So you injured your hamstring playing soccer this weekend...
Hello Weekend Warrior,
Don't take it as an insult, I just want categorize you correctly so we can talk about how to prevent you getting injured again so you can come back EVEN stronger.
Just so we are on the same page a Weekend Warrior is someone who doesn't do much physical labor during the week; if they do it is typically some sort repetitive movement that doesn't count as overall fitness which means a cold body going to do a difficult sport or activity (like biking up huge hills) without proper warm-up or physical readiness.
You're probably also wondering how I knew you injured your hamstring.
Well, it was an educated guess...
See, I was reading this research paper where they studied injury rates in amateur soccer players.
Now, amateurs aren't the same thing as Weekend Warriors, typically they are in shape to do their sport and they should be completely warmed up by the time they are on the field -- the difference is the weekend warrior hopes his sport which he loves, can keep him in shape. (assuming it's a guy) whereas an amateur should already be in shape by the time they do their sport.
For the weekend warrior the problem that comes up is that these people get injured, or deal with chronic pain and the sport which they hoped would keep them in shape (because exercise is stinky) is causing them more and more pain.
Shoot, they may know they need to get to gym more and start a regular exercise routine, everyone knows that. But, they did it before and they won't get to the level they were when they were younger, and it will be twice as hard and so on... At least that's the line of thinking.
Of course, everything is impossible before it's done.
You see there is truth to the fact that you are either getting better or getting worse in life, as we get older our bodies do start to break down from lack of use and aging. But that's only half the story. Keep reading.
A Solution
Some people associate old age with being decrepit.
Largely due to the fact that all we see around us, or in our family, are typical people with average bodies, and the older people don't have any kind of exercise habit and always seem to be undergoing some kind of surgery on their knees and backs and everything else.
Speaking as an American, we are a sick society and big companies and much of the industry meant to make us better actually profits from that reality. They don't tell us about preventions because it's not in their economic best interest.
Most of us know we need to exercise but we don't know how and we believe we just aren't THAT kind of person. If we DO have a sport we love, or an activity we love that should be our form of exercise, but GOD or the universe strikes us down with knee pain, hamstring tears, you name it... and the spiral down continues.
But more and more science emerges confirming that activity, and putting load on the muscles and tendons that have been injured is actually the way we heal, NOT from immobilization and doing nothing at all.
So how do we square those two realities? We hurt ourselves doing our sport, but we need to put weight on it to get healed...?
Post-injury you want to do very little that will aggravate the injury, however work by Keith Baar and others has shown that beginning physical loading on a tendon helps it recover much more quickly or even allows it to heal at all especially if you do it as soon as possible after an injury typically within one day before it forms scar tissue. Never do anything that causes considerable pain and can cause re-injury, but adding a minor load is advisable.
Charles Poliquin found that the athlete that trained with their knees over their toes were typically the most athletic, and had the fewest injuries. The tradition continues and the scientific evidence keeps getting stronger for training at different ranges of motions, and strengthening your tendons through resistance-overcoming isometrics.
The Routine
Now this routine isn't for every injury but it covers many of the issues that cause injury, especially while playing soccer.
Just to be clear... You can do this routine with no access to a gym, at home. More equipment can offer extra benefits to strength and convenience of each movement but it isn't necessary.
Backwards walking - between 5-10 mins -- by doing this you make sure your knee goes over your toes in each movement, this trains the end of a range of motion and is typically neglected it helps with strengthening the muscles and tendons around your knees considerably with very little impact. Tibialis raise 3x15 -- further from the wall the harder, the closer the easier - a tibialis raise is like a calf raise but instead of facing the wall you're facing away and you're toes come off the ground, you will feel a muscle around your shin activating Wall Calf Raise 1x15 -- you lean forward with your hands on the wall body forming a straight line with feet flat on floor and then do a calf-raise you can do a single leg variation if the double is too easy KOT Calf raise 1-2x15 -- You stand about fore-arm length away from the wall or slightly further for more difficulty, you make sure your knees are over your toes and you do a calf-raise, closer to wall and two legs to make it easier.
Hamstring specific exercises -
Now if you're relatively pain-free or out of the acute-phase of injury your body may still be experiencing atrophy in the area of injury, this is where specific training on the tendons and muscles of that area come in.
For the hamstrings you can begin with hamstring curls. This may require a machine but you could use a resistance band or some light weight you can attach to your foot, or even resistance from a partner to do a regressed version.
Do 3-4 sets of 10-15 and use a weight that is very easy, using one leg at a time can be a great way to get extra contraction out of the muscle - use slow and controlled reps going up and down.
The next exercise is the nordic curl, and because of its difficulty you will use low reps -- I'll link to a great video on nordic curl regressions so you can start at the easiest level for you.
There you have it, a routine you can do 2-3 times per week that shouldn't take more than 30 mins that can help post-injury, or pre-hab you to not experience any injuries, it can help you do your sport you love and actually use it to help you lose weight without having to do a bunch of boring exercises or do weightlifting you don't want to do.