Machota: Dallas Cowboys hoping to avoid hamstring injuries by...

[Cotton]

Dallas Cowboys hoping to avoid hamstring injuries by adding workout equipment, changing pre-practice stretching
By Jon Machota
jmachota@dallasnews.com
10:48 am on June 1, 2014 | Permalink

Dallas Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said in April that the franchise did not consider changing their off-season training program despite being among the league-leaders in injuries.

However, a few stretching adjustments and additional workout equipment were noticeable during the first week of organized team activities.

Last season, the most common setback in the Cowboys locker room was hamstring injuries. Twelve players suffered some type of strain to the thigh muscle.

Outside of the team’s Valley Ranch locker room, six workout machines and ballet bars have been added to help players avoid similar issues going forward.

“We’ve put a big emphasis on addressing, as an organization, some of the injuries that we’ve had,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said last week. “Just an emphasis on stretching, giving our players the opportunity, whether it’s with ballet bars or V-sits or back systems, whatever things we use, we try to help them get into routines that can help them be flexible and avoid some of the injuries we’ve had. It’s always been an emphasis for us. We have to look at ourselves and what we’re doing to help our players stay as healthy as possible.”

Garrett also acknowledged that the team’s pre-practice stretching has changed.

“Typically, we’ve done kind of the old team stretch, and we’re experimenting with dynamic warm-up stuff that I’ve done in my past, other coaches have done in the past,” Garrett said. “You try to be innovative, you try to evolve, you get feedback from the players, you get feedback from the coaches.

“We just try to help our players get themselves more ready to practice and hopefully stay healthier over time.”

 

[boozeman]

Ballet bars. Yep. That will do it.

Forget nutrition, monitoring and structured program.

Unfrozen Caveman Strength Coach may have more rings than anyone else, but he has never dealt with today's NFL player. Especially in the environment they have now where the CBA basically hamstrings access.

There is a reason teams that have younger staffs, especially from the NCAA ranks, that are showing better results.

This is not the good old days where strength coaches and conditioning programs could have virtually unlimited access to the player based on the player's willingness. Now you have a short period of time and you have to make your impact when you can.

This is not like with Woicik could get into Michael Irvin's head and drive how he worked, which bled down to the rest of the team. It is cold and limited. And yeah, there is a reason why New England let him go. It was not the same. In New England, Woicik had guys like Irvin...Bruschi, Vrabel, etc. who would pace things at his direction.

Honestly, if I owned this team, I would have thanked Woicik for all he has done.

Then fired him and replaced him with the best guys from the college ranks I could find. Nothing personal.

 

[L.T. Fan]

I concur with stretch exercises before workouts. It is important and needed or you run the risk of pulling muscles. I hope it is administered correctly because putting someone on ballet bars right away isn't necessarily a good thing. You have to work up to that.

 

[boozeman]

I concur with stretch exercises before workouts. It is important and needed or you run the risk of pulling muscles. I hope it is administered correctly because putting someone on ballet bars right away isn't necessarily a good thing. You have to work up to that.

Just the idea of professional football players having to work their way up to ballet bars is funny.

Not doubting it as I am no stretching expert. Just amusing.

 

[Cotton]

Just the idea of professional football players having to work their way up to ballet bars is funny.

Not doubting it as I am no stretching expert. Just amusing.

Ballet ruined Herschel.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Ballet ruined Herschel.

It was the dancing not the stretches.

 

[Carl]

It's the opposite. No stretching. Gentle jogging, then slowly building that up is the key. Then a few sprints. Then jogging and movement sets. No stretching. Worst thing ever.

 

[Cotton]

It's the opposite. No stretching. Gentle jogging, then slowly building that up is the key. Then a few sprints. Then jogging and movement sets. No stretching. Worst thing ever.

That's retarded.

 

[skidadl]

That's retarded.

What's retarded? Cold stretching is stupid. Nobody static stretches their football teams like they used to. Dynamic stretches is where it's at all the way.

What is funny is that Garrett is saying you try to innovate. Lol, that is very funny. He's almost in the 2000s with his techniques.

