Strength in Numbers #73
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Black Friday and Holiday Sales are not upon us, and if you’re still looking to buy ArmCare, now is the time.
You’ll get 20% off your order, but only for a few more days.
Although it’s about more than just saving some money, more importantly, the Thanksgiving break is a risky time for off-season throwing injuries. Of course, Christmas is another expected time for breakdowns, but I worry about Thanksgiving for several reasons.
Here’s why Thanksgiving is a throwing athlete’s worst nightmare.
ALTERED WORKLOAD PATTERNS
Athletes generally throw their first bullpen at the start of November. However, when the Thanksgiving holidays hit, they end up traveling and being with family and can take anywhere from 3 days up to a week off from throwing.
An abrupt increase in throwing intensity after even a brief cessation in throwing can wreak havoc on the shoulder and elbow. As a former MLB strength coach, I always deloaded my programs to account for time off, changing time zones and environments.
I did not want to push a body that was out of routine. I also wanted to encourage the athlete to minimize weight room time, going from 45 min workouts to 25 min, and maximize friends and family time as they typically do not have strong social connections during the season.
If an athlete travels from the southern part of the country to the north for the big feast, stoppage in throwing alters the acute-to-chronic workload ratios (ACWR). An athlete’s acute workload is calculated as the seven-day work average, and chronic workload is the average work over 28 days.
Workload is a combination of throw counts and intensity.
In other words, the acute workload can also be considered the fatigue ratio, and the chronic workload can be the fitness ratio. So when calculating the ACWR, you essentially take the fatigue ratio and put it over the fitness ratio or the athletes’ fatigue-to-fitness ratio.
If the number keeps jumping up, it can expose athletes to a greater risk of injury, as acute fatigue is greater than chronic fitness. Conversely, If that number starts to decrease, meaning that the throwing arm doesn’t get enough fatigue, the arm could be under-trained and also has a risk associated with shoulder and elbow injuries.
DECREASED STRENGTH & INCREASED WEIGHTS
An athlete’s ArmScore also takes a hit during the Thanksgiving break.
The Arm Score may be new to you if you are not a Certified ArmCare Specialist, but it is the most critical value we monitor.
The Arm Score expresses total throwing arm strength as a proportion of athletes’ body weight. One of the reasons that athletes get hurt in the game is that their bodies grow too fast and outgrow the strength they have in their throwing arms.
Imagine having a Ferrari with a big engine and tiny tires. They will have a greater chance of popping a tire because of the horsepower and mass of the car riding along the road.
Thanksgiving is widely known for weight gain from calorie-rich foods. And if your arm strength goes down during the holidays because you’re not training or throwing, and your body weight goes up because you’re crushing food, you may run into trouble.
With the ArmCare device and app, it’s simple to evaluate how much your ArmScore has decreased and then make better decisions before getting back on the mound.
Other Stressors
Athletes may experience heightened stress at Thanksgiving as well.
Altered sleep schedules, lots of eating (and potentially drinking), and the tension of hanging around some continuous relationships can create a heightened stress response.
These factors may push an athlete toward fight or flight, reducing muscle repair and impacting the positive vibes needed to rest and regenerate.
AVOID THE GUESSWORK
We especially want every player to enjoy their holidays. But I cannot stress enough how important it will be to monitor your throwing arm as soon as you resume your normal training and throwing schedule.
No matter the circumstances, ArmCare will help you optimize your arm and avoid any guesswork.
Be about the holiday and give thanks to ArmCare.com. You are going to overeat, you are going to stop throwing, and you may argue with your family, but you can avoid injury by being data-led.
