An athlete’s body is their best friend and most important tool, but it can also quickly become their worst enemy.
Athletes enroll in Parisi Speed School to get quality and effective training, work every single day, prepare their body, work their muscles and yet still get aches and pains.
An athlete’s initial thoughts may be of confusion.
“What is this feeling?”
“It hurts.”
“Am I Injured?”
As a parent your instinct is, “My child is in pain. Should we seek out a doctor?”
These are all reasonable initial questions to ask.
Often times, the discomfort that an athlete is having is a normal response to intense training that he or she may not be used to. In order to ease the mind of everyone involved in the training process, it is important to understand the difference between soreness due to training versus the pain of an injury that needs medical attention.
For example, your child comes to you after a Parisi training session expressing discomfort in their hamstring. Your immediate thought may be that your child pulled a hamstring and needs to see a doctor, but how do you know it’s not just discomfort from their intense training session?
We have some cues, tips and other information to help you assess your athlete’s needs.
What is soreness?
Let’s start by looking at the training that athletes are receiving at Parisi.
Parisi uses unique techniques and training methods that recruit multiple muscle fibers at one time (that’s a good thing!) Athletes muscles are being worked more often and more intensely than they may be used to in normal athletics practice.
This change in training and increased use of different muscles during training sessions may leave athletes (especially in the beginning) feeling some discomfort.
This discomfort can often be attributed to soreness. When assessing pain as an athlete and or parent you can refer to this checklist to ensure that the discomfort is simply sore muscles:
- A burning/tender sensation in muscles
- The feeling goes away after a few hours of training or within 1-2 days post training
- Stretching and movements improve discomfort
- Tight after rest/sleep
To ensure that your athlete’s pain is just soreness, it is important to keep an eye out for the length of discomfort. If the pain is intense and lasts longer than two days after their training session, it may be time to seek medical help.
When pain persists…
When soreness turns out to be more than just discomfort, it is important to seek medical help as soon as possible to avoid further injury. Parisi Certified Coaches are always here to help and give insight, but serious injuries should be brought to a certified physician.
When a serious injury occurs, it should be fairly easy to realize once pain persists. Timing is key. Here are some tips to remember when assessing an injury:
- Muscles are experiencing sharp and intense pain
- The pain begins within 24 hours of training and continues
- The pain lingers and does not go away with rest
- Pain worsens with further training/activity
- Lasts 1-2 weeks and beyond
What can lead to injury?
As a parent, you never want to see your child get injured, but you also never want to take them out of a sport. With that being said, there comes a point where rest may be the best medicine.
At Parisi, athletes of every age and ability come to train. Some come to get better at a specific sport, while others come to get stronger, faster and build confidence.
But for some athletes there comes a point where training goes from beneficial to harmful. This turn happens when athletes over train. Overtraining is one of the leading factors that turns muscles soreness into actual injury.
What are the signs of overtraining?
Overtraining can occur in any athlete, so it’s important to know the signs.
Signs of overtraining include:
- long-term fatigue
- a decrease in performance and strength
- irritability
- loss of enthusiasm
- sleep problems
- mental health issues
- or other health and wellness problems that continue to persist over a period of time
Overtraining can lead to serious injury. In order to prevent overtraining it is important to have balance, good nutrition and hydration, rest days and a well-trained team keeping track of training needs.
Athlete Tips!
No one wants to sit out on the sideline because of an injury. Here are a few Parisi tips to remember in order to keep muscle soreness from turning into muscles injury.
- Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate! Training hard every day means lots and lots of sweat. To replace the nutrients being lost during workouts and to replenish the body with water is key. Live by the 8 by 8 rule, which means 8 ounce cups of water, 8 times a day. And if training at Parisi, double it!
- A well-balanced diet is also crucial in a successful performance and a healthy body. During workouts, the body is burning calories and building muscle. The only way the body can continue on is with proper fuel.
- Food is fuel! Proper nutrition will help muscles and bones stay strong and even increase strength, and overall performance.
- Know the body! An athlete’s most important tool is the body. Remember to listen to it, keep it hydrated and fuel it with energy in order to reach your goals and perform the way you know you can.
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