Severs Week 2 - Creating Your Athletic Heat Map

This week's activities

The exercises for week two are a continuation of week one. Be sure to do it daily and pay close attention to the details.

Severs quick links:

One of the most common questions we get in week 2 is:

I don't feel anything when doing the calf isos?

Just because you can't feel anything doesn't mean an exercise isn't doing anything. At a structural level the cells in your achilles tendon and at the attachment point on the heel are beginning to adapt and recover, while the calf muscles are activating and developing strength and endurance.

The daily routine is still to be done every day. It now contains:

Foam rolling, 10 rolls each position

Standing calf isometrics, three sets of 45 seconds each leg

Keep logging your pain levels before and after the days program

Along with this you will complete an athletic heat map this week:

Complete at least two versions of the heat mapping activity, one for your current activity and sport levels and another that reflects the full sporting loads you wish to be able to get back to.

Creating Your Athletic Heat Map

Welcome to Week 2.

During the early stages of any injury rehab, taking a little extra time to lay a foundation is critical to the long-term success of the program.

For this reason, there are no new exercises this week. Spend this week foam rolling and doing the calf isometrics every day, repeating the planned training from week one. This will have huge benefits in the later, more advanced stages of the program.

While you continue with these exercises, take an opportunity to learn how to track your training load. This is a crucial skill in remaining pain-free after the seven week program, something we have written about here.

Week 2 Instructions & Resources

Create A Training Load Heat Map

A heat map shows you how much sport you are doing and its distribution over the week.

We have built a heat mapping spreadsheet specifically for junior athletes that you can download below:

Excel Version (PC/Mac)

Enter your weekly sporting commitments into the spreadsheet and fill in the number of minutes the session lasts and a rating of perceived exertion (RPE)*.

*RPE is an individual’s measurement of how hard a training session was. 1/10 would be an easy walk, 10/10 being your hardest sporting session ever. Some sessions may have a mix of hard and easy components, but most athletes have a pretty clear idea of an overall score. Get them to use that score.

We recommend athletes create a copy of the spreadsheet and complete a new heat map every school term in order to track ongoing loading and determine if there is enough rest incorporated into the week. There is no magic number for weekly training load, as we all handle training stress differently, but keep an eye out for large spikes or changes, and aim to have at least one day (ideally two days) per week that have light training volumes.

That's it for Week 2

Continue foam rolling routine, performing the calf isometric holds every day and filling in your workbook. Take a few minutes to create an athletic heat map to get an idea of how much sport you are currently doing and which days have the highest loads.

Severs quick links: