What is prehab, and does it work?
Prehab is targeted work done to reduce injury risk before anything is wrong — eccentric hamstring work, adductor strength for groin problems, and structured warm-ups are the best-evidenced examples. The research behind those specific protocols is good, and Train Smart cites it against each claim.
The catch is that it only works if it happens. A protocol done twice and abandoned has no effect, and most prehab fails on that rather than on the exercises.
Why
Why it usually does not happen. Prehab is typically bolted onto the front of a session as a generic mobility flow with no relationship to what follows. Rotating a pool by session number puts shoulder work before a squat day and Copenhagen planks before a bench press — technically covered, and nobody does it.
What makes it stick. Matching it to the session it sits in, keeping it short, and treating it as part of the session rather than an optional extra.
What it cannot do. Prehab lowers risk; it does not remove it, and it is not treatment for an existing problem. Something already painful needs assessing rather than programming around.
In Train Smart each movement is classified by the region it protects and matched to the session's region, and the pool rotates across the week so you cover all of it rather than doing the same three moves three times.
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