Sometimes you have to stop and think.

The NJ Pride opened up training camp this past weekend. We ran a session in the morning for about 2 1/2 hours, then took an hour lunch and came back for another session in the afternoon. Before the first session, we started with some movement prep, going into some dynamic activities, then into their line drills, etc. If you’ve been following this site for a while, you’ll notice I haven’t changed very much. Some of the exercises might have changed, but the premise remains consistent.

The difference came in the afternoon. Do you think we started with the same warm up routine? Think about it…I have 30 guys ranging in age from 23 to 32 years old. Although they have been working out, I can’t say they have been gettin after it for 2 1/2 hours on a regular basis. Some guys felt their hamstrings tighten, calves cramp, their bodies were ready to rebel against them.

So when they came back in the afternoon, after a long slow lap around the field, we sat on the field and did….static stretching. Remember static stretching. For years, I’ve said static stretching is a poor way to prepare the body for activity. I still believe that’s true, but in this case, the long, steady stretch of the muscles helped to relax the tonic muscles and try to recover some muscle length. After stretching the hams, calves, quads, hip flexors, etc, we did our movement prep, to our dynamic activities to line drills, just like usual.

We came out of the day with no major muscle pulls. I like to think the extra 15 minutes of static stretching did it’s part to prevent any. No matter, as long as they’re healthy, I’m a happy guy.

If you’re in the area, we’ll be going at it again Sunday May 4th at Rutgers Prep in Sommerset, NJ from 8-12. Stop by if you get a chance.