First game back!

First rule of Fight Club after 10-20 years of not playing the game: Don’t get injured! Hamstring red alert and warm-up tips.

The very first game is full of excitement and expectations.

You have your jersey on, shoes on. Entering the pitch, you lean down and brush the grass with your hand. Even when it is artificial grass, made of plastic weeds or turf filled with black pellets, your heart races and a smile comes back.

All those games as a kid or teen, the battles, goals, shots, and dribbles. All those vivid memories come back.

The game starts, and you make a mad dash for the ball, just like you did years ago.

Sharp pain in the back of your leg; the hamstring snaps. You are done for today, for the week or more likely for a month or two. You might never return, the road to recovery from a hamstring injury is long and frustrating.

Might be a pull or a strain. Pull will heal in weeks, a tear will bench you again for months. And frustrated, you might never return on the pitch.

It is very common. I have seen it so often that makes me mad. In our minds, we are those kids chasing effortlessly a ball, making turns, sliding, cutting inside with a feint.

But our bodies are not in sync with the mental picture of us playing football. Even when during those years you took care of yourself, going to a gym, hiking or running every few days, you are not prepared for the game.

This sport involves rapid acceleration and changing run directions in a much irregular way. You might be walking for a few minutes and then suddenly a ball comes and you need to make a dash for it. This is why most armies around the world include football/soccer as military training. It’s that demanding, it’s that random.

So be prepared. Built a mental image of yourself playing the game after years. Your body is different, it takes time to condition and adjust.

Then you warm up. I can still see some of my friends faking their warm-up for 5 minutes before the game. Don’t be those guys and come early to the game. Take at least 30 minutes to slowly get your mobility right. Sports science is pretty clear it should be dynamic stretches, not static, deep stretches. It’s very important - a lot of us were taught the opposite mantra for years.

Let’s make it simple. Your priority before your first game is hamstrings. Other things like core, hips are important, and we will talk about them later, but now, your absolute priority is hamstrings.

My philosophy, which comes from behavioural psychology, is to prioritise things taking human nature into account. With exercise, we are lazy. In order to survive in nature, we have to conserve energy.

Don’t worry, with time and more games, you will add more exercises, more conditioning, nutrition, sleeping habits, and so on. We will dive into those, but not everything at once. It’s the beginning of a long journey to play and enjoy the sport for years. This is the goal and the challenge.

For those, like myself, who like to understand the science behind it, you will find the thorough analysis here. With a promise that I won’t pretend I know everything about it, that it is NOT the ultimate truth and the only way to get back into the game as an amateur footballer.

Understanding human nature, our jobs and family obligations, ageing bodies, injuries that will happen - we will do our best to find out together what is the optimal, most reasonable way to do it.

Yes, you and I, we are in the same boat. I will learn from you too, so waiting for your comments, critique, advise and personal experience. There is no one correct way, but there is a right direction and obvious traps along the way.

Anyway, here are a few great ways to do your warm-up:

And here’s how to work your hamstrings (which you do not as a warm-up before the game, but few days a week):

And here how to strengthen hamstring (more advanced but easy at home too):