#8 - maarten udo.
Chalk Talk is usually about video, someone from our network talking about motivation, sport and life. This time a special exception: no camera, but a good conversation. About injury prevention in High Intensity Training (HIT), such as CrossFit or Hyrox.
1. who are you?
I'm Maarten Udo, physiotherapist and manual therapist, co-owner of VondelFysio in Amsterdam. I treat athletes from recreational to fanatical. My starting point: the body can handle a lot, as long as you give it time to adapt to load.
2. what are the most common injuries in HIT?
Mostly issues with the shoulder, lower back and knee. Usually not from one wrong moment, but from overload that builds up slowly.
HIT is intense, but not automatically dangerous. Training load, recovery and what your body can handle at that moment matter more than the training format itself.
3. what can you do yourself to prevent injuries?
Build up your training gradually, your body needs time to adapt. Technique doesn't need to be perfect to stay injury-free. Make sure weight, volume and intensity match your level, and scale when needed.
"scaling isn't weakness, it's just smart training"
4. what does a good warm-up look like?
Ten to fifteen minutes is usually enough: first move to get warm, then dynamic, then increasingly specific toward the exercise.
Going for a heavy squat session? A few good build-up sets will help you more than ten minutes of random stretching. A warm-up should prepare you, not tire you out.
5. how do you prevent overload?
Overload happens when load and capacity are mismatched for a longer period. The classic mistake: training more often, heavier and harder all at once. Build up one thing at a time instead.
A bit of soreness after a workout isn't an alarm. Symptoms that increase with every workout, start earlier, or change how you move, are.
6. what does a good recovery period look like?
Recovery isn't sitting still. After a heavy period it helps to run a few days or a week at lower volume or intensity. With an injury it's the same question: what still works, and how do we build that back up.
Don't underestimate sleep. Structurally sleeping too little, eating poorly and going all out in every session can't be made up for with a massage or foam roller.
7. what role do nutrition and supplements play in preventing injuries?
The basics matter more than supplements. Intense training requires enough energy, protein and nutrients to recover and get stronger. Supplements can be useful in case of a deficiency, not a replacement for good nutrition.
"train, eat and sleep well first, the details come after"
8. can clothing play a role in preventing injuries?
Good sportswear doesn't prevent injury. Let's be honest about that.
But clothing can support a workout. It shouldn't chafe, needs to keep fitting well and handle heat and sweat properly. During a deep squat, burpee or overhead movement, it's the last thing you want to be thinking about.
With compression wear there are also indications it can contribute, for some athletes, to a feeling of recovery and less muscle soreness.
That might sound simple, but with intense training you notice the difference between clothing designed for it and clothing that just looks athletic.
"you want clothing that gives full freedom of movement"
9. is a regular massage or physio check-up recommended?
I'm a physiotherapist, so I could easily plug myself here. But if you're free of complaints, train well and recover well, you really don't need to be on the treatment table preventively every month.
Massage can feel good and temporarily help with muscle soreness and recovery, but it doesn't automatically prevent injuries.
A check-up at the physio is useful when the same complaint keeps coming back, a movement structurally doesn't work, or your training load changes significantly. Then we look specifically at strength, mobility, technique and training structure.
"the goal is that you need us as little as possible"
10. finally, what would you want people to take away to stay injury-free?
Train hard, but above all smart. Your body is incredibly good at adapting, give it the time to do so. Build up your load, make sure you're strong enough for what you ask of your body, eat and sleep well, and accept that not every workout has to be maximal.
If you do get some soreness: no panic. Pain isn't automatically damage. Adjust the load temporarily and keep moving within what feels okay.
Injury prevention isn't found in one magic exercise, treatment, supplement or piece of clothing. It's mostly about training consistently, recovering well and listening to your body's signals.
Maarten Udo, physiotherapist and manual therapist at VondelFysio, Amsterdam.
