Saltus Performance

‘Injury prevention’ is a term commonly used in fitness and athletic training vocabulary. But what does it really mean - are we actually able to fully “prevent” injuries?

Both yes and no.

Nothing is able to prevent 100% of injuries from occurring. Even the strongest and most well-conditioned athletes will occasionally get hurt. Sports are inherently chaotic, often involving a multitude of factors outside of our control like the playing environment or other players’ actions.

But we can prepare ourselves better to deal with this chaos.

Getting stronger and more conditioned means you’re less likely to be injured from the same action or stimulus. It’s that simple. Studies have shown that strength training is the most effective injury prevention strategy (even compared to others that may come to your mind first like stretching or warming-up).

An athlete’s training in the weight room should be just as focused on conditioning to better handle the load of practice and matches as much as to directly improve performance. How do we do that?

✅Build muscle strength
Stronger muscles are better able to effectively absorb and redistribute forces to take stress off of your joints

✅Increase connective tissue resiliency
Our tendons, ligaments, and fascia that hold our musculoskeletal system together also adapt to strength training and become more resistant to strain

✅Refined movement mechanics
Improving sprinting, jumping/landing, and lifting mechanics can decrease the “wear and tear” impacts of repetitive motions and help lower the likelihood of chronic pain/injuries

✅Improved load capacity/tolerance
Injury rates increase significantly with fatigue - a body that is better able to endure practice and match demands will break down less

Even though we can’t fully prevent injuries from occurring, we can significantly lower their likelihood, as well as decrease our recovery time if an injury does occur.

‘Injury prevention’ is a term commonly used in fitness and athletic training vocabulary. But what does it really mean - are we actually able to fully “prevent” injuries?

Both yes and no.

Nothing is able to prevent 100% of injuries from occurring. Even the strongest and most well-conditioned athletes will occasionally get hurt. Sports are inherently chaotic, often involving a multitude of factors outside of our control like the playing environment or other players’ actions.

But we can prepare ourselves better to deal with this chaos.

Getting stronger and more conditioned means you’re less likely to be injured from the same action or stimulus. It’s that simple. Studies have shown that strength training is the most effective injury prevention strategy (even compared to others that may come to your mind first like stretching or warming-up).

An athlete’s training in the weight room should be just as focused on improving your ability to handle the load and demands of practices/matches as much as it focuses on directly improving performance.

How does strength training lead to less injuries?

✅Builds muscular strength
Stronger muscles are better able to effectively absorb and redistribute forces to take stress off of your joints

✅Increases connective tissue resiliency
Our tendons, ligaments, and fascia that hold our musculoskeletal system together also adapt to strength training and become more resistant to strain

✅Refines movement mechanics
Improving sprinting, jumping/landing, and throwing mechanics can decrease the “wear and tear” impacts of repetitive motions and help

✅Improves load capacity/tolerance
Injury rates increase significantly with fatigue - a body that is better able to endure practice and match demands will break down less

Even though we can’t fully prevent injuries from occurring, we can significantly lower their likelihood, as well as decrease our recovery time if an injury does occur.

athlete

- Resist
- Your brakes are the functional limiter for your engine. Learn to hold tension through your entire body and control the tempo of your movements via isometrics (holding) and eccentric (lowering) - focused work.

- Produce
- Lift for more than to just lift. Lift weights to improve motor unit recruitment, compound movement patterns, and your ability to express strength and power in multiple positions.

- Sprint
- The best way to get faster at running is to run fast. Even if your sport doesn’t involve top-end velocity, sprinting is a great way to improve lower body speed, power, and coordination.

- Accelerate/Decelerate + Change of Direction
-Sports are rarely played at one speed or in one plane. Solid mechanics and quickness in speeding up and slowing down, both linearly and multi-directionally can be major difference makers for performance.

- Jump & Land
- Practice utilizing your entire body to produce explosive vertical or horizontal force. Clean landing mechanics also lead to lower impact on your body over time and improve your ability to perform subsequent actions after a jump (like a sprint or another jump).

- Problem Solve
- Not math problem solving, but more so involving constraints-based movement tasks, challenging hand-eye and multi-limb coordination, and encouraging deeper ranges of motion.

