The Advanced Practice of Strength and Conditioning - Essay Example

?Running Head: USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF Usain Bolt, The Main Man Himself And Will Remain Every Athlete’s Model Of Success For Years To Come__________________________ _______________________ USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 2 Abstract Here’s an overview of the excitement-filled, velocity-packed, fastest field of the 100 – meter and the 200 – meter sprints. Currently, the main model is Usain Bolt, the 2008 Beijing Olympics sensation whose three gold medals and three world records in 100-m, 200-m and 4 x 400-m sprints performances hit an indelible mark in modern athleticism. The stride was awe-inspiring for a man who started working on his dream with a rating as a man with poor mechanics. But how he ended up with a new 9.58 seconds and 19.30 seconds in both individual sprints is one big story to reckon with for a long time. Let us keep pace with some of the salient points of this one of the most stimulating, motivational stories of man and his unbroken pursuit of excelling in the field by a mere breath or few-seconds hairline. One of the focal points of the discussion in a myriad of ideas in strength and conditioning is Usain Bolt himself and how and why many were awed by his performance at one of the world’s greatest sporting events. More interestingly, Bolt himself is a man just like us. Keywords: Bolt and man, poor mechanics, velocity, excitement USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 3 Usain Bolt, The Main Man Himself And Will Remain Every Athlete’s Model Of Success For Years To Come Let’s begin with an explosive starting gun. This is the very foundation of all winning strides in the 100-meter dash. Energy burst with the first burst. Analysis in Cissik (89), categorically states the need, first and foremost, of the sprinter responding without delay to the starting gun and zoom out of the starting blocks at the most preferred reaction time of 0.12 seconds. Faster reaction naturally leads to an advantage faster than the opponents. Many can take a chance in the field where Bolt is now. It was inspiring to note that Bolt himself started from scratch with his own imperfections but individually endowed with certain physical qualities just the same as any man can be. Karp (52) explicitly mentioned that a person with a lot of talent almost always outperforms a person with little talent and a lot of training. The success of Mills and Bolt supported this theory with Mills (30 ) institutionalizing the 2008 Beijing phenomena of his own admission saying Bolt is an extremely gifted athlete despite the fact that he had to recreate certain aspects of Bolt’s biomechanical deficiencies and maximise use of functional training to bolster his bid for a new world record. The arena of world excitement and velocity was the inevitable route, with just a bit of luck, talent and perseverance and a mentor who believes without a doubt that Bolt can take off. Coach Glen Mills said so succinctly in the NSA interview (30) that when he started working with Bolt, one of the things that stood out like a sore thumb was his poor mechanics. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 4 The NSA interview dug deep into the core of the molding of Usain as an athlete with such inquiry as to how Mills had weighed up his athlete’s own methods. It had gain new insights to patient mentoring and methodical training as the interview reveals that Bolt then was running behind the center of balance, thus, his forward drive negates the compelling vigor and thrust. His pose leaves a strain on his posterior notably the lower back, there was a continual pull on his hamstring, so on and so forth. But the main recipe of the preparation was developing the athlete to accomplish all the training regimens correctly, discarding the bad habits and adapt new and effective techniques. Body position, according to Seagrave, et al (21), is distinctively three-pronged as core stabilization, postural repositioning and control and vertical alignment. Perfect execution of all three vital elements are necessary to establish the best cruising pattern. One without the other negates optimum performance. Strength is power and with power comes blatant speed. Pfaff (speedendurance.com) invariably states that the last ten years saw an inviolable study on strength more than any other biomotor aspects of the trade. Methods to the furtherance of this most basic athletic quality are just as varied as the level of talent and potency of athletes themselves. The broad range of strength component is further illustrated in Tyler, et. Al (87). In this study, power training must come to grip with a variety of loads in a variety of exercises that leads to optimum power yield. It aims to increase power, force and speed competence in consonance with utilizing strength and power training at the same time and consequently combined with training in velocity. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 5 Track and field is a wonderful world of repetitions. This is true especially when the need to study fitness comes as part of the overall program. A sample of this by Durandt, et al. (151) suggests a strength endurance that is to be measured as the maximum number of stipulated push-ups and pull-ups in a minute duration, e.g. push-ups, player starts in prone position with his hands tacked to the floor, thumbs shoulder-width apart and elbows completely extended.. Maintaining a straight body including his back, the participant moves down to the tester’s fist laid on the base below the player’s sternum and then moves up until the elbows were completely extended. If the participant failed to stick on to these stipulations the repetition was not counted. The test was scored as the number of push-ups done in a minute. Periodisation in traditional lifts results in improve performance and fewer injuries as increased strength training is applied in the following modes: 4-microcycle block strength-endurance focused loading stage, recapped 2 to 3 times per one macrocycle. In this phase take into consideration the background and readiness of the athlete. For medium averaged and elite athletes, such can be applied 10 to 14 weeks prior to a major staging of the games. Also combine infrequent one week periods of high-repetition power-endurance exercise at the start of a mesocycled 8 to 12 week phase as a way of reinforcing physiological and structural modifications. Following the preliminary increased volume of 4 microcycle, training reverts back to normal phase. Weight exercises is carried out four days per week (Mon,Wed,Th, Sat) using heavy lifts exercises. They go before midsection-work restoration days. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 6 It is good to know that while the overall method calls for thrice, quintuple recapping or a trio of three repetitions, not all lifts are done in this conventional way. Frequently, clusters are employed for heavy lifts, notably the snatch and clean jerk, e.g. 1-set cluster for clean and jerk is made through block 3. Take note that the cluster is normally surging, for instance, a set of 5 in a 30-second recovery example amid repetitions may engage single lifts at 100 kg, 110, 115, 110 and 100 kg. This phase is being agreed on in consideration of two relevant monitored experiences. One, clusters decrease the fatigue related with a typical set, therefore, increase power and force production can be preserved to improve on the worthiness of first set. Is flexibility inconsequential in training? Let’s go to some of the origin of intensive training. Once a model of excellence in collegiate track and field, the University of Oregon, believes in a quadruple of strength and conditioning program of flexibility, strength, speed-endurance and speed. In Whitby (18), flexibility which is seldom emphasise in a number of well-known training programs, becomes an integral configuration of a four-fold component described as critically decisive to the sprinter considering that good flexibility guarantees a successful anatomical basis for reinforcing techniques. Craig, et al (76) comments on variable resistance training that gives great importance on the development of muscles and bones. The stimulus defined as the pressure consign on the body during training is said to be the most important variable in resistance training. Simply put, a progressive overload is to establish how much weight one can lift a dozen times in a single lift but not on the third round. An advance routine of 5 kilograms more after completing 10 to 12 repetitions in the third set is one variable that can help maintain sufficiency in stimulus or load. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 7 The capacity to efficiently speed up to top sprint velocity is indispensable towards athletic achievements. However, there is a contrasting mode of uphill and downhill sprint training being spelled out in these two conflicting methods. Common sense dictates that the merger of uphill-downhill sprint training is doubly effective than flat surface running. Paradisis, et al (229) probe on kinematic changes of sprinting on a 3 degrees slope and found that an 8.4% faster MRS (maximum running speed) downward and 2.9% decrease in speed for the slope uphill in contrast with flat-surface sprinting. Methods of the test include a wooden uphill-downhill platform covered with synthetic track shell. The specs details are 1.20 meters in width and 80 meters of total distance spread in the following manner as 20 meters flat surface, 20 meters uphill-3 degrees sloping, 10 meters horizontal, 20 meters downhill at equal slope as the ascent and 10 meters horizontal. However, the efficacy of using a 3-degree slope has been challenged by Ebben (88) who concluded that those who train athletes for speed should progress into developing overspeed hills with slopes of approximately 5.8 degrees to maximize acute sprinting speed. The reason is that sprinting on 5.8 degrees of slope boosted maximal speed by an average 0.35 seconds, resulting in a 6.5% + 4.0% decrease in 40-yard sprint time, further resulting in a 1.9% increase in speed. Testing protocol of the Ebben study includes familiarization sessions where participants warmed up and executed running-specific dynamic stretching and submaximal sprints of 75% and 90%. