suggest for your preparation?
1. Start Early – as mentioned above, there is a lot of areas to cover in terms of the expectations in the Gov Games, so get yourselves together early, start training early and get planning early
2. Plan – Look at your team. Test a few different things to get an idea about strengths and weaknesses, then plan your training and your plan of attack around these strengths and weaknesses. Do you want to build on the strengths, or build on the weaknesses. Plan some social events to help build team comradery, and most importantly, plan your training.
a. It will never suit everybody, so work out the best options allowing every to partake equally. It’s common in Gov Games training to bring in a coach. Get them early, ask them for a plan of how they will train you, where the focus will be, what location and times will be confirmed.
3. Routine – develop one. Each individual in the team will differ depending on their other daily requirements, but try to create a regular sleeping and waking time, a regular diet, some social time with family and friends outside Gov Games training – you don’t want it to become all-encompassing this early on, because that increases the risk of burn out and injury.
a. A subcategory here is Diet! Recovery fuel is carbohydrates – but not the super sugary, processed ones. Think rice, potatoes, pastas, breads, fruits. But Repair fuel is protein – meat, fish, chicken etc. eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yoghurt, protein shakes.
b. So post training, you might consider these sort of options –
i. Snack option: ¾ cup Greek yogurt + 1 cup strawberries + 2 tbsp granola + 1 tbsp ground flax
ii. Meal option: Wrap, two slices bread or 1 potato with 4 ounce chicken, 2 scrambled eggs or 4 ounce tempeh, veggies/leafy greens, ¼ cup smashed avocado
c. Remember that diet is important all day, everyday whilst training. SO ensuring you have quality foods going in – wholefoods rich in protein and carbohydrates, will aid in maximising performance.
d. Don’t forget HYDRATION. Drink water, but also consider adding to it a salt tablet or a electrolyte tablet to keep a balance in the system!
The Physio Centre Dubai’s ideal training week –
1. 4-5 days a week – you’re not a World Champion and you’re not playing for oil rigs
a. These training sessions will need to include strength tasks, fitness tasks, strength and fitness together, gymnastic skills, team challenges to work together and define the roles each person plays.
2. 1 full rest day. Meet your friends and family, head to the cinema, maybe have a walk. Try to avoid anything Gov Games related!
3. 1 active rest day – here we allow yoga, pilates, walking, a light swim – or nothing at all if that suits you. Try to break the rest days up so you haven’t got the rest day and the active rest days next to each other.
The point of rest days and active rest days are to allow your body to heal from the training you are doing. Each time we train with intensity, micro damage is done to the skeletal system – muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and bones. Allowing adequate time to heal, means that when you train again, the body is ready for it. When you DON’T allow adequate time to heal, the risk of injury increases and this reduces your chance of being able or ready to compete in February.
4. Listen to your body – both for fatigue, disinterest, pain, stiffness. All of these are signs of over training, not recovering sufficiently, not fuelling properly and possible stress. The sooner you observe and act on these symptoms, the less time it’ll take to recover.
5. Ask for help - This is such an underused aid in recovery and maintenance. Asking for help from your team mates, coach/manager, work mates, family, friends or medical team is the most efficient way to move forward. It could be help for injuries, work tasks, family expectations, or training tasks. Let’s move past our independence and become a big helpful community.
