We where proud to support the Trinidad Country Club's Youth Tennis Championship this weekend. To help the youth athletes recovery between games and put on their best performances we brought our Normatec Recovery System to the courts. This compression therapy helps remove metabolic waste and increase blood-flow from the targeted muscles. NormaTec is the leader in rapid recovery—the system gives a competitive edge to the world’s elite athletes, coaches, and trainers.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The NormaTec Pulse Massage Pattern starts in the foot, hand, or lower hip and moves upwards zone-by-zone massaging the limb and mobilizing fluid out of the extremities.Created by a physician bioengineer (MD, PhD) to enhance blood flow and speed recovery, NormaTec Pulse Massage Pattern employs three key techniques to maximize your recovery:

PULSING: Instead of using static compression (squeezing) to transport fluid out of the limbs, Sequential Pulse Technology uses dynamic compression (pulsing). Our patented pulsing action more effectively mimics the muscle pump of the legs and arms, greatly enhancing the movement of fluid and metabolites out of the limbs after an intense workout. 

GRADIENTS: Veins and lymphatic vessels have one-way valves that prevent fluid backflow. Similarly, NormaTec Pulse Technology uses hold pressures to keep fluids from being forced in the wrong direction. Because of this enhancement, instead of tapering pressure off, the PULSE and PULSE PRO can deliver maximum pressure in every zone. 

DISTAL RELEASE: Because extended static pressure can be detrimental to the body’s normal circulatory flow, Sequential Pulse Technology releases the hold pressures once they are no longer needed to prevent backflow. By releasing the hold pressure in each zone as soon as possible, each portion of the limb gains maximal rest time without a significant pause between compression cycles.

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Performance testing is critical to the success of all our athletes. It gives us a baseline measurement as the starting point to work on. Here we can see where an athlete is both weak and strong. The programme can be tailored from the results and ensure we have a well-rounded injury resistant athlete. When we are at a point of retesting the results can show us if the practical application of our training has made any direct impact, and to what extent. If results are positive we know that we are moving in the correct direction but if results are neutral or even negative then there are many different indirect factors that we must evaluate. Such factors as sleep, stress, consistency, training load outside of our sessions can all be factors influencing adaptation.  On top of this, testing and the results from testing give individuals great motivation to improve themselves and work hard. 

What is the Off-Season Programme

The Off Season is a comprehensive and extensive football preparation program for elite performing footballers vying for selection on national teams, University varsity teams and future professional contracts. Technical skill is not enough for a game that requires repeated sprint ability, jumping ability, high level endurance, sudden changes in direction, power and mental toughness. The Program runs from Mid January to August. We will address technical skill and take a phased approach to players' physical preparation and performance. We use expert level coaching, scientific rationale and innovative equipment to provide a world class service. ​

After the initial assessment it is clear to see that the individuals biggest problem lies within his single leg stability, especially when the knee is bent. This seems to be a result of an inability to activate the gluteus medius when the knee is bent. The glutes burns out very early on any endurance exercise. Instability like this could inevitably lead to an overuse injury in the ankle or knee when hiking and running but moreover increasing this stability will make running and walking much more efficient. 

Through the improvements made in the individuals muscular endurance, muscular activation and movement technique around single leg stability there will be a huge reduction in the risk of injury and a huge increase in performance efficiency. The next stage would be to increase the stress with more dynamic movements. This would involve single leg landing and jumping actions.

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A very common issue with young developing atheltes the glutes or gluteus muscle complex (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus) are a extremely important muscles to control the hip. If they are not working efficiently then many secondary injuries and poor movement patterns can occur. Once of the main reasons that the glutes do not work to their full capacity is usually due to an individual spending long period sitting down of which can cause the glutes to switch off. Another common reason is another muscle over working or being over engaged to do the same movements as the glute. In this individual case, poor movement pattern when squatting showed a dominance in loading the knee and using the quadriceps to control the movement. This overloading is likely the cause of excessive force through the patella tendon causing jumpers knee symptoms.

Moving forward, the first month of training will involve,

• Repatterning the athletes squat
• Increasing the conscious activation of the gluteus complex through a range of movements
• Progressively challenging single leg stability
• Increasing core and lateral stabilizer endurance
• Teach technique of main lifts
• Build strength endurance for a range of movements.

Changing direction, sprinting, jumping and landing will put a lot of stress through his lower limbs. Due to his current movement patterns a lot of stress is directed to his quads and knees causing early signs of patella tendinitis. We must re-pattern this movement so that the glutes absorb more force and the efficiency of the lower limbs are improved. Once this platform of movement and strength is achieved we can move on to building high threshold strength throughout the body which will lead to dramatic improvements in performance.

Click here if you want to find out more about our personal training in Trinidad.