SPORTS MEDICINE: Routine needed in non-routine time – nwitimes.com

Just 14 days ago, I was lamenting the length of the NBA season and the frequency at which the league schedules its games. Be careful what you wish for.

Only seven days ago, I was writing about the ides of March, explaining the word “ides” means “to divide” in Latin. This year, the middle day of this month fell on Sunday and served as a genuine dividing line. As the week before started, sports were still playing and school was still in session. As this week got underway, no more school, no more sports.

The college and high school basketball seasons have ended prematurely. Who knows if hockey and basketball will re-start at the professional level?

At all levels, the baseball/softball season was barely underway. Ditto for track and field. The pros may eventually return. The NCAA has already scrapped its spring sports. High schoolers, meanwhile, still have hope.

Sports will resume. One question is when. However, there is at least one other. What to do in the meantime to maintain or even improve one’s physical condition?

Two weeks ago, I called on former Philadelphia Eagles and Notre Dame strength and conditioning coach Ken Croner to explain the whys and wherefores of rest and recovery.

Croner, currently a personal trainer at Fitness Pointe in Munster, also has some advice on what to do now, absent the availability of school facilities and coaching.

Not quite a year ago, I wrote about the value of one simple exercise that requires no equipment: push-ups.

“They are the best upper-body exercise,” said Croner. “You’ve got joint stability; you have to stabilize your pillar or your trunk; and you’re pushing your body weight. In theory, it’s better than a bench press. If your form is correct, it’s a challenging exercise. Plus, you can alter the difficulty of it by slowing the speed down and adding additional weight.

“However, the issue becomes that you cannot just do push-ups, because you don’t work any posterior chain, at all. Whether it’s upper or lower body, if you’re going to do a push, you’ve got to do exactly the (same) amount of exercise as a pull.”

To balance the push-up, then, Croner recommended upper body rows, chin-ups/pull-ups and/or curls. No dumbbell weights at home? A milk jug full of sand is just as effective.

“Our nervous system can’t differentiate between whether we’re lifting rocks, sandbags, barbells, dumbbells, (or) pipe in the garage,” Croner said.

Strengthening, however, is not for the arms alone. The legs and trunk must be included, too.

“My whole philosophy is, when we talk about training, we train the body as a unit because that’s how the body performs in athletics and in every-day life. If you’re going to set up a work out at home, it’s not that difficult,” Croner said.

For the lower body, Croner recommends some form of squat and/or lunge as pushing exercises to be balanced with bridges and/or knee curls on a physio ball for pulling.

The trunk and the core will be addressed if you are doing push-ups and physio ball exercises correctly.

As for overall conditioning, Croner recommended interval training, whether running or riding a stationary bike. A 3-5 minute warm-up should be followed by running or riding hard for one minute, then two minutes easy. The hard/easy intervals should continue for 15 minutes before a cool-down period of another 3-5 minutes.

While general conditioning may be relatively easy, sport specific activities may be a little more challenging. Yet, baseball players should be able to play catch with a sibling or parent in the back yard. Multiple hitting drills are also possible with a tee, a net, and a willing family member to soft toss. Similar strategies should be considered by tennis players.

Runners may not be able to train in groups. Still, they should be able to follow their coach’s periodized plan individually. Lacking specific instructions, runners should observe the “20% rule,” which means never increasing distance or intensity by more than 20% in a given week. Furthermore, if this COVID-19 crisis extends into months, runners should follow three weeks of progressively harder training with an easy week.

Regardless of one’s sport, Croner has one last piece of advice. “Set up a routine,” he said. “When I was at Athlete’s Performance (now Team EXOS) in Arizona, we used to set up the ‘perfect day’ for athletes when they (left us and) went home. Wake up early, work out in the morning, take a nice nap in the afternoon, and then work on your skill, whether that’s swinging a baseball bat in the mirror, swinging a golf club, or working on your dribbling.

“Then the biggest issue is going to be these kids not going to bed at a reasonable time. You’re missing out on growth hormone and everything else that sleep provides us when we don’t get on a schedule.”

Following Croner’s advice will make return to sport easier when that day comes and lessen the likelihood of injury, especially during those first few days back. Also, maintaining a training routine that includes regular exercise and adequate sleep will boost the immune system, making illness less likely. At this moment in history, that may be the most important benefit of all.

John Doherty is a licensed athletic trainer and physical therapist. This column reflects solely his opinion. Reach him at jdoherty@comhs.org. Follow him on Twitter @JDohertyATCPT.