FIT FOR SPORTS

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Sports and athletics play a major role in many people’s lives.  Whether you play for the pure love of the game or because the game is your livelihood, it is important to condition your body for increased performance, because you desire more enjoyment with your game and for injury prevention.  Most sports and games have three distinct aspects related to optimum performance and more fun in the pursuit of improving. The three areas include mechanics, physical abilities and mental approach.

 

Mechanics are the fundamentals of the game that allow you to move (run, jump, swing, shoot, throw, hit and swim to name a few) in a way where the proper sequence of the body allows for improved consistency, efficiency, power, speed and injury prevention.  Mechanics are of key importance to every athlete trying to improve or just have more fun and success with their individual sport.

 

Biomechanics or one’s physical abilities and limitations play a key role in the consistency and efficiency of proper mechanics.  Every person has a very individual and unique structure consisting of physical abilities and limitations. In order to create a physical structure that is trained to optimize performance and fun with your sport, it is important to have an individual evaluation to determine your specific needs.  With specific performance training, one size does not fit all. Everyone has different levels of strength, speed, flexibility, range of motion, balance and stability and these impact every sport very differently. Your physical body can have a dramatic impact on both your mechanics and your mental approach to your game.

 

Mental preparation is a third area that has significant impact on sports, performance and fun with one’s game.  The mental part of a person’s athletic endeavor is critical to moving toward increased skill and performance. Areas of the mental game include strategy, beliefs, clarity, emotions, routines, acceptance, goals and focus just to name a few.  The better a person becomes at his or her game physically and mechanically, the more important the mental game becomes.

 

Each and every one of these three dynamics is important to helping an athlete become the best they can be.  For the majority, it seems fairly clear however that structure governs function. If the physical structure is improved to work more efficiently for one’s game, both their mechanics and their confidence will increase quite quickly resulting in improved performance and more enjoyment.      

Additional areas of expertise related to sports specific fitness and
performance are:

• Improved athletic performance through cardiovascular endurance, core
  strength and stability, balance, limit strength, hypertrophy speed strength and plyometrics.

• Golf - Create a more fundamentally sound golf game through a system of
  physical therapy (release and reeducation) and athletic training as
  demonstrated on the PGA and LPGA Tours.  Areas of training focus include:

  • Improve posture

  • Increase core strength for balance, stability and injury prevention

  • Optimize shoulder rotation

  • Proper hip rotation

  • Increase wrist strength

  • Improve balance

  • Myofacial release and specific flexibility  (active and static)

  • Joint integrity work (shoulders, hips, knees and ankles)

• Baseball – Through an individual and position specific program, baseball players (pitchers, fielders and hitters) will benefit from improved mechanics, increased performance and injury prevention.  Areas of training focus include:

  • Increase core strength for balance, stability and injury prevention

  • Strength training

  • Balance work

  • Speed and agility drills

  • Myofacial release and specific flexibility (active and static)

  • Joint integrity work (shoulders, hips, knees and ankles)

 

Training for your game in a way that is individual to you and specific to your game will greatly assist you in the journey of becoming fit to be your best!!