Working with the physio and medical staff to establish the extent of the injury and the rehabilitation timeline is paramount to building a reconditioning plan. This collection of information will help me understand what areas of training I must implement as well as the types of training that could compromise the athletes recovery. In this process I simply go through a checklist of each area of the body I can and cannot train, which includes strength training and energy system/cardiovascular work.
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Reconditioning Plan
Step by step guide I use for re-conditioning athlete's as they return to play.
1. Collecting Injury Information
2. Functional Testing
Taking my list of training I can and cannot prescribe the injured athlete, I’ll begin to build a series of functional tests that the athlete will undergo. The reason for this testing serves two important purpose. The first is to get a new baseline of where the athlete is at for all important components of training. This will allow me to have a better understanding of where the athlete is at day 1 and what will be required in order for them to return to play. The second benefit of this functional testing is to determine if any other deficiencies exist that could contribute to future problems or delays in rehabilitation. Testing can be very limited and deviate from the normal testing athletes will undergo with me during in-season and off-season training. However, the data can show many correlations to the athletes normal testing and performance standards.
3. Building a Reconditioning Training Plan
Using the list of training that I can safely implement into a new rehab training plan, along with the athletes test results, I can confidently build a prioritized timeline of training goals/needs. I build these plans backwards, starting with the projected return to play date and determine what I levels of strength, speed, flexibility, aerobic, and anaerobic must be met to ensure the athlete is ready to come back even stronger than before they were sidelined. This reconditioning timeline and training will include important events that must be met in order to move into a new phase of training. This is very similar to regular training programs I create as it ensures that an athlete is not skipping critical steps that could cause setbacks both physical and mentally later on. This entire plan would be reviewed with physio and medical staff to make sure it coincides with their rehabilitation plans.
4. Reconditioning
Working with an athlete during their reconditioning process requires a lot of hands-on attention. This type of training can be tedious and cognitively draining, which is why it is important to keep an athletes motivation high. As we progress with the training I have always been a huge advocate of training alongside athletes and giving them the competitive push they need need to improve. This method of training athletes, generally used with energy system/cardiovascular training, has proven to be very successful in improving the athletes state of mind and eliciting greater physiological performance.
5. Sport Specific Reconditioning
The last phase of reconditioning an injured athlete is moving into sport specific training. This type of reconditioning requires a great deal of analysis to ensure the athlete is fully recovering and not compromising the injury. This critical phase is when I begin to push the athlete to take on a higher degree of stress before they approach full practices and competition. As a S&C coach who puts a lot of effort into my own training, I’ve had a lot of proven success working along side athletes by motivating and analyzing their progression during the sport specific reconditioning phase. My ability to help athletes during this phase is showcased through my elite athletic capabilities and scientifically based reconditioning methodologies.
6. Long Term Care
Creating extensive reports on all athlete’s injuries, along with the reconditioning process, is the first step in understanding the long term care for an athlete. Even after an athlete has recovered and returned to competing, it is necessary that we continue to monitor the athlete and ensure they don’t show any signs of regression. A long term plan will eventually evolve into the athletes training plan by including specialized accommodations to training.
