Research Journal Facts:
- Human Evolution Vs. Training Evolution
- Part 1
Before I begin I would like to make it clear that this article is not discussing the evolution of our species. However, refrences to our early ancestors are used to help us think about our bodies and how they are designed from a different perspective. Acording to Darwin's main theory, specise evolve through genetice variation in which genes or traits are naturally selected as more favorable. This idera of natural selection is applied in many different places, business, science and training the human body. Weather you believe in the evolution of humans from apes or not there is no denying that humans have undergone changes since we have been on this planet. This is obvious just by looking at how much our lives and cultures have changed since our early ancestors lived in caves. Excercise helps physical human development, particulary the brain. A millon years ago humans traveled 6-10 miles per day hunting and gathering and learning how to live by experience, remembering what to eat and what not to eat. Now we just ignore over a millon years of instinct and eat something because the label says 0 calories, nevermind what the product is actually made of. Our brain is what seperates us from the rest of the life on this planet. To remember and learn is to survive and we have forgotten how to eat, how to excercise and how to listen to what our bodies are telling us. We have become a species of calorie counting, fad diet zombies. What does this mean for athletes? Bottom line, our bodies are not traditionaly designed for the stresses and demands of modern sport. Sport as it stands today has a history of about 50 -100 years out of the several million we have inhabbited this planet. Concussions, ACL tears and overuse unjuries are modern problems caused by sports and excercise. Our body just simply is not designed for it. So what do we do about this? Deceleration, eccentric control and muscular balance are 3 major concepts that must be understood to help prevent injury when cuting, rotating, pivoting and jumping. These are all demands of modern sport but, not part of our earllier ancestors genetic code. Athlete or not, our daily life is causing us all sorts of functional movement problems. Being overweight, sleeping on soft fluffy beds, lack of walking, tight fashionable shoes with elevated heels and spending a large amount of our lives sitting and we wonder why we are all tight in the same spots with the same deficiencies. As athletes we expect to get up for a few hours a week and perform in ways our body was not necessarliy designed for at an extremely high level and wonder why we get injured. Making daily behavior changes is the key not trying to find the quick fix to recovery.
- Part 2
- The Truth on Speed Ladders and Agility Drills.
Oftin these drills are done with the objective of making the athlete faster or quicker. Let us take a minute to look at this from a physics perspective. If for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction then we must understand that the more force generated through the foot into the ground the more force is returned back through the foot propelling the body foward. The more force the faster the body is able to move, similar to a car with alot of horsepower. Many speed ladder and agility drills focus on the ability of the feet to spend as little time in contact with the ground as possible, what some of us might call, fast feet. Are fast feet important? The less time the foot spends on the ground the less time the legs have to genrerate force which, as discussed earlier is what propells the body foward. This can be compared to the tires on the high horsepower vehicle. No matter how big the engine is if the tires just spin realy fast with no traction the car still moves slow. High rate of foot turnover does not equal speed or quickness the bodies abiliy to generate force through the ground as efficiantly as possible does. The second half of the last sentence is important. As coaches and athletes we should focus on how quickly maximum force can be generated not how fast the feet can move. This does not mean these types of drills should bever be used. They have their time and place but knowing when and how to use them will improve the efficiancy of the training. Most people spend more time than is necessary with these drills.
- Static Stretching Effects on Muscular Performance.
It has long been thought that stretching prior to any sporting event will help prevent injury and increase performance. Recent studies show that static stretching actually has a negative effect on acute performance, showing a decrease in strength and an increased probability of injury. The decreased force production is caused by the stretching of the actin and myosin inside the muscle fiber and hypertrophy of the muscle due to the stretching. Think of it as if you tried to hang on a pull up bar as long as you can. The actin is your fingers and the myosin is the bar. After a while your grip begins to slip and fingers extend causing decreased grip strength.
Side Note: Dynamic warm ups are used as an alternate way to safely prepare yourself for a training session.
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