Should the Welsh fitness coaches be shot?

I find it shocking the amount of calf strains being suffered by the senior Welsh players.
A Calf strain is a common sports injury, normally caused by overworking the muscle (over training). Generally speaking the most susceptible group of people are males between the ages of 30 and 50.
I think it's amazing the WRU fitness coaches could be quite so stupid and be running senior Welsh players so hard that so many of the older ones are having these injuries. Stephen Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Ryan Jones.
This is far more than just an unlucky coincidence. it's pretty well known that you can run older players as hard as younger ones, and the Poland training camps look to have over exerted far too many of our players to the point of injury. I'm beginning to wonder how much energy the boys will have left for the World Cup.

I asked this question (about the calves not the shooting) a week or so ago...we are definitely onto something here...calves get crocked from poor warm ups amongst other things (ballroom dancing can cause it so don't be surprised if gayson has one to)

As for the shootings...where do we sign up?

Shot? A bit harsh eh?

Must be from bulking up in a short-ish period of time.

I think going to the Poland camps was the best idea we ever had and would love for the team to go there for a few days post 6 Nations!

Thing is, these calf injuries are nothing new, they've been regular occurances for the last 2-3 seasons. You'd think they'd have pin pointed what was causing them by now, and change their fitness approach accordingly.

nottins_jones wrote:Must be from bulking up in a short-ish period of time.

I think going to the Poland camps was the best idea we ever had and would love for the team to go there for a few days post 6 Nations!

you mean pre six nations??

One of the largest complaints from older football players is when coaches come into a new team and treat all the players fitness sessions the same, the youth team and the older guys in their mid 30's are expected to do the same amount of work. You cant flog older players because they get tired easily and are more prone to this type of injury.
to me it's poor planning and these cold sessions in the freezer haven't done the job for some of the older guys it seems.

But it isn't just senior players getting calf strains Alyn (altho admitedly it is at the moment)

Even players like Warbs and Hook have been getting them over the past season or two.

rugbydreamer wrote:But it isn't just senior players getting calf strains Alyn (altho admitedly it is at the moment)

Even players like Warbs and Hook have been getting them over the past season or two.

Yup, but the point I'm making is that the players by their own admission have worked their backsides off in Poland, and now several of the senior ones have come down with Calf injuries which is indicitive of being pushed too hard, too often.

I seriously don't think age is a factor here, I would say it more coincidence, seeing as plenty of the younger players have been struck down with the injury before. What I'm more surprised at is that the squad is continuing to get so many calf strains - that really is worrying.

rugbydreamer wrote:I seriously don't think age is a factor here, I would say it more coincidence, seeing as plenty of the younger players have been struck down with the injury before. What I'm more surprised at is that the squad is continuing to get so many calf strains - that really is worrying.

From reading up on the injury, it seems that it is most likely to occur in people over 30, and all of the players who are currently injured are over 30. It seems to lead to a pattern of them being over worked in my opinion.

We shall ahve to agree to disagree then, as that doesn't explain all the calf strains we've had in the past of players well under 30

I was reading about calf strains a while back and I had saved the link.

Does intensive pre-season strength training protect rugby players from non-contact injury?
http://www.myoquip.com.au/Preseason_article.htm

rugbydreamer wrote:We shall ahve to agree to disagree then, as that doesn't explain all the calf strains we've had in the past of players well under 30

Another possibility is that Gatland created a prison camp in Poland, with Edwards as the Commandant. The players were injured trying to run away and escape.
*que Steve Mcqueen Great escape music"

I reckon it is Edwards biting them if he catches them..............the calf is about the right height.

But seriously, there seems to be some confusionhere as to what a calf strain is, what causes it and what can be done to minimise the chances of getting one.

Older players DO tend to get them more often, but that is NOT because they have been pushed too hard, it is because they haven't done sufficient warm up work before training/match or havent done sufficient cool down work afterwards.

Older players need to do MORE warm ups (the warm up is just that - it allows the muscles to reach prime operating temperature where fibre tears are less likely and those that do occur are less severe), because the muscles in a 30yo do not operate as efficiently as those in a 20yo - particularly after 10 years of rigourous use on a rugby field where all sorts of scar tissue and damage to the muscle fiber has accumulated.

The same with the warm down routine - this gets rid of the waste products from the fibre of the muscle - lactic acid, histamines, CO2 etc. Again, older players need a longer warm down routine to achieve the same effect as a youngster.

The calf muscle strain is particularly common with Rugby players in the modern game because of the immense forces they put through them in accelerating bulky frames to speed and the constant stop start nature of the work the calves are asked to do in a game.

Yes I did mean pre 6 Nations...

I picked up a calf strain during the summer. I went on the treadmill and upped the incline level too soon before getting the blood flowing. I had to walk back from the gym that day, but couldn't because it felt too severe.. So had to get a lift. I took a week off then went for a jog on the saturday, went around the block twice to warm up, then stretched. I then continued to 'jog on' to where there is a slight hill that leads out of the street. Going up here and crossing over caused the calf to strain again. I then took the two weeks off to fully recover.

Calf, hamstring and back injuries are really easy to pick up, particulary if you're a bit top heavy like most of these guys would be.