Protecting that Knee, PART 3 - Dynamic Warm-Up Exercises

Addressing foundations for performance and injury prevention, the following components are building blocks for the Active-Dynamic Warm-Up with examples of exercises that comprise the training.

Transit Mobility Exercises – Movement with range of motion emphasis and progressive intensity over a measured distance. For example:


Forward/Backward/Lateral Skipping, Running Build-Ups, Walking Knee Hugs, Walking Quadriceps Stretch, Straight Leg Marching, Lateral Slides, Backward Strides, Walking Lunges, Skips and Scoops.

Muscle Activation Exercises – Waking the muscles up – neuromuscular activation and coordination of muscle groups. For example:

Forward/Lateral Body Weight Squats, Forward/Lateral/Backward/Crossover Lunges, Supine Straight Leg Raises, Prone Superman’s, Supine Hip Lifts (hamstrings), Donkey Kicks, Kneeling Hip Circles.

Dynamic Mobility Exercises – Stationary movement activities involving neuromuscular activation with core stability and flexibility focus. For example:

Mountain Climbers, Thrusts, Supine Leg Swings across the body, Hamstring Rockers, Standing Frontal and Sagittal Leg Swings.

Balance and Stability - For Example:

Single Leg Balance for Time, Single Leg Balance Quarter Squat Position, Standing Single Leg Toe Touches with Trail Leg Countermovement, Balance Single Leg Hops.

An example of the Active-Dynamic Warm-Up

Low intensity Transit Exercise
- Forward Low Skip (down the field and back) – 20-30 yards


Balance & Stability Exercise
- Single Leg Balance for :20-:30 each leg.


Moderate Transit Exercise
- Half Speed Buildup Run (down and back) – 30 yards
- Lateral Low Shuffle (down and back 1x each direction) – 20-30 yards


Muscle Activation
- Forward Lunge – 5x each
- Backward Lunge – 5x each


Transit Exercise
- Walking Knee Hugs (down) – 15-20 yards
- Walking Quadriceps Stretch (back) – 15-20 yards


Dynamic Mobility Exercise
- Thrust – 5-10x
- Mountain Climbers – 5-10x
- Groiner – 5-10x


Transit Exercise
- ¾ Speed Buildup Run (down) – 30 yards
- Backward Skip (back) – 30 yards


Muscle Activation Exercise
- Body Weight Squats – 5-10x
- Body Weight Squat Drops – 5x


Balance & Stability Exercise
- Standing Single Leg Toe Touches with Trail Leg Countermovement
- Single Leg Hops In Place (sit back in the hips, keep the knee behind the toe)


Transit Exercise
- Full Speed Buildup Run (down and back) – 30 yards


With a little preparation, attention, and focus, a coach can elevate the warm-up into a component of practice that will develop physical foundations for physical development and injury prevention.

Protecting that Knee, PART 2 - ACL Warm-Up

ACTIVE DYNAMIC WARM-UP AND INJURY PREVENTION

Too often a traditional warm-up for a soccer practice or a game is a jog around the field followed by static stretching, ball drills, and small side games. The objective being to progressively get the athletes ready for practice or game. Instead of the traditional warm-up, a progressive Active-Dynamic Warm-Up during the initial 10-20 minutes can be more beneficial for the athlete’s total development. The Active-Dynamic Warm-Up is composed of purposeful active movement that progressively readies the body for practice or competition while stressing biomotor abilities (strength and power, coordination, speed and agility, flexibility and dynamic mobility, balance and stability, and fitness) that are foundational for improved performance and injury prevention.


A concern for injury prevention might be the most persuasive reason for structuring an Active-Dynamic Warm-Up into the practice. Soccer requires starting/stopping, cutting, jumping, and other high force maneuvers that have high incidences of ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injuries. Shockingly, several studies have found that girls have three to eight times more ACL injuries than boys depending on the sport and more than seventy percent of these injuries are non-contact related. There are numerous theories as to why this occurs including finding that female athletes tend to be quadriceps dominate and have weak hamstring muscles. Because of these imbalances, forces within the knee when decelerating from a jump or sprint were much higher in those athletes with less active hamstrings. Studies have shown that injuries were decreased significantly when female soccer players perform certain exercises and drills during their warm-up.

Next time, we will discuss the warm-up exercises you can do to get that knee warmed up and helping prevent injury.

