Overview of Roller Derby Workouts to Avoid Injury

Overview of Roller Derby Workouts to Avoid Injury
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Roller derby is a full contact sport. There is nothing choreographed in derby bouts today. The falls, whips and pushes are all very real. It is important to be well trained on the track before participating in a bout.

Injuries can also occur in practice. This is why it is very important to go the extra mile and workout on your own as well as with the team. Roller derby workouts to avoid injury include yoga, strength training and plyometrics. Combining these will prepare you for almost anything thrown at you.

Pulled muscles, sprains and broken bones may happen. Bruises will, without a doubt, be your new tattoo. One of the requirements of participation in roller derby is that you must carry your own insurance. The WFTDA can provide you secondary insurance to cover you in the event you sustain an injury at practice and your primary insurance will not cover it.

Yoga

Several yoga poses can help stretch your body before and after practice. Yoga will also strengthen your core and help regulate your breathing. It is also an excellent way of balancing the high impact, highly aggressive sport of derby.

The warrior pose will do wonders for derby training. It provides so many benefits and will affect your entire body as well as building your inner strength.

If you are skeptical, sign up for a class and discover for yourself the amount of athletiscm yoga masters possess. Purchase a yoga mat and begin a daily practice of your own. Yoga can help strengthen your joints, relax your body and reduce pain in your back.

Strength Building Exercises

Strong leg muscles make an enormous difference on the track. Make it a habit of doing wall sits while you are talking on the phone. Simply place your back on the wall and slide down until your thighs are parallel with the floor, and your shins are parallel with the wall. Hold until your legs shake, and then hold some more.

Lunges and squats will help build ankle and knee strength from all angles. This is important when you are being hit from all angles and need to maintain balance. Strong muscles give you a better center of gravity, preventing you from being knocked off balance or pushed out of bounds in most cases.

Derby requires strength, both physically and mentally. Discipline yourself to build muscle strength and the focus will pay off.

Plyometrics

Explosive power is what a roller derby girl needs and plyometrics will give it to her. Give yourself the advantage on the track by practicing jumping squats, and push ups with a hand clap. These two exercises must be included in a roller derby workout to avoid injury. Being able to jump back up quickly after a fall will keep you from being run over and keep your team in the game.

There are several excellent DVD’s on the market specifically for plyometric training. Check out your local library’s collection or search YouTube for examples of other plyometric exercises.