Chapter 4 Conditioning & Strength Training in Athletics

Chapter 4Chapter 4Conditioning & Strength Training in Conditioning & Strength Training in

AthleticsAthletics

Overview

•Purpose of conditioning and strength training

•Fitness-testing procedures •Fitness-testing parameters •Exercise prescription •Developing the strength-training program

•Types of strength training •Equipment selection• Integrating other fitness components

•Preventing injury

Purpose of Conditioning and Strength Training

•Athletes’, and the athletic trainer's, role in conditioning and strength training

– Optimize performance & athletic development

– Prevent injury

•People in other exercise settings – Enhance health and wellness– Optimize performance

•Older adults – Maintain health and wellness– Improve quality of living

Fitness-Testing Procedures

• Measures the athlete's level of fitness– Helps identify muscle groups or

energy sources that need to be trained

• Usually includes tests of muscular function, cardiovascular function, speed, agility, and body composition– SPARQ testing provides sport-specific

evaluation• www.sparqtraining.com

• Preseason participation evaluation

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Fitness-Testing Procedures

• Ongoing evaluations – For athletes

• Help to identify particular weaknesses that may have developed

– For physically active (non competitive athletes)

• Indicate progress toward fitness goals and whether changes in the program are advisable

• Postseason fitness evaluations – Used to plan and assess the off-season

training program

Fitness-Testing Parameters

• Muscle function – Muscle strength

• Ability of the muscle or group of muscles to overcome a resistance

• 1-repetition maximum (1RM) test

– Muscular endurance • Ability of a muscle or group of muscles to perform a

repetitive action • Sit-ups, push-ups, or more sport-specific evaluations such

as the squat with a light weight for a cross country runner

– Muscle power • Rate of performing work: A weight lifted (force) through a

range of movement (usually a vertical distance) divided by the unit of time required to perform the lift

• Vertical jump


• Cardiovascular function – Evaluating aerobic power

• Ability to use oxygen in performing work

• 1.5 mile (2.4 km) timed run, step test, 2 mile (3.2 km) timed run

– Evaluating anaerobic power

• Ability to perform activities of very short duration using metabolic processes that produce energy without oxygen

• Vertical jump, shuttle run

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• Agility and speed – Agility

• The ability to start, stop, and change direction

• Shuttle run, T-test, Edgren Side Step test

• Proper footwear; time to learn the pattern before being timed

– Speed • Length of time required to travel a set

distance • Running—preferably in distances

similar to those that occur in the sport; timed dashes such as the 40 yd (37 m) or 100 yd (91 m) dash for sports with short bursts of sprinting


• Flexibility – Joint structure

• Structure of joint surface determines the motions available

• Ball-and-socket versus other types of joints

– Effects of muscle size • Muscle bulk can limit movement • Can avoid this loss of flexibility in

two ways: stretching the same muscle that is strengthened and strengthening the opposite muscles (antagonists)


• Flexibility (cont.)– Ligament and tendon

composition• All connective tissues are made up of

collagen and elastin

– Some people have more elasticity than others have

– Age and sex• Females tend to be more flexible than

males • As people age, they tend to decrease in

flexibility

– Active people are more flexible than sedentary people


• Flexibility (cont.)– Testing – Importance – Hamstring: sit-and-reach

test – Pectoralis major muscles:

supine, elbows clasped behind head; then relax shoulders to allow elbows to move toward table


• Height, weight, and body composition – Uses of anthropometry:

height and weight • To determine position on team an

athlete is best suited for • Self-knowledge • Unexpected changes can be a sign

of a medical condition


• Height, weight, and body composition – Body composition test is

more significant • Amount of fat in relation to lean

tissue • High levels of fat affect ability to

move optimally and are associated with certain diseases and illnesses

• Methods of measuring – Skin calipers – Body mass index – Hydrostatic weighing – Bioelectrical impedance