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 8 The uphill-downhill mode of sprint training can be boosted further with this original probe in EMG (electromyographic) motion of the leg muscles in maximal sprinting and in chosen bounding and jumping exercises. The inventive study of Mero, et al (12) reveals prospects for strength training in sprint-explicit method using horizontal bounding and jumping. The method finds its importance in the preparatory stage prior to the competition period whenever the intention is to try to build the neuromuscular system consonant to a specified event performance. The risk of muscular strain, however, is high in a sudden shift from weight training to fast sprint running. In resistance training, Young, et al (11) conclude that the variables of running mechanics and the engaging of muscles in short and maximum speed sprints have been known. However, the quadriceps muscle group happen to be more useful from a stationary-start, short sprints while the reactive-strength hamstring muscles showed more usefulness for sprint at maximum speed. Evidently, selective exercises and training schemes can be recommended to enhance sprint performance based on the sprinting needs of the athlete. Lest we forget, overtraining can make or break long years of preparations. Hart (27) recognises that recording and monitoring form an essential part in the progress of an athlete. He recommends that a daily training logbook be put in place as a way to detect any possibility of an overdose of daily routines and variations in the practice. His recommendations also include a threshold in hard sprinting to preclude any conditions leading to injuries while working on with increase frequency in routine practice. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 9 Wilson, et al (10), confides that athletes who underwent consistent performance deficits from six mesocycle of relative rest have been identified as overtrained. The occurrence of this phenomenom is statistically recorded stating that ten percent of endurance athletes become vulnerable to endure overtraining annually. The last and definitely not the least is that the heart of the training is the heart. Pichot, et al. (1660) provides an important lab research particularly erratic heart rate as a resourceful mechanism to assess the autonomic nervous reaction and activity. A common understanding is solidified with the laboratory findings that indeed, endurance athletes have a lower resting heart rate compared with sedentary life. The study imparts a conclusion (Pichot, et al.,2002) that obviously demonstrated that an interlude of two months of intensive training is able to augment heart rate variability in subjects who are physically inactive. This information is valuable in better appreciating the physiological source of overtraining and therefore equally important in its anticipation and deterrence. Meanwhile, periodisation which this presentation would like to describe as the mother of all inter-connecting athletic programs, finds another ally in Cissik, et al (45) whose journal runs a definitive position on its doable application to a manifold athletic strength and conditioning programs. Its versatility can be summed up in the individual training cycle, see-saw balance inside the weight training room from high level to moderate intensity stages of preparations, the regaining emphasis back to top level but moderate intensity during the competition stage. The competition phase brings with it the psychological benefit of a training phase that approximates the level of recreational training or resting in motion. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 10 Discussion Periodization Breakdown We find one scientific and methodical idea attractive as a major source for exploring a mutually beneficial upgrading system in the global sports community. Its ingenuity is legend, it had kept Russian athletes at par with the United States, Japan, Germany and Britain in all 26 major events and the different sports disciplines of the Olympiad for decades. How could its leading advocate by the name of Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky conclude an end to periodisation when it was the same principle that brought fame to the formidable multi-sports Russian teams to the Olympics for such a long time. Mel C. Siff, author of “Periodization Breakdown” with the above-inserted accompanying graph (Siff, 2000) offered no underlying explanation to such a major turnaround. It could be that, one, the big chunk of what was once a formidable republic has been decimated to a series of federated states and it was no USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 11 longer possible for the highly regarded Russian might to keep the principle as it is, a top secret scheme of maintaining an effectively formidable challenge to the main competitors of international sports and, two, sharing the novel idea is more convenient and globally profitable for sports