 

[skidadl]

8 years of coaching, 4 at the high school level, zero hamstring injuries or non-impact leg injuries.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Muscles are pulled and strained because of overexertion to them. If they are not stretched adequately the amount of pull from the over overexertion causes injury. It's like a rubber band if the force exceeds the flexibility it will snap. Stretching allows the muscle greater tolerance to exertion.

 

[Cotton]

What's retarded? Cold stretching is stupid. Nobody static stretches their football teams like they used to. Dynamic stretches is where it's at all the way.

What is funny is that Garrett is saying you try to innovate. Lol, that is very funny. He's almost in the 2000s with his techniques.

He didn't say cold stretching. He said no stretching at all.... which is retarded.

 

[skidadl]

Muscles are pulled and strained because of overexertion to them. If they are not stretched adequately the amount of pull from the over overexertion causes injury. It's like a rubber band if the force exceeds the flexibility it will snap. Stretching allows the muscle greater tolerance to exertion.

There's a good chance that I might be a little closer to the most recent thoughts on that subject. Colds/static stretching is thought to cause more injuries than newer ways of doing. Generally speaking, stretching a cold muscle is dumb. Take a rubber band at a warner temp and see how much further it stretches when it's warm vs cold.

Or you can take the Cowboys team as an example. They still do static stretching and have more hamstring injuries than anyone. That alone might give enough caution toward new ways, no?

 

[skidadl]

He didn't say cold stretching. He said no stretching at all.... which is retarded.

He's talking about movement sets which is stretching. Not just sitting on the turf in a circle and generally wasting time.

 

[Cotton]

He's talking about movement sets which is stretching. Not just sitting on the turf in a circle and generally wasting time.

Stretching is needed. Cold stretching is stupid, but stretching is needed. Again, not stretching at all is retarded.

 

[L.T. Fan]

There's a good chance that I might be a little closer to the most recent thoughts on that subject. Colds/static stretching is thought to cause more injuries than newer ways of doing. Generally speaking, stretching a cold muscle is dumb. Take a rubber band at a warner temp and see how much further it stretches when it's warm vs cold.

Or you can take the Cowboys team as an example. They still do static stretching and have more hamstring injuries than anyone. That alone might give enough caution toward new ways, no?

I don't advocate cold stretching as such but as part of the warm up process should include stretching. I agree a jog is a good way to start but I don't think I would have them lining up to wind sprints for a while. In fact I think that should come near the end of a work out then do a cool down with another jog then short walk.

 

[skidadl]

Stretching is needed. Cold stretching is stupid, but stretching is needed. Again, not stretching at all is retarded.

I think it is just semantics. Carl is basically taking about stretching.

I didn't mean to sound dickish with my answer. It is just something that I often see mostly with uneducated coaches that really pisses me off. Basically my senior son lost the state championship and his hammy because of terrible stretching technique. When I brought it up before the game the coach basically yelled at me and then continued to almost scrimmage 3 hours before the game. Next thing I knew my sons hammy started to tighten. He never could get it right and then popped it on the third play of the game. Idiots.

 

[skidadl]

I don't advocate cold stretching as such but as part of the warm up process should include stretching. I agree a jog is a good way to start but I don't think I would have them lining up to wind sprints for a while. In fact I think that should come near the end of a work out then do a cool down with another jog then short walk.

I disagree with some of that. Absolute no reason to cool down when you are about to start a game or workout. Why would you do that?

Seriously though. Dynamic stretching is the only way.

 

[Cotton]

I think it is just semantics. Carl is basically taking about stretching.

I didn't mean to sound dickish with my answer. It is just something that I often see mostly with uneducated coaches that really pisses me off. Basically my senior son lost the state championship and his hammy because of terrible stretching technique. When I brought it up before the game the coach basically yelled at me and then continued to almost scrimmage 3 hours before the game. Next thing I knew my sons hammy started to tighten. He never could get it right and then popped it on the third play of the game. Idiots.

Dude, he said no stretching. That's dumb.

 

[skidadl]

Dude, he said no stretching. That's dumb.

I think maybe you're not understanding that movements IS stretching. Unless I'm the one misunderstanding what he is saying.