Protecting that Knee, PART 1 - ACL Fitness Program

In 1972, legislation known as Title IX of the Educational Amendments was enacted enabling women to participate in academic and athletic events without gender bias. Today, more than two and one half million girls participate in high school sports compared to three hundred thousand in 1972. Coinciding with increased participation has been an increase in knee injuries, especially Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries.

The ACL is one of four major ligaments in the knee and its function is to stabilize the knee keeping the lower (tibia) and upper (femur) leg bones from moving too far from each other, either forward or to the side. Sports such as basketball, volleyball, and soccer, which require starting/stopping, cutting, jumping, and other high force maneuvers, have the highest incidences of ACL injuries. More than seventy percent of these injuries are non-contact. Several studies have found that girls have three to eight times more ACL injuries than boys, depending on the sport. However, the good news is that proper training can reduce the number of these injuries. In fact, a two year study (PEP) performed by the Santa Monica Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Research Foundation during 2000 and 2001 found that ACL injuries were decreased by 88% and 74% respectively, when female soccer players performed certain exercises and drills during their warm up.

Many studies have attempted to discover why women have more ACL injuries than men. There is no definitive answer. However, there are several factors that seem to predispose women to this injury:

· Anatomically, women have a greater Q angle (the angle formed by the femur and the tibia when viewed from the front) at the knee which can allow the knee to internally rotate to a greater extent than their male counterpart.

· Girls tend to have quadriceps that are too dominant and hamstrings that are too weak.

· Females are not as efficient when it comes to cutting, decelerating, and landing due to muscle reaction time disparity.

· Women have “looser” knee joints than men.

The knee joint is at risk regardless of gender. It is imperative that athletes learn how to apply and absorb forces properly (starting/stopping, cutting, landing, core strength, etc.), strengthen muscles that support the knee (especially the hamstrings in girls), increase agility, and enhance their proprioceptive awareness (plyometrics, coordinated movements at fast speed, control position of limbs during potentially vulnerable situations).

Many organizations have implemented successful knee injury prevention programs. These programs share several key components including understanding and improving proper movement skills, increasing power/core strength, and enhancing proprioception. The Velocity Sports Performance staff has implemented these components in the following units: mobility/flexibility, balance, power, and agility.

Several of the mobility, power, and agility exercises are plyometric in nature. Plyometric exercises involve stretching a muscle followed by a rapid concentric contraction of that muscle which engages the serial-elastic and proprioceptive components of the muscle tissue. The result is a more powerful force application. Plyometric exercise bridge the gap between strength and speed. They must be carefully introduced into the training regime insuring that the intensity of these exercises is increased gradually throughout the season.

Note that static stretching is not included as part of our recommended pre-training or pre-event warm-up. Several good studies suggest that static stretching tends to shut down the mechanisms that enable the human musculature to produce large forces. Motoneuron excitability is definitely decreased during and after static stretching protocols. Because of these studies, and based on results from our own experience, all of the exercise units are used to increase muscle temperature and flexibility. If static stretching is to be used for increasing joint range of motion, we recommend that it be performed as a post-training or post-event activity.


There are hundreds of exercises and drills that athletes and coaches can choose from to augment sports training. Most ACL injury prevention programs use the same 4 to 15 exercises throughout the training cycle. We have chosen a larger set that specifically addresses the needs of female soccer players, adds variety, and increases intensity as the program progresses. These exercises and drills should be done at least three times a week for a period of 20 to 30 minutes during the warm up phase of training. They should be continued throughout the entire season. The emphasis must be on quality of effort, not quantity. If done properly, the potential for ACL injury will be reduced and the training program will be enhanced.

Protecting that Knee - Injury Prevention

This week we will start a 3 part series on knee and ACL protection and injury prevention, so stay tuned for warm-ups and workouts along with plenty of injury prevention tips to help you protect that knee!!

Looking for something to do over Mid-Winter Break?

Well don't forget to sign up for Velocity Sports' Speed and Agility Camp February 19-22!

Beat the winter blues and get a step up on your competition with this camp for Ages 9 and above.

Running from 1-3 pm each day and only $150 per athlete, the camp will focus on:

Starts, Acceleration & Deceleration
Plyometrics & Explosive Power
Multi – direction / Agility
Core Strength, Stability & Balance
Dynamic Mobility, Flexibility & Coordination
Proper Athletic Positions & Postures
Injury Prevention

Team Camps are also available in the AM.


Go here for more information:http://www.velocitysp.com/redmond/mid_winter_break_camp
or call us at 425.881.0647