Sunday, February 14, 2010

More Knees & the Brain

http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=7249

GAIN faculty member Steve Myrland initiated a thread on this topic in the GAIN forum.

Vern makes it clear that work capacity is more than just training the individual energy systems.

From page 122 in Vern's "Athletic Development" book: "(general physical preparation is) the capacity to resist fatigue, WHATEVER the source. Fatigue is MORE THAN METABOLIC; in involves the NERVOUS SYSTEM and MENTAL CAPACITY. Resisting fatigue is the refinement of the efficiency and coordination of the cardiovascular, metabolic, and nervous systems."

When you're designing your rehab & prevention programs, always take this into consideration. I'm particularly fond of circuits to accomplish this. They integrate the specific movements you need to work on with a climate of fatigue. Again, if an athlete can go through your protocol with an ipod or texting, you're probably not working neuromuscular. Think global. If the athlete's overweight then integrate that into their routine; if they need more coordination training then add that. Leave them a little more athletic then when they walked in. Like Bruce Lee says, "don't concentrate on one star; you'll miss all the heavenly glory!"

2 comments:

JH said...

Great stuff Joe!!! As always!

activedc said...

It seems to me that doing single leg hops while performing the 3 man weave as Vern and Gary point out on their video would be a simple low tech way to do some of this training.