Exercise Prescription

• Needs analysis—considering the objectives of the program – What muscle groups should be conditioned?– Demands of sport: Physiological and

biomechanical analysis of the skills of the sport

– Abilities of the athlete – Energy systems – Muscle activity: concentric, eccentric, or

isometric? – Injury patterns

• Team's injury history

• Athlete’s injury history


• Goal setting – Short-term goals

• Include immediate (individual day) and short-range (month) goals

• Contribute to the long-term goal

– Long-term goals • Must be established by the athlete • Should be specific, measurable, and attributable to

the conditioning program

– Limitations to the plan • Recognize that obstacles to achieving the goal will

occur, and establish alternate plans • Provide communication and encouragement


• Exercise plans – Training volume: Amount of work

performed – Exercise order – Station approach: Maximize overload

on one muscle group before moving to the next

– Circuit training: Work a muscle group to fatigue, and then hurry to the next exercise, maintaining the elevated heart rate

Developing the Strength-Training Program

• Resistance and overload: essential to every program

• Exercise intensity– The percentage of the 1RM: relationship of percentage

to strength gains– Hypertrophy method – Goal is increased muscle mass through increasing the

size of individual muscle fibers – 5 to 12 reps at 70 to 85% of the 1RM

• High-intensity training method (HIT) – Goal is to improve recruitment of existing muscle

fibers rather than to increase the size of the fibers – Intensity reaches up to 100%; amount of weight

increased if athlete can lift prescribed weight more than four times


• Periodization– Brings about peak performance by

constantly changing training stimulus (intensity, volume, specificity, etc.)

– Reduces risk of injury and overtraining– Macrocycle comprised of mesocycles,

mesocycles comprised of microcycles


• Macrocycle– Duration of

competitive training

• Annual for most athletes, every four years for Olympic athletes

– Progresses from high volume, low intensity non-sport specific to low volume, low intensity, sport specific activity


• Mesocycle– Preparatory phase

• Off-season (3 sub-phases)– Hypertrophy/endurance

» Low intensity, high volume» Non-sport specific

– Strength» Moderate intensity, moderate volume

– Power» High intensity, low volume» Sport-specific


• Mesocycles (continued)– In-season

• Competition phase– Maintenance driven– High intensity, low volume

– Post-season• Transition phase

– Unstructured– Allows time to recover physically &

psychologically


• Progressive overload – Gradual increase in the stress placed

on a muscle as it gains strength or endurance

– Accomplished through increasing repetitions or resistance


• Rest periods and training frequency – Rest periods: Amount of time between

consecutive sets • Longer—3 to 5 min—when training for absolute strength

(1RM loads) • Shorter—30 to 60 sec—when training for muscle

hypertrophy (8-12 reps with submaximal weight) • Rest periods in circuit training: 1:1 ratio and when to

modify

– Training frequency: Length of time between exercise sessions

• Typically, weight training done on alternating days • Longer recovery needed if early in exercise program, if

exercises are multijoint, if maximal or near-maximal loads are used

• Shorter recovery needed if low volume used on days between high-volume training, or if athlete has been weightlifting on a regular basis for several years

Types of Strength Training

• Isometric– Muscle generates a force,

but there is no joint movement; resistance is greater than the athlete is able to move

– Strength gains are greatest at the precise joint position at which the contraction is performed

– Isometrics are not often applicable to sport performance, though consider holding positions in wrestling and gymnastics, abdominal muscles in swimming, abdominal and back muscles in running

– Difficult to measure the overload


• Isotonic– Moving the joint through a range of motion with a set

amount of resistance applied – Occurs in lifting free weights and in most activities of

daily living

• Variable resistance – Delivers a varying resistance at different points in

the range of motion – Offset cam on Nautilus/variable-resistance machines;

sliding lever bar systems; rubber bands or elastic tubing (provides increased resistance as the band is elongated)

• Isokinetics – Muscular action performed at a constant velocity – Isokinetic machines provide a maximum resistance

throughout the entire range of joint movement


• Concentric and eccentric training – Most sports involve both phases – Concentric muscle activity

• The shortening of the muscle when a limb moves through a range of motion with a resistance applied

• This muscle action is the force-production part of almost every human movement

– Eccentric muscle activity • The lengthening of a muscle (lengthening contraction)

that occurs with lowering of a weight • Does not occur in every form of isokinetic exercise

(some isokinetic machines do allow eccentric contractions), proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation exercises, or manual resistance exercises without modifications

• Does occur with most other weightlifting machines and in all forms of body weight conditioning (push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.)


