Getting Fit With PLAYR

It’s a player’s worst nightmare – a spell on the sidelines due to injury or lack of fitness.

Obviously you want to be back in action as quickly as possible, but jumping the gun or doing too much too soon often leads to exasperating the current problem or creating new injuries. If you’re returning from a lengthy layoff it’s important to manage your workload otherwise you’ll be back in the treatment room sooner than you think. So how do you know if you’re on the road to recovery?

Distance

The numbers never lie.

Returning from injury will certainly require the hard yards, and while it can be gruelling, there’s no better indicator than distance covered to see if you’re back to peak fitness. PLAYR records how far you’ve ran during a training session, and with players roughly getting through seven to 10 kilometres per game, you can put faith in the figures. Overtraining or undertraining will only prolong your absence from the teamsheet, and PLAYR can help monitor your workload to ensure an efficient recovery.

Syncing the SmartCoach system with your calendar means you’ll be able to keep on to of your upcoming matches, your training schedule and receive sports science advice tailored to you.

Sprints and Speed

The quick changes in direction, lateral movements and rapid accelerations make soccer the high-tempo entertainment it is, although it leaves players susceptible to injuries such as pulled hamstrings, tight groins and thigh strains. Physios recommend during rehab that players restrict their top speed to a jog, then a medium burst before working up to a full-out sprint, and a gradual increase of such metrics should leave you able to make an explosive return without the fear of a recurrence.

PLAYR’s GPS player tracker means you’ll get the top speed, sprint distance, intensity, load and power movement data right at your fingertips. When returning from an injury, it’s important to make sure you slowly build on these numbers, while the sports science advice not only makes sure you eat the right things but recommends gentle exercises you can do in-between matches and training to stay in shape.

Comparison and Benchmarks

Getting game time back is the ultimate goal, but you’ve got to work your way up to playing until the final whistle – pushing your body for 90 minutes on a comeback will put you at risk of injury and a prolonged recovery time.

For all the previous measures and more, PLAYR compares how you perform in both halves using workload percentages. Once you’ve downloaded your session, you’ll be able to see at what point in the game fatigue starts to impact performance and slowly improve it as the weekend fixtures go by. Those who were using PLAYR before they were forced into the treatment room will know their benchmark data. It can be hard to tell when you’re back to your best, but if you’re hitting those numbers, you’re ready for action.

PLAYR also compares your performance to a professional player in your position, so you can see if you’re getting close to the numbers the best players in the world produce – what better way to see if you’re on track?