First game rolls around, so you take every precaution to prevent injury by warming up properly. This entails running to the portable toilet and back, then sit there doing stretches while you shoot the breeze with your teammates. It is your turn to bat. You’ve taken two or three good warm-up swings and done the side bend twisty things to get your back ready. You smack the ball to third, oh shoot you mutter, and you run as hard as you can down the line. Then it happens. A sudden pain in your hamstring and just like that you have pulled a muscle. You’re stunned that this is happened, especially with all the preventive training you have done.

You have to understand that even though you aren’t a professional athlete, in some ways you do have to train like an athlete. Not because you’re going to get sponsored to play in your over 30 softball league. But, you need to prepare your body for the activity you are doing to prevent injuries and be able to still have fun. Pulling a muscle is a minor injury, but I’ve seen a lot worse. And for some people, if they get injured there is no income coming in for the family. Rather than live in a bubble all your life, let’s try to prevent a lot of those injuries that can be prevented.

Now here is the important part of the equation. You must find time 4-5 weeks prior to the season beginning, to implement a speed program. Basically, if you do nothing for 6 months, haven’t sprinted or anything, you are demanding that your body go from “0 to 60" and have absolutely no problem doing that. As we get older, that is a much greater demand for the body to accomplish, so you must start sprint work that can be done twice a week.

• Keep the jog and active warm-up the same each week• The second week you want to build up to full speed• The third week do build-ups for 5 sprints, then full speed sprints for 5• The fourth and fifth week, I would do 2 or three build-ups in your active warm-up and then do all full speed sprintsI know that seems like a lot to ask, but this program eliminated any hamstrings problems I had the year before. Besides, if you want to have fun and not worry about any nagging injuries, this is what you should do or you’ll be gettting plenty of icepacks ready. This obviously won’t prevent the broken bones that could happen, but it will eliminate the minor stuff. You will be amazed about how much better you feel before, during, and after the games.