5 Myths About Sports Conditioning That Are Holding You Back: Get the Answers From An Expert

Written by Troy M Anderson


In life we are surrounded by numerous myths and half-truths,repparttar Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, UFOs in Roswell, and Crop Circles just to name a few. No one quite knows if any of these things really exists or if they are just stories told by people for purposes only they know. Sports conditioning has much in common with these mythological occurrences.

Overrepparttar 132953 past several months, I have answered a gamut of questions from numerous Revolution players with topics ranging from pre-competition nutrition to exercise performance questions. All have been valid and good questions. However, I have also had to dispel more than a few myths about strength training and sports conditioning as well. All of which has led torepparttar 132954 development of this article in an effort to dismiss as many ofrepparttar 132955 common myths as possible with one fell-stroke ofrepparttar 132956 keyboard. So, without further ado, here arerepparttar 132957 top five myths related to strength training and sports conditioning:

1.Myth: Strength Training Will Make Me Bulky Atrepparttar 132958 heart of this common misconception isrepparttar 132959 way men and women who perform strength training are depicted in many well known “fitness” magazines. You must understand thatrepparttar 132960 individuals in those magazines are not only genetically pre-disposed to gain outrageous amounts of muscle, they also are using very large doses of anabolic and androgenic drugs. Not getting “bulky” is a concern that I have often heard from both ordinary trainees and athletes. First, “bulky” needs to be defined. I assume thatrepparttar 132961 reference to not wanting to be “bulky” isrepparttar 132962 desire not to look likerepparttar 132963 people inrepparttar 132964 "fitness" magazines. Fortunately, for those of you concerned withrepparttar 132965 “bulky factor”, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. It is entirely possible to be strong, very strong, without gaining significant amounts of lean body mass (muscle). As matter of fact, that is exactly howrepparttar 132966 majority of elite athletes train. Adding extra lean mass is not necessarily conducive to improved performance. However, being stronger and more powerful definitely are. If you still think that you can’t be strong without being bulky, below is a picture of former USA Olympic Weightlifting Champion Tara Cunningham: http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletebios/5004740/detail.html

Stats: Ht: 5’1” Wt: 106 lbs Performance Snatch: 177.5 lbs Clean and Jerk: 209 lbs She looks pretty athletic, definitely strong, and very “non-bulky”.

Truth: Strength Training Will Not Make You "Bulky"!

2.Myth: Trash Doesn't Stink Often when working with athletes, I find it necessary to “dial” them back on their training a little bit as it seems they judgerepparttar 132967 effectiveness of a training session on whether or not they walk away absolutely “wasted”. This is a faulty method of quantifying a productive session. Usually byrepparttar 132968 time you reachrepparttar 132969 “heavy breathing, sweat drenched” end of a program, you have long since surpassedrepparttar 132970 productive portion of your training. This type of training is what I call “Trash Training”. You are basically “trashing” your body, your ability to recover, and, most importantly, your PROGRESS. The best way to avoid “trash training” is to keep an accurate training log. That way you can refer back to previous performance, get into your session, and make progress toward becoming a better footy player. Progress can be measured as lifting 2.5 more pounds on a barbell squat, running .1 second faster in a 50 meter run, or performing one more pull-up. None of this quantifiable information will be available to you, however, if you do not keep a training log. Continuous progress isrepparttar 132971 only way strength and conditioning training is going to positively impact your performance. Otherwise, you are just wasting energy that could be spent elsewhere. If you think of training inrepparttar 132972 following terms, it might help you to understandrepparttar 132973 point I am making. When you go into work every day, you don’t contemplate how to makerepparttar 132974 work you are going to do that day as difficult as humanly possible, do you? Of course not. You think of ways to make your work more efficient and productive. Well,repparttar 132975 same goes for your strength and conditioning work. Truth: Trash Does Stink!

