ANNOUNCEMENT!!!! Check it out!!
I have some exciting news to share with you all! This is something that I’ve been thinking about doing for a while, just wasn’t sure if I could do it. In June, I decided to go for it and signed up for an online class to become a NASM certified personal trainer. I’m happy to say that after all my hard work, I officially passed my test and am certified!
One of the most overlooked components of playing goalie is the fitness aspect. Which is interesting to me, the position where your body needs the highest amount of neuromuscular efficiency to move in just the right ways as fast as possible. I always found myself getting thrown into whatever conditioning or lifting we were doing. It wasn’t until I got to Stanford that our trainer really worked with us to start developing some goalie specific drills to help build my quickness and develop the muscles I needed to be successful. I want to provide this for all goalies, especially since there are muscles we use more than field players but might not necessarily focus on.
Through this certification, I also wanted to know more about injury prevention. I have hip impingements in both of my hips, and almost 2 years ago I had hip surgery to repair the torn labrum that happened as a result of the impingement. About 6 months ago, I started going to physical therapy for a shoulder impingement, pain that has been off and on since college, but I think brought out more because of my increase in computer work this year.
Due to these injuries, I wanted to selfishly know how I can better prevent injuries, work on underactive muscles, and know how to develop a plan for myself. I’m so thankful for the trainers and programs I’ve done because they’ve all taught me something different about working out, how my body responds, and how to count macros for the first time in my life! I now know how many reps, sets, and the tempo needed depending on what my goals are or will be at any point in my life. My fitness, body, and nutrition all feel in my control, and that’s a great feeling. It's also a little scary because now I have no excuses, I know what I need to do and now I have to do it. Reaching my own goals will be difficult, and I've made a ton of progress but there's still room to grow. I believe it's all a process though, that my body will change a ton throughout my life and that's okay! We all change and grow and learn, it's about how we react to that change that matters!
Now that I have this certification, I’m not saying I’m a master. This is just the beginning for me and what I want to learn. I plan to continue my education to be able to provide goalies access to every tool they need to be successful. So, this is why I haven’t been as active as normal for the past few months, and especially this past week. I can tell you now you can expect a lot more from me.
This week I’m going to have another big announcement for you all, and I can’t wait to share this one!