humanity, more than just keeping it when the time is ripe for its disclosure and upgrading. Our chosen model of illustration in periodisation (PD) by a leading designer Dr. Leonid Matveyev has long been utilized by athletic mentors from the West. In the above graph, the focus on technical training for sports readiness is great leading to top forms during competition proper. It has been found wanting though in certain rigid athletic application. Its drawbacks and limitations are merely inconsequential especially from among uninitiated coaches not completely familiar with the scheme. Oversimplified applications of the model leads to unwarranted dependency to certain clear intentions of loading including mathematical computations which failed to give due regards to the athlete’s individual take and the total results of the intended results of loading. The Matveyev type does not provide uninformed coaches any data as to what workout to incorporate in determining volume and intensity. It also fails to put into consideration the pressures of varied workout modes on a one on one basis, per individual approach in the exercise. The graphs presumption that each element of the program can be gauge independently of each other is not realistic. In the case of a distance runner who does running skills drills and weight program, the pressure of distance covered or sprinting gives undue effects on routine strength training. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 12 References Cissik, John M. (2010). Strength and Conditioning Considerations for the 100-m Sprinter. NSCA CEU QUIZ . Retrieved from http//:www.nsca-cc.org/cues/quizzes.html. Mills, Glenn. (2009 ). New Studies in Athletics. NSA Interview. Retrieved from http://speedendurance.com/2010/01/27/glen-mills-on-usain-bolt-and-good-sprinting-technique/#. Karp, Jason R. (2006). The limits of running performance. New Studies in Athletics. Retrieved from www.runcoachjason.com/Publications.pdf. Seagrave, Loren; Mouchbahani, Ralph; O’Donnell Kevin (2000). Neuro-Biomechanics of Maximum Velocity Sprinting. Coaching Practice. Retrieved from http://speedendurance.com/2009/02/09/loren-seagrave-neuro-biomechanics-of-maximum-velocity/. Hart, Clyde. (2008). New Studies in Athletics. NSA Interview. Retrieved from http://speedendurance.com/2008/11/12/iaaf-new-studies-in-athletics-focus-on-400-meters/.. Pfaff, Dan A. (2008). Dan Pfaff – Alternate Methods for Developing Strength, Power and Mobility. SpeedEndurance. Retrieved from http://speedendurance.com/2008/09/19/dan-pfaff-alternate- methods-for-developing-strength-power-and-mobility/. Durandt, Justin; Tee, Jason C.; Prim, Sebastian K.; Lambert, Michael I. (2006). Physical Fitness Components Associated With Performance In a Multiple-Sprint Test. Human Kinetics, Inc. Retrieved from http://journals.humankinetics.com/ijspp-back-issues/ijsppvolume1issue2june/physicalfitnesscomponentsassociatedwithperformanceinamultiplesprinttest. Kirby, Tyler J.; Erickson, Travis; McBride, Jeffrey M. (2010). Model for Progression of Strength, Power and Speed Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal. Retrieved from http://www.nsca-lift.org. Retrieved 27 March 2011. Craig, Bruce W.; Judge, Lawrence W.; (2009). The Basics of Resistance Training Program Design: Where Do I Start! Bridging the Gap. Retrieved from http://www.nsca-lift.org . Wilson, Jacob M.; Wilson, Gabriel J. (2008). A Practical Approach to the Taper. Strength and Conditioning Journal. Retrieved from http://www.nsca-lift.org. USAIN BOLT, THE MAIN MAN HIMSELF 13 References Pichot, Vincent; Busso, Thierry; Roche, Frederic; Garet, Martin; Costes, Frederic; Duverney, David; Lacour, Jean-Rene; Barthelemy, Jean-Claude (2002). Autonomic adaptations to intensive and overload training periods: a laboratory study. Physical Fitness and Performance. Retrieved from http://www.acsm-msse.org. Paradisis, Giordios P.; Bissas, Athanassios; Cooke, Carlton B. (2009). Combined Uphill and Downhill Running Sprint Training is More Efficacious Than Horizontal. Internional Journal of Sports Phsiology and Performance. Retrieved from http://journals.humankinetics.com/journal-search?letter=Combined+Uphill+and+Downhill+Running+Sprint+Training+is+More+Efficacious+Than+Horizontal.++. Mero, Antti; Komi, Paavo V. (1994). EMG, Force and Power Analysis of Sport-specific Strength Exercises. Original Investigations. Young, Warren; Benton, Dean; Duthie, Grant; Pryor, John (2001). Resistance Training for Short Sprints and Maximum-speed Sprints. Strength and Conditioning Journal. Retrieved from http://journals.lww.com/nscascj/Citation/2001/04000/Resistance_Training_for_Short_Sprints_and.1.aspx Ebben, William P. (2008). The Optimal Downhill Slope for Acute Overspeed Running. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. Retrieved from http://www.mendeley.com/research/the-optimal-downhill-slope-for-acute-overspeed-running/ Siff, M C (2000). Periodization Training Breakdown. Perform Better. Retrieved from http://www.performbetter.com/catalog/matriarch/OnePiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_82_A_PageName_E_ArticleSiffPeriodization Read More