Happy Friday! Happy first day of April! Happy it’s-good-to-be-alive!
As I was on my way last night to pick my daughter up from gymnastics, I got a call from Ryan, my cousin and other half of 18STRONG.
His son Murphy had soccer practice last night. It was cold and wet. And he tweaked his quad before practice just knocking around the ball before he had a chance to get warm.
He’s 12-yrs-old. And he plays A LOT of soccer. That type of injury shouldn’t be happening to a kid that young, but this is the world in which we live.
So today, I’ll put on my physical therapist hat. And he’s going to come see me at the gym after school. It sounds like it’s pretty mild, so we’ll get him back up and running pretty quickly.
But you know what’s even better?
Not getting injured in the first place.
And now I’m looking at you.
Is your body prepared for a golf swing? Are your muscles protecting you? Or, are you one swing away from being put on the shelf for weeks or months?
When we grew up, stretching was about the most we ever did for injury prevention. Not only was it stretching…but it was stretching cold muscles. What were they thinking?
Now, we know better. We know we have to get stronger. We have to protect ourselves.
Is there anything worse as a competitor than sitting on the f-ing sideilne?
I have a pretty sizeable list of golfers in my head who were injury-prone, who now sail through the golf season with only a few aches and pains. I would love to share their stories, but I know as soon as I do, they’re going to get hurt:)
You know what, F it! Ryan won’t care that I’m telling you this…So, he is in pretty darn good shape for a 46-yr-old. He lifts weights 4-5 times per week. Walks a lot. Could stand to lose 5-8 lbs, but is by no means overweight.
He also plays soccer every Sunday night. Last year, in the spring, he pulled his calf muscle three times. Unfortunately, he was about to hang ‘em up.
But before he did, he threw up a Hail Mary…
He added weighted calf-raises to his workouts twice per week. Guess what? He made it through the entire fall season injury-free.
And it wasn’t a Hail Mary. It was actually a pretty simple fix.
We’ve all got something going on. Big or small. Instead of babying what hurts or throwing in the towel, steer into the skid. And fix it.
You’ll play longer. And have way more fun.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to write an apology note to Ryan for his inevitable calf injury:)
Your #1 Fan,
Jeff Pelizzaro
PS – If you’re in the 18STRONG Membership App, don’t forget you’ve got access to the Warm-Up Blueprint. If you’re playing anytime soon, that’s the quickest way to keep yourself safe.
From there, we’ll help you build your safety blanket made of muscle.