Athletic Conditioning

If you play a sport, competitively or recreationally, you probably practice that sport– train for it.  You might have coaches, teammates, equipment… You may read and learn more about your sport, watch what you eat and make sure to get a good night’s sleep before games or competitions. But here’s a question—How do you know how to train your body to be its best at your sport?  Do you think it’s obvious? Do you think it’s just doing what “everyone” else seems to be doing? Do you think it’s just playing the sport? When it comes to athletic conditioning, I consider myself partly a broker—a broker of information.  In my field of study, there is quite a lot of science, and quite a lot of experts, who have learned and taught so much about how to condition a human body for various sports; and how to assess athletes for their individual needs in training. Yet, I routinely see, at high school, college and even professional sport levels, coaches who have not learned some of the basic necessities of proper athletic conditioning.  So, I try to bring the information that the experts have discovered together with the athletes who may not be getting it all. And I’ll show you how to do it properly. If your team or school doesn’t have a specific, trained strength and conditioning coach, you might need someone like me. Proper athletic conditioning does 2 important things—it helps turn you into the best athlete you can be and also helps you prevent injuries.  You may not have thought you needed specific athletic conditioning before, but you’ll probably love the results.

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If you are a recreational exerciser, someone who works out just to stay fit, you may not think of yourself as an athlete. But if you exercise regularly, you are in training. That means proper conditioning dictates you ask what you’re training for and if you’re doing so in a way that will give you the best possible results and the fewest injuries.

 

If you play something competitively, for your conditioning you or your trainer need to ask questions like- what are the patterns of movement in my sport, what length are the work and rest intervals, what are the speed variations, accelerations, decelerations, changes of direction and what are the uses of strength, power and muscular endurance. Your conditioning ought to be based on the answers.

 

Another important aspect of athletic conditioning is: how can you divide your year into the following sections- pre-season, season, post-season, off-season. If you are a multi-season athlete, then you need to address- how you can periodize your training to have periods for developing strength and power, developing speed, skill training and also periods for rest. This is all necessary to maximize your performance and prevent injuries.