It is truly amazing to see sport coaches still running all of their athlete's long distances at a slow pace to 'condition them.' This type of training does two things for the explosive thrower or sprint specialist, neither of which is positive: it slows them down and makes them less productive on the field. In all cases sport relevant training and simulation conditioning are keys to superior results. Exercise selections and conditioning protocols will have a profound affect not only to the body but more realistically on the neuromuscular system. Each movement performed during practice or in competition is processed by the central nervous and the neuromuscular systems. Once this information has been programmed into the organism it will then be applied to the solution of the motor tasks. Therefore the explosive athletes who are out running long slow distances take this slow training onto the field during their event with predictable results; lowered performance. Explosive athletes need to condition and strength train closely to the movement patterns, force/time curve, types of muscle contraction and the velocity of the skill. Otherwise the training time is misused and the exercises are misapplied. Relevancy training supports this premise in at least these ten aspects: 1. Biochemical adaptations to the sport, i. e. in the energy systems that are utilized during the event 2. Fatigue- of speed, static strength, dynamic strength, and speed strength endurance. Fatigue may be further broken down into central fatigue and peripheral fatigue with the former associated with the central nervous system (CNS). Those factors corresponding to the CNS include all of the components outside of the muscular system. Decreased motivation for training, impairment of the spinal nerve impulses and altered recruitment of the spinal motor neurons are directly attributable to central nervous system fatigue. 3. Flexibility-in all the kinematic chain 4. Force of contraction-maximum, absolute, 5. Metabolism 6. Muscle fiber recruitment-slow or fast type one or two fibers and the variations of each 7. Movement patterns-kinematic system 8. Regions in the body where movement takes place-kinematic pairs, and chains 9. Types of muscle contractions-concentric, eccentric or isometric 10. Velocity of the movements-high speed or slow Training in this manner means exercising in such a fashion as to improve the expression of each of these foregoing factors that are integral to the sport. Simulation training on the other hand involves the use of various weights or resistance throughout the full range of motion during execution of the sport specific movement. Conditioning with large resistance over a small range of movement is appropriate during certain stages of the training phase. A significant amount of resistance will confuse the neuromuscular programming that determines the relevancy of the effort. The muscle recruitment and firing patterns will be negatively altered. The addition of the heavier load will cause changes in the center of gravity and rotation, movement inertia, and the body's mechanical stiffness. These modifications of form will adversely affect neuromuscular performance. Conditioning relevancy and simulation are synergistic issues within the training process. Both must be addressed in the program development phase to take advantage of their interrelated properties. Summary Training slow and conditioning inappropriately and then performing explosively on the field are mutually exclusive. Questions or comments may be addressed to Danny@explosivelyfit.com http://www.explosivelyfit.com/ |
