A person’s greatest strength is often his or her greatest weakness, and this is particularly true of athletes.The compulsive streak in their character which drives them to train hour after hour, day after day, is their worst enemy when it comes to coping with injury. Some athletes are all-too-eager to go out practicing ‘just to try it out’ well before an injury has healed, which all-too-often leads to further injury. Some veterans seem to have learned from such mistakes, while others don’t. The most frequent complaint I get from professionals is: ‘It takes me longer to recover from practice sessions’. The best thing is to avoid injury in the first place! When we are devising our training plans, we always start by listing objectives like improving aerobic fitness, building endurance and maintaining flexibility. Adding ‘avoidance of injury’ to this list should keep it at the forefront one’s mind when planning the week’s training.

For more information on injury prevention contact Jan-Harm Venter @KeNakoAcademy.