7 Steps to Help Athletes Stay Injury Free

Football fields are filled with kids with surgery scars on their knees. Young pitchers destroy their shoulders by seventh grade. Injuries are a fact of life. Yet the number of new injuries is astronomical. What can be done to help young athletes stay healthy and injury free?

(PRWEB) January 9, 2006 -- Football fields are filled with kids with surgery scars on their knees. Young pitchers destroy their shoulders by seventh grade. Adolescent girls are experiencing an increase in ACL and other knee injuries due to improper training. An 80-lb fifth grader diets so that he can make a lower weight to achieve wrestling stardom.

To make matters worse, many parents don't listen to doctors' advice of surgery or proper medical attention because it could hurt their "athletic resume." The U.S. Consumer product Safety Commission and the National Youth Sports Foundation estimate that national injuries among our youth cost $3.78 billion annually.

The number of kids who are being treated for overuse injuries, such as stress fractures, and muscle tears from throwing too many passes, pitches or hitting too many serves, is rapidly on the rise.

There is something wrong here.

Injuries are a fact of life. Yet the number of new injuries is astronomical. What can be done to help young athletes stay healthy and injury free? We asked Samuel Hirschberg, CEO of the Mental Strength Training Center what can be done to help athletes of all ages remain free of injury. Having worked with thousands of athletes, through camps, clinics, and one-on-one training, Mr. Hirschberg told us 7 necessary steps to put the odds in your favor of staying free of injury.

"While injuries will always happen, we can lessen the blow by taking some simple precautions, reports Mr. Hirschberg. To follow is a list of seven things that you can teach, and do for yourself to enjoy a long and healthy career."

1. Stretching prior-to and after training -- Stretching should always be done to keep the body limber and loose. 10-15 minutes, twice daily, of full body stretching should be enough. The first set of stretching should be done after a light warm up.

2. Proper nutrition & supplementation -- Some people treat their animals better than they do themselves. Proper nutrition and supplementation is important for all athletes and people on the go, especially when an increase in output is regularly required.

3. Drink 8 glasses of water (8 ounces each) per day. Our body is made up of more than 70% water. Drinking sodas, coffee and other dehydrants simply does not replenish the proper hydration our body needs. Many injuries and potentially life-threatening diseases can be attributed to even a 1% or more decrease in ones hydration levels. If you are training in hot weather, and perspiring a lot, an athlete may even need 16 glasses of water a day or more.

4. Eat 5-6 meals a day with the proper calories to fuel your body for peak performance both in your training and in your life. Eating small frequent meals makes it much easier for your body to metabolize, keeping your energy constant, and supplies necessary nutrients that our body needs.

5. Get the correct information. Stay away from reading information and applying training principles created by drug-backed publications. Steroid users recover in a fraction of the time of non-steroid users. Therefore, DO NOT do the routines that steroid users put their bodies through. Instead, find a resource that you trust, whether it be a printed information resource, a coach, a knowledgeable mentor or a personal trainer, and ask them for help when designing and monitoring your fitness and exercise program.

6. Sleep 8-10 hours a night based on your training loads. Your immune system kicks into high gear when you are asleep. This is when your body receives the real results and gains that you are looking for. Young athletes may even need more sleep as their bodies are in super-growth mode.

7. Always work on developing your mental strength. Making the proper investments into the development of your education and your mental attitude is the best investment that you can make toward your athletic career and your life. Bar none.

About the Mental Strength Training Center
Since 1998 the Mental Strength Training Center has helped over 8,500 athletes, coaches and parents of competitive athletes, worldwide. Becoming more mentally tough and a better competitor through mastery of basic strategies including nutrition, mental training and fitness. The Mental Strength Training Center offers libraries of resources containing tools and techniques through a subscription website to help athletes and coaches become stronger both mentally and physically. More information can be found at www.mentalstrength.com.

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