• Plyometrics – Also known as stretch-shortening cycle exercise

• Stretch phase: Eccentric loading phase • Shortening phase: Force-production or concentric phase • Every physical activity incorporates the stretch-shortening

cycle

– Critical feature: A concentric force production follows every eccentric load absorption

– When a muscle is stretched prior to the onset of a contraction, the contraction is greater than it would have been otherwise

– Can be used as part of a rehabilitation program or to prepare for a specialized skill or performance

Equipment Selection

• Must understand biomechanics of the sport or activity, then attempt to find specific exercises to challenge the relevant muscles to adapt, and choose equipment on these parameters

• Free weights • Strength-training machines

– Can be less expensive than free weights – Safer for young athletes—cannot drop weight

on foot or chest – May not provide an adequate range of

exercises for all sizes of athletes or for all strength levels

Equipment Selection

• Individual machines – Take up more space and cost more than free

weights – Major benefit: can exercise an individual joint

action or muscle group • Other equipment

– Functional activities – Plyo balls, elastics, swimming or pool work

• Comparing equipment types – In general, free weights are thought to be

more beneficial than machines – Machines offer an advantage when range of

motion is limited—in rehabilitation situations or for athletes who have disabilities

Integrating Other Fitness Components

• Aerobic endurance training – Nearly every physical activity requires some

degree of cardiovascular, or aerobic, endurance

– Establish fitness level by using a cardiovascular stress test to determine the maximal heart rate

– The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends an exercise intensity for aerobic conditioning between 60 and 90% of the maximal heart rate (or 50 to 80% of the VO2max obtained in a stress test)

– Overload required, short-term goals leading to long-term goals in a steady progression


• Anaerobic training – Not as universally required as aerobic training, but critical in

most sport activities – Training principles

• Requires short, intense bursts of activity • Should be sport specific • Possible methods: running short, intense sprints; performing short,

intense bouts on a slide-board, bicycle, step-up equipment; and so on • Cannot be sustained for long periods of time • Can use interval training to allow body to recover

– Who should train anaerobically? • Primarily for people with moderate level of fitness who want to improve

this aspect of their conditioning • Not appropriate for older adults or others who have low fitness levels, or

for anyone who might risk injury doing exercise at high intensity • People at risk for cardiovascular disease should be carefully screened

– Program design • Advantageous to vary distances of sprints during the workout • Increase volume gradually to avoid injury: Increase mileage or time spent

by no more than 10% per week • Alternate interval training days with days of rest or more moderately

paced exercise


• Flexibility/stretching programs – Rationale for stretching: reduction of injury?

improvement of sport performance? use in rehabilitation?

– Passive stretching • No work on the part of the athlete • Another person carries limb through range of motion;

must have training

– Active stretching • Athlete takes an active role in the stretching • Uses his or her own body to produce the stretch

– Contract/relax stretching • Partner or therapist provides the resistance to the

contraction and stretches the muscle group • Preliminary contraction may allow the muscle to more

fully relax during the stretching cycle • Single, straight plane of motion


• Flexibility/stretching programs – Proprioceptive neuromuscular

facilitation (PNF)• Requires that three movements occur:

flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, and rotation • Diagonal patterns of movement traversing three

planes

– Stretching methods• Static: Joint moved to the point at which tightness

is felt, and that position held • Ballistic: Involves a bouncing movement; not

entirely safe • Dynamic: Involves sport-specific movements; for

example, "high knees" for sprinters

Preventing Injury

• Coaching methods – Particular coaching techniques or instructions

can cause or prevent injuries (e.g., spearing versus head up during tackling in football)

– National Standards for Athletic Coaches (National Association for Sport and Physical Education/American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance [AAHPERD])

• Matching athletes on motor skill performance

• Controlling biomechanical stress/overuse • Role of extrinsic forces (someone else

landing on your foot) • Modifying physical demands placed on

athlete (being aware of illness and fatigue)

Considerations for Female Athletes

• Hormonal differences• Neural differences• Strength/body weight ratio

– Absolute vs. relative strength

Documents

Chapter 4 Conditioning & Strength Training in Athletics