Post-lockdown sport | Four of NZ's top experts share their their tips for getting back in the game

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Montage of rugby players running towards try-line and tackle training.

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Narrator: "Pre-season training was different this year for all sports people because of the lockdown. Even elite athletes are having to change the way they train this season."

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Jamie Tout (Black Ferns Strength & Conditioning coach) talks to the camera

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Jamie Tout: "We had two types of athletes in your lockdown. You had the ones that were running marathons in their backyard where there wasn't much space and you had the athletes who may have been doing interval training from the sofa to the fridge.

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Sharon Kearny (Silver Ferns physio) talking through a laptop

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Sharon Kearny: "If we think about what our players and athletes have been doing in lockdown, if they have been training at all, it's in a very confined environment so they will have lost some of their neuromuscular control."

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Montage of rugby players mid-game

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Narrator: "So what can athletes do to get that control back? Here's Gavin Cross who works with NBA superstar Steven Adams in his off-season."

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Montage of Steven Adams on court and Gavin Cross speaking to the camera

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Gavin Cross: "A warmup is vitally important. Specifically to warmup Steven prior to a game he goes through a long warmup. So he's probably there three - three and a half hours before a game."

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Montage of athletes doing exercises and warmups

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Narrator: "But you don't have to do the warmup for as long as Steve. Doing the ACC SportSmart dynamic warmup can put you on the right track."

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Jamie Tout talking to camera

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Jamie: "By warming up in a dynamic fashion all of a sudden it opens up a whole new world of opportunities."

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Sharon Kearny talking to the camera

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Sharon: "And then if you add that into the game setting three times a week, you could be doing a really good job of decreasing injury rate by 40 to 60 percent."

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Jamie Tout talking to camera

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Jamie: "In all our games, whether it's netball, or cricket or rugby you just can't get in those environments and often in rugby it's the collisions, it's the contact."

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More montages of rugby players colliding and athletes exercising.

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Narrator: "For all athletes, it's important to find balance of activity to avoid overloading yourself."

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Vijay Vallabh (Black Caps Physio) talking to the camera

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Vijay Vallabh: "Regardless of what athlete you are, recreational to the elite what we know based on research is monitoring your loads is vital."

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Gavin Cross talking to the camera

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Gavin: "Progressively loading yourself when you go into sport again is the way to go."

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Jamie speaking to the camera intercut with scenes of athletes warming up.

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Jamie: "So I think it's important as we move back into match play, is not overdoing it and not underdoing it. It's trying to avoid those big spikes and those troughs in your training that often open you up to injury.

Narrator: "And if you're coaching a team this season..."

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Vijay Vallabh talking to the camera intercut with athletes warming up in groups in slow motion 

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Vijay: "Advice to coaches is your training structures should be not as intense to start with and maybe a little bit more volume have a lot of recovery breaks in your sessions and then just slowly build up the intensity over time."

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Jamie speaking to the camera intercut with sports games

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Jamie: "Look I think it's important that the athletes, particularly at grassroots, and that the kids love seeing the coach getting involved and having a laugh. Some of the warmups we use with the Black Ferns are the same little games we use with five and six year olds.

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Gavin Cross talking to the camera

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Gavin: "It might be particularly appropriate perhaps to use the ACC SportSmart warmup it's fantastic in terms of getting buy-in from the athletes and what we know is that if they understand why they're doing the warmup there's a more likelihood of them doing it.

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Sharon Kearny talking to the camera intercut with athletes warming up.

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Sharon: "We often see players run the warmup, which is totally fine but the quality control around what we are doing I believe is the coaches responsibility."

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Gavin Cross talking to the camera

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Gavin: "Sport's such a great vehicle for being a leveller, and the fact that the coach can get out there and do it would be awesome.

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ACC logo. Text appears: 'For more information, visit acc.co.nz/warmup

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Narrator: "For more information on supercharging your performance this season, head to acc.co.nz/warmup"