The best surface in the state

Perth Stadium opens this weekend! From all accounts, the surface will be state of the art. The turf was grown at Serpentine, mixed with 10% artificial grass for durability, cut 40mm thick and laid out under the sun (as well as under five ‘grow lights’ which will become more important in winter). Safe to say the surface will be the best in the state for elite sport.

But what’s your best surface? While we might dream of playing at Perth Stadium, most of us will do our exercise on other surfaces. But that’s not a bad thing, it all depends on what you’re going for:

A challenge

If you want to push beyond your normal routine, mixing up your walk or run with a bit more resistance can help. This might involve knee deep water at the beach, hills, or following your friend who’s that little bit fitter than you on their route! Running or walking on sand will challenge your strength as well as the small muscles which detect changes in your surface and contribute to your balance.

Rehab

When first getting back into exercise after a stint on the side-lines with injury, it’s always best to start with a surface that gives your body the most assistance. In the very early stage, depending on your injury, doing some walking or jogging in the pool might help to support your joints by decreasing the body weight going through them on each step. Moving up onto a flat, supportive surface like even grass or a treadmill generally is a good next step before pounding the hard pavement or challenging yourself on the more difficult surfaces like sand or hills.

Performance

When training for peak performance, it’s wise to be working yourself on a surface as similar to your playing surface as possible. If you’re a footy player, this will mean grass. As a basketball player, you want to get used to changing directions and landing on the surface you’ll be competing on. If you’re a beach volleyball player… you get the picture.

Physio

If you’re worried that the surface you’re training on is too easy, too difficult or contributing to an injury, your physio can assess you and then help you create a balanced program of exercise that will both challenge and protect you. And if you have ambitions to play at Perth Stadium, we’d love to help you get there!

To make an appointment, call us on (08) 9364 4073 or book online.