 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Text By: Sean Ross
Photos By Jeff Lawrence
(Page Two)
3) INEFFICIENT CONDITIONING
Most team sports are explosive by nature and involve intermittent bouts of sprints in the 5-20 yard range. For example, a typical football play lasts about 5 seconds followed by a 30-second rest. Baseball involves a short, high intensity sprint followed by a long period of standing. Too many conditioning programs still consist of jogging laps or "running a mile." Excessive endurance training limits the development of the fast twitch muscle fibers that are crucial for speed and power. Too many conditioning programs may concentrate on short sprints but don't take into account the acceleration/deceleration and multiple changes of direction that will be involved in practice and games, thus leading to hip flexor and hamstring strains. Also, the off-season is the time to get bigger (if needed), faster, and stronger. If you play fall sports, the Easter Bunny doesn't care how many 100's you can run. But, increase your emphasis on conditioning as preseason nears.
4) TRAINING ATHLETES LIKE POWERLIFTERS OR BODYBUILDERS
The goal of any strength and conditioning program for athletes should be to decrease the changes of playing injuries as well as to improve performance. Athletes should train movements, not muscles. Pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, and rotation are compound movements that an athlete should train. The body composition changes that will accompany this training philosophy will be much more beneficial than had the athlete trained "pecs and delts" with isolated, machine based training. Athletes should train in standing for most of their exercises, unless they plan to be strapped into a chair during the game. Many trainers think that the key to developing athletes is to simply train like powerlifters and get a big bench press, deadlift, or squat. If this was the simple solution, gyms all over the country would be full of millionaire athletes. Also, overemphasis on the bench press without a balance of pulling exercises can lead to shoulder ailments such as rotator cuff tendinitis and anterior dislocations. A well-rounded program is the key to success. Various components of powerlifting, track, bodybuilding, Olympic lifting, Pilates and other types of training can be utilized to make the athlete "more athletic."
5) LACK OF STRENGTH TRAINING
Many athletes and coaches treat strength training as an afterthought. They do a few sets of benches and poor form squats and call it working out. Many athletes and parents think that playing a sport year-round and not training to get faster and stronger will be more beneficial in performance enhancement. Baseball and basketball are notorious for this. This is a big mistake. An athlete will improve his or her game and reduce injuries much more by using the off-season to strength train while practicing their sport skills a few days a week. Many high school multisport athletes go from one season to the next and never take the time to improve at each sport or find themselves trying to catch up physically if they are fortunate enough to play at the collegiate level. While it is good for adolescents to play a wide variety of sports to develop their athleticism, older athletes need to concentrate on one or two sports and emphasize strength training if they wish to excel. Very few teenage athletes are as gifted physically as Lebron James was as a teen, and even he made time to work on getting stronger and faster. It is unbelievable how many teams and athletes do not lift at all during the season. What good does it do to get big, fast, and strong in the off-season simply to lose it all during the season when it is needed the most? While it is not advisable to in-season strength train with the same volume and frequency as the off-season, a well designed 20-30-minute / 2 days a week program will help maintain off-season strength and speed gains as well as reduce the risk of playing injuries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
