{"id":6641,"date":"2025-01-27T09:42:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T09:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ultrax.ai\/?p=6641"},"modified":"2025-02-04T09:56:52","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:56:52","slug":"pre-season-assessments-and-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultrax.ai\/es\/trainings\/pre-season-assessments-and-monitoring\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluaciones y controles de pretemporada: \u00bfSon los atletas que regresan lo suficientemente fuertes para correr r\u00e1pido?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Alex Natera is Manager of Performance Support at the New South Wales Institute of Sport, where he oversees a department of 40 world-class practitioners across Strength and Conditioning, Physiology, Psychology, Nutrition, Biomechanics and Performance Analysis disciplines.\n\nAlex\u2019s background in Strength and Conditioning spans nearly 25 years in professional sports and National institutes of sport across the globe. Alex is also a highly sought-after speaker and educator, consulting with clubs, elite individual athletes, and support staff from the EPL to the NBA.\n\nIn this article, Alex discusses the importance of early pre-season assessments and screening in determining the physical status of the playing group and the individual. He provides an introduction to his Run-Specific Isometric Assessment Battery, which uses ForceDecks<\/a> to perform the Ankle Iso-Push, Knee Iso-Push, and the Hip Iso-Push.\n\nThis battery is an \u2018under-the-hood\u2019 look at whether players are returning strong enough to run fast, and can be used to establish the magnitude, rate, and extent to which players can be loaded leading up to the start of competition.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You are a couple of weeks out from the players returning from their off-season break. The performance team are meeting to iron out the preseason plan and determine what the first couple of weeks of training will look like for the entire playing squad and specifically for various members of the squad. The performance team are crossing their fingers and hoping that the players were diligent and compliant with their offseason training programmes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reality is, even at the very top end, only a small portion of the squad will have accomplished what you set out for them to achieve over the off-season. Despite this, even if they did execute the off-season plan, to a tee, it is unlikely the loads they experienced will match or surpass what they will need to experience throughout preseason and into the competitive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The reality is, even at the very top end, only a small portion of the squad will have accomplished what you set out for them to achieve over the off-season.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
There are the usual nerves around certain players (\u201cfrequent offenders\u201d) and so the performance team agrees to start week 1 preseason with loading that caters for the lowest common denominator. The \u201cloading clock\u201d then starts ticking down from session 1 to the first preseason game and the pressure is on. If you push them too hard and too soon, you risk breaking them, but if you don\u2019t push them hard enough, game loads and back-to-back games eventually will. If you don\u2019t start meaningful work early enough you\u2019ll run out of time or you\u2019ll run the risk of not allowing sufficient recovery and regeneration within your preseason and again there is the chance they will break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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If you push them too hard and too soon, you risk breaking them, but if you don\u2019t push them hard enough, game loads and back-to-back games eventually will.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Early preseason becomes critical to determine the physical state of players as they return. It presents an ideal opportunity to assess the physical status of the playing group as a collective and, importantly, for the individual. Depending on the sport and the length of the off-season it might also be a period of time where fatigue is at its lowest point and niggles carried through the previous season can somewhat settle. Collecting assessment data is essential during this part of the year, to establish baselines and to determine current status from which to load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Video 1<\/strong> Alex and his team conducting the Run-specific Isometric Assessment on a large group of athletes using ForceDecks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The challenge for most performance teams is time and the \u201ctime-tug-of-war\u201d between the sport coaches demands and the performance team\u2019s needs. Some teams are fortunate enough to be able to negotiate and establish clear blocks of time early in pre-season where they conduct their screening and assessments. Others don\u2019t have the buy-in, collaboration and support and therefore squeeze whatever they can in, whenever they can. Often in these environments the datasets are incomplete, unreliable, messy and \u2013 in some cases \u2013 not really useful at all. Pre-season assessments and screening in these environments become a \u201ctick box exercise\u201d, and sadly everyone can sense it \u2013 including the players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Pre-season assessments and screening in these environments become a \u201ctick box exercise\u201d and sadly everyone can sense it \u2013 including the players.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
High Performance Managers \u2013 who establish strong and trusting relationships and have the ability to influence Head Coaches \u2013 are critical in balancing the needs of both parties in this scenario. Strategically embedding pre-season assessments and screening within the training week has often been a fantastic middle ground for most teams. The planning, the sell, the execution and the follow up of this to players and coaches can make or break the success and effectiveness of pre-season assessments and screening moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preseason High Speed Running: Risk vs. Reward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In pre-season planning, all facets of load are important to consider, from strength training intensity, plyometric volume and eccentric exposure to running volume, change of direction count and the magnitude of collisions, to name a few. One of the most important load factors to consider is the intensity, volume and density of \u201cvery high speed\u201d and maximal speed running (herein referred to as \u201chigh speed running\u201d [HSR]). Walking the fine line of not too fast, not too much, not too often and not too soon have made many a performance coach lose sleep at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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One of the most important load factors to consider is the intensity, volume and density of \u201cvery high speed\u201d and maximal speed running. Walking the fine line of not too fast, not too much, not too often and not too soon have made many a performance coach lose sleep at night.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
During HSR, lower limb muscle groups produce very high forces at very high rates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n