Rebuilding the body - devising a program

[Emily Mattes]

I have a friend who gets injured a lot. All of the time. He starts playing something and injures himself. He's dislocated his shoulder many times, he pulls his hamstring, he sprains his ankle . . . I have a variety of theories on why this is, and I think part of the problem is that he throws himself all-out into activities that he's not necessarily physically prepared for.

So I will be starting him on a "rebuilding" program. Build basic muscular strength (and hopefully correct any imbalances) while providing rehab/prehab for existing and possible injuries. Could someone give me a critique and ideas for how to go about this? This is what I'm thinking:

- Do mobility work pre- and post-workout--rolling, stretching, etc. Keep dynamic stretching pre-workout and static for post.

- Base the program off of a general strength program, sort of SS-style.

- Include shoulder-rehab work (I'm thinking Diesel Crew, Turkish Get-ups, etc)

He's got feet that are flat as a board, so I'm thinking of incorporating foot-strengthening exercises as well, calf-stretching, etc. I remember a series of foot-exercises (like walking on the heels and whatnot) linked in a post on this forum but can't find it.

[Steven Low]

Foot drills:
http://bellsouthpwp2.net/n/a/navycflcoach/My_Homepage_Files/Download/The%20Foot%20Drills.doc

Flat feet:
http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/uploads2/08_JanFeb_FlatFeet.pdf

SS-style with lots of prehab work would be good IMO.

[Arien Malec]

SS provides includes overhead and bench presses. It might be good to balance this with chins/pullups and rows to allow for even shoulder development from all angles.

Lots of barefoot work might be good for the feet.

[Scott Kustes]

- Diesel Crew for that shoulder
- A strength program (Starting Strength, 5/3/1, 5x5, something) with strong focus on form
- Barefoot work for the feet
- Ankle strengthening exercises (standing on toes [both feet and 1 foot], etc)

[Allen Yeh]

Something to include into the warmup:
A T-nation article from yesterday that I thought was interesting, might be worth incorporating into this program:
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/dispelling_the_glute_myth

Shoulders:
On YTWL's check out this by Nick Tumminello:
http://www.davedraper.com/url/shoulder-lytps.php

Mobility work, may or may not be a great idea if he's constantly dislocation his shoulder. Eric Cressey has a wealth of information about the shoulder since he deals primarily with baseball players.

Flat feet:
If possible start doing things is as little footwear as possible, barefoot is best, then socks, then Vibrams, Free's are a better alternative than a regular running shoe. The foot drills are helpful for reducing lower body pain but the bigger faster stronger stuff is more helpful for flat feet. This thread had a bit more things about flat feet:
http://www.cathletics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3433

[Craig Brown]

+++1 on the foot drills. I get everyone I can get to do these and they help a ton. Basic lifting with a fair to large amount of rows seems to be good for most people as well.

[Emily Mattes]

Great suggestions, thank you guys. I'm working with him once or twice a week to start, so I'll focus on a few core exercises with prehab/rehab work around it. Steve, I was going to focus on mobility/whatever for the rest of his body, shoulder focus will be on stability.