Health, Injuries and Cleanliness
By: Christopher Hall CWK, IOA, CMMACC
Proper training and body mechanics along with a healthy diet can prevent a multitude of devastating injuries. Warming your muscles slightly (jump rope, slow jog, etc) before stretching can allow the tendons and ligaments to stretch without tearing. Having proper body mechanics and technique while training, will establish nerve pathways to the muscles that will fire much faster and increase your speed and agility.
Poor body mechanics is probably the number one cause of injuries because the body is moving in un-natural ways, that it wasn’t designed to do, causing wear and tear on otherwise healthy joints. Muscle injuries usually repair themselves quite quickly with proper rest and nutrition, whereas ligament, tendon and joint injuries can last much longer and can require surgery. Nerve damage is painful and can restrict mobility/performance. Overtraining can easily occur with MMA athletes, having a good trainer and coaches will take you a long way. Building up your workout routines over the course of your training camp will allow your body to adjust. It’s not unusual for pro fighters to train up to 6 hours a day in the beginning of their camp, gradually reducing the training time increasing intensity, with proper recovery they will have a great camp and a great fight.
If overtraining occurs it can literally cause your immune system to breakdown and you can become ill. Your immune system is what repairs the microscopic tears in your muscle fibers and also the wear and tear on your joints, ligaments and tendons. Keep your immune system healthy and it will take good care of you, which leads me to my next subject, cleanliness. It is very important that you clean the gym equipment, your gear and your body after each training session. Germs like staph, ringworm and many other blood borne illnesses are easily transmitted if not prevented through proper hygiene and cleaning of equipment. Wipe down all your gloves, mitts, kick shields, thai pads, any equipment that was used during training with a sterilizing solution like disinfectant wipes from Clorox. Wash your hand wraps regularly and shower after every practice. Wash your hands frequently, before/after practice even before leaving the gym if possible.
Recovery and rest are more important to your training than you may think. If you train for 1 hr a day, your body adapts to the exercise the other 23 hrs of that day. It is vital that you allow your body to recover, if you do you’ll become stronger and you’ll be able to train harder. It’s also important not to allow too much time in between workouts, your body won’t actually improve. The quality of your recovery time is also important, on your day off, don’t do ANYTHING exercise related! Recovery is also based on the type and quality of the foods you consume, put high quality fuel in your car and it will perform well, use the cheap stuff and a breakdown isn’t far away.
The healthier you are before you enter the ring the better your chances of inflicting more pain on your opponent than what he/she inflicts on you.
To schedule an appointment with Christopher call
(505) 821-9609 or go online www.AHCTherapies.com
