Zenith Women Magazine

Magazine praises PlayStrong approach!

BY HOPE WAGNER

Professional sports can be played without pain. That statement seems fairly simple yet according to Sarah Scott, founder and president of Ironsmith Body Sports and Fitness Center, the first woman-owned and run sports movement, conditioning and skills development corporation in Texas, many sports training protocols are based on conditioning models designed for football. The idea of keeping athletes injury- and pain-free hasn't been incorporated into most conditioning programs.

Since 1989, Scott has earned a national reputation for creating Ironsmith PlayStrong advanced training programs, a coaching protocol that offers an innovative, sport-specialized approach to movement, skill, strength, performance and self-esteem, while preventing debilitating injuries.

Scott believes training programs based on traditional football training protocols often fail to keep female athletes pain-free and in the game. "Traditional programs develop weight lifers to play basketball, softball, soccer or volleyball," Scott says.

A recent study of college athletes found that women are three times more likely to suffer anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears than male athletes. Scott believes the problem is related to improper conditioning and instruction for women athletes.

"Part of the problem is that we train many of our young females athletes using techniques originally designed for men," Scott says. "Many of our traditional methods of teaching and conditioning both men and women have promoted career-ending injuries."

Scott's method doesn't use traditional muscle-strengthening apparatus like barbells and dumbbells. The logic behind the PlayStrong model is to develop functional strength using the ultimate free weight, the athlete's body.

Her philosophy emphasizes sensible, individual programs that prevent injury. She cites a recent survey of 361 colleges and universities done by the National Athletic Injury Reporting System, which revealed that the major injury-contributing factors were improper training methods, inadequate facilities and poor coaching techniques.

Scott says that although it may seem like an individualized program would take a lot more time to create than a standardized one, it actually takes less time. "Over a period of time, individualized programs take less time to create relative to the potential lost playing time caused by an injury that could have been easily prevented with a custom-tailored program." Scott explains.

Scott's clients are given an individualized static postural evaluation, starting with the feet and working up, to look for conditions that may cause certain injuries. For example, there is a strong relationship between static postural faults and ACL injuries in female athletes, but Scott says many of the contributing factors can be controlled. By looking at the appearance of the Achilles tendon, Scott can determine whether the muscles on the front of the shin need developing to prevent ankle problems.

One of many sports-team clients for which Ironsmith has created individualized training programs is the Colorado Xplosion of the American Basketball League.

"We taught them body positioning and movement skills that would drastically reduce unnecessary joint-strain and sidelining injuries." Scott says "It's called prehab. It's all proactive. We don't wait for an injury to occur."

Scott says if conditioning levels and body alignments aren't right for the particular individual, unnecessary body impact is created. Therefore, both coaches and players must know which alignments are beneficial and which ones create structural anatomical breakdown.

After implementing the program last year, the Xplosion, which had been is last place, went on a 10-game winning streak and won the ABL Western Division title.

"The Xplosion greatly benefited from the conditioning program we implemented last November," Xplosion head coach Sheryl Estes says. Ironsmith was able to customize our training to a very hectic travel, practice and game schedule. I felt our team was one of the best-conditioned and least-fatigued of the ABL teams, thanks to the program."

The Xplosion starters played almost 80 percent of each game, and had only one injury that caused a player to miss a start.

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Ironsmith - The Fitness Doctors
1701 West 35th Street
Austin, Texas 78703
512.454.4766
E - mail: info@fitnessdoctors.com