3.Myth: More Is Always Better One ofrepparttar 132976 primary concerns I hear from footy players is they don't haverepparttar 132977 ability to perform longer bouts of running, inrepparttar 132978 range of 2-4 miles. Although I do understand how this common misconception can be fostered by watching AFL level players routinely log 16-24 miles per game, what must be understood, and thus prioritized, is that sports training should as closely mimicrepparttar 132979 sporting activity as is possible. Even if you are in top condition,repparttar 132980 pace at which 2-4 miles is run is nowhere nearrepparttar 132981 pace at which a game of footy is played. In footy,repparttar 132982 majority of activity is composed of relatively short, intense bouts of work followed by some sort of recovery movement. Hence, it makes sense for a footy player's conditioning to mimic that process. Performing interval running, fartlek drills, and running multiple 50-400 meter sprints would all be very applicable components of a footy conditioning program. Ifrepparttar 132983 goal is for your training to have a profound effect on your game performance, then run fast for short to moderate distances. You will develop more than adequate conditioning for footy. Truth: More Is Not Always Better!

4.Myth: "Insanity Training" Gets Results A commonly accepted definition of insanity is: to repeatrepparttar 132984 same activity over and over while expecting a different result each time. Many athletes take this same approach with their sports conditioning as well. Once upon a time, they found a program that worked awesomely for them. They have used it for years and are very comfortable with it because they're good at it. I call this "Insanity Training". There are two very specific problems with "insanity training": 1.There is NO perfect program. Just because it worked well for you at one point in time, does not mean that it will continue to work well for you if you perform it consistently for a long period of time. Here's a thought. If a perfect program had been discovered, don’t you think that everyone would be using it? 2.People do not like to change. They like to stick with what they know. The same goes for exercise programs. We tend to stick to protocols and exercises that we enjoy and are good at doing. When in reality, we should be doing exercises that address our “weak” areas. Three quick ways to keep your training out ofrepparttar 132985 “Nut House”: 1.Change your program every 4 weeks regardless of how successfully things are going. It's only a matter of time untilrepparttar 132986 benefits ofrepparttar 132987 program start to fade. 2.When you change your program, select exercises that you dislike and add them to your new program. Chances are these arerepparttar 132988 areas that you need to workrepparttar 132989 most. Also, just so you don’t end up hatingrepparttar 132990 entire program, superset a “hated” movement with a movement that you love. For example, combine Romanian Deadlifts and Bicep Curls. 3.Lastly, get a coach, or atrepparttar 132991 very least an objective observer, to analyze your program, and even better, write a program for you. There are two benefits to this. The coach/observer won’t haverepparttar 132992 same exercise biases that you do, and you are more likely to comply with a program that someone else has written due torepparttar 132993 actual or perceived obligation to not disappoint that person. These are just a couple of quick ways to insure that your training doesn’t end up like a fat person on a stationary bike: going nowhere! Truth: "Insanity Training" Does Not Get Results!

Universal kitesurfing hand signals

Written by Jakob Jelling


Even though kitesurfing is a dangerous sport, it is popular aroundrepparttar world. People from different countries travel aroundrepparttar 132952 world to different kitesurfing locations. That isrepparttar 132953 reason why universal kitesurfing hand signals are very important. Universal kitesurfing hand signals will help you to communicate with other kitesurfers even if you speak different languages. You will especially need to know universal kitesurfing hand signals for safety reasons: letting people around you know that you are in distress and that you need help.

There are many different universal kitesurfing hand signals and we will talk about some ofrepparttar 132954 most important ones. If you need help, for example,repparttar 132955 proper one ofrepparttar 132956 universal kitesurfing hand signals is to wave both of your arms inrepparttar 132957 air. Also, if you need help and you are down inrepparttar 132958 water or your lines are down, you will need to whistle to signal boats or kitesurfers moving toward you. Another one ofrepparttar 132959 universal kitesurfing hand signals you will need to use is you want help with landing. You will need to tap flat hand on your helmet. People on shore will need to wave both hands to indicate that they will help.

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