Does every session have to include all of these? Definitely not - depending on the athlete’s age/sport/needs, each training session and block can weigh each of these components differently.

But the first two building blocks are the primary focuses of many training programs. While it’s undoubtably important for youth athletes to build strength and a robust musculoskeletal system, if the other blocks are neglected, major motor developmental and athletic benefits are left untapped.

At Saltus we don’t just lift weights. We train athletes to move well, gain and refine body control, and perform at their peak.

Most people think they have to choose between 1-on-1 personal training or large group classes.

Our Small Group Personal Training program gives you the best of both, but even better and without the trade-offs.

✅ Cost Effectiveness
Train for a fraction of the cost of 1-on-1 personal training—so you can train at the frequency needed to actually see results.

✅ Schedule Flexibility
No fixed time slot. Book sessions when it works for you, day-to-day and week-to-week.

✅ Longer Sessions
Up to 90-minute training windows—giving you the flexibility to arrive earlier or later, and get more out of each session.

✅ Social Atmosphere
Train alongside others, feed off the energy in the room, and push harder than you would on your own.

✅ Customized Programming
Your program is delivered through TrainHeroic and tailored to your needs—so you’re not just doing a generic workout.

✅ Monthly Testing
We re-test your performance monthly—so we can objectively track progress and adjust your program where needed.

It’s a structured system designed for long-term progress.

Want to give it a try? Check out our intro offer 👇

4 weeks of unlimited Small Group Personal Training for $288 + GST

DM us for more details.

Young athletes often don’t have much time for their weight room sessions, and there’s a high chance that they’re doing the same jog/skip/shuffle/carioca warm-up multiple times a week in their sport practices.

How can we design effective & efficient warm-ups that get the most out of the athletes’ limited time while keeping them engaged and active?

There are 4 major components that these warm-ups should try to incorporate:

✅Tissue Prep
-Prepare the body physically for strength & power training. Increase heart rate. Stretch dynamically. Activate key muscle groups.

✅Motor Pattern Reinforcement
-Strengthen basic movement patterns and qualities. Squat, hinge & lunge. Sprint. Accelerate & decelerate. Change directions. Jump & land. 

✅Body Control & Movement Exploratation 
-Allow opportunities to solve movement problems. Test hand-eye/ multi-limb coordination. Explore creating and resisting force in multiple positions. Challenge unorthodox gaits/crawls. 

✅Fun / “Play”
-Avoid performing the same, monotonous warm-ups over and over. Get athletes engaged. Bring high energy. Make the warm-up the most memorable part of the session. 

Within this framework, there’s lots of room to get creative with drills, movements, and games that cover these bases. It’s not that the traditional skip & stretch series is necessarily bad, it just leaves benefits on the table. Each warm-up doesn’t need to cover every example above, but over time, athletes should be exposed to all of these challenges in their warm-ups.

Young athletes are not elite, adult athletes — they shouldn’t warm-up the same way. 

Let the kids play!

You used to train 5–6x/week. Now you’re getting 1-2. Maybe 3 if you’re lucky.

Between work, practices, family, travel, and everything else…training becomes something you fit in, not build around.

So the question becomes:

What actually gives you the most bang for your buck when time is limited?

A simple way to think about it:

A motor unit is a nerve and the muscle fibers it controls.

When a movement is easy or low demand, your body only uses a small number of these.

When a movement is fast, heavy, or explosive, your body has to recruit more motor units, especially the higher-threshold ones responsible for strength and power.

That’s why exercise selection matters.

Sprinting, cleans, jerks, and snatches -
these movements require:
• high force
• high speed
• high coordination

So your body has to “turn on” more muscle at once.

If you’re only training a 1-3 times per week, this becomes important.

You’re more likely to:
• maintain or build strength
• maintain or build power
• maintain or develop coordination

…because you’re still exposing your system to high demands that require rest to recover from.

This doesn’t mean lower-intensity work has no value.

But when time is limited, it shouldn’t be the priority.

Need help with your programming or learning to train safely and effectively? Let us know.