Sports conditioning training is complex, and requires athletes to understand many important elements. This is why athletes' conditioning routines are often times a topic of debate. The debate is the result of thousands of different viewpoints from athletic professionals who have their own separate ideas about which conditioning methods are most beneficial for athletes.
In order to understand sports conditioning, you need to learn about four important elements.
The first question is, what energy system is necessary for your individual sport?
What kind of movement does your sport require? Non-linear or linear?
Does your sport require short explosive movements or repetitive single-speed movement?
Do you train year-round?
All four of these questions are essential for developing a proper conditioning training routine.
Uncovering Energy Systems
Every athlete must understand what energy system his or her sport requires. In every sporting event, there are two energy systems that the body uses. The first is the anaerobic system. For something to identify as anaerobic, it must be a movement that last for less than two minutes.
Anaerobic exercises are typically used to increase explosiveness, increase lean muscle mass, eliminate fat storage, and increase overall conditioning levels. This is because most anaerobic routines are of high-intensity. Some popular anaerobic exercises include weightlifting, sprints, or plyometrics.
In sports, some anaerobic movements include hitting a golf ball, swinging a bat, rebounding a basketball, or scoring a touchdown to name only a few. On the contrary, the aerobic energy system is completely different. Typically, a movement is considered aerobic when it lasts longer than two minutes, maintains a singular pace, and is used for a long duration of time. While many aerobic exercises can decrease fat storage, they can also decrease muscle mass. Aerobic exercises are designed to increase slow twitch muscle fibers.
Some aerobic exercises including swimming, cycling, or long distance running.
Sports that rely primarily on the aerobic system include swimming, cross-country, and triathlon athletes.
What is Linear and Non-linear Movement?
Every athlete must determine what type of movements their particular sport requires. By doing so, it will be easier to structure a conditioning training regime that is sport-specific.
Players must understand that linear is any movement that is in a direct line, and non-linear is any movement with immediate change of direction. In reality, the majority of sports utilize non-linear movements. This is why it's important to include conditioning exercises that involve non-linear movements.
Some linear methods are effective like sprints or hills sprints, but for the most part, athletes should focus on gaining quicker change of direction. Cross-country and sprinting are both sports that can rely more on linear techniques since both sports are completely linear by nature. However, it's still important that these athletes utilize non-linear techniques as well.
Does your sport require explosive movements?
This is a pretty easy question to answer because it's obvious whether or not your sport is explosive. Do any of the movements in your sport require you to accelerate into motion or change direct?
If the answer is yes, then your sport is explosive. In this case, your conditioning training should always be structured to increase explosiveness. Avoid running long distance, and pretty much avoid all forms of aerobic conditioning.
Athletes Must Train Year-Round
Athletes must train year-round in order to maintain and increase conditioning capacity. Athletes must not lose their gains during the season, and need to focus on increase their conditioning ability during the off-season.
Don't let all your hard-work from the off-season be lost during the season! Now that you understand some important sports conditioning requirements, you know that your routine is depends on the nature of your sport.
If you have a grasp on the concepts above, then it will be a piece of cake developing your own unique conditioning training routine that will push your game to next level.
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