Chapter 4: Training and Conditioning Techniques

1
Chapter 4Training and Conditioning Techniques
2

• What is one of the primary causes of sports
  injury?
• Lack of physical fitness

3

• What is periodization?
• An approach to conditioning that brings about
  peak performance while reducing injuries and
  over-training in the athlete through a training
  and conditioning program that is followed
  through-out the various seasons

4

• What are the three seasons of sports
  conditioning?
• Off-season
• Pre-season
• In-season

5

• How does periodization organize a training and
  conditioning program?
• Cycles

6

• The complete training period (which could be a
  year in the case of seasonal sports or perhaps
  four years for an Olympic athlete) is referred to
  as what?
• Macrocycle

7

• The series within a macrocycle are referred to
  as what and how long do they last?
• Mesocycle, which may last for several weeks or
  even months

8

• How are mesocycles divided?
• Transition period
• Preparatory period
• Competition period

9

• When does the transition period begin?
• After the last competition and comprises the
  early part of the off-season

10

• What type of training activity is involved with
  the transition period?
• Unstructured and recreational

11

• What is the idea behind the transition period?
• To allow the athlete to escape both physically
  and psychologically from the rigor of a highly
  organized training regimen

12

• When does the preparatory period occur?
• During the off-season when there are no upcoming
  competitions

13

• What are the three phases of the preparatory
  period?
• Hypertrophy/endurance phase, strength phase,
  power phase

14

• When does the hypertrophy/endurance phase occur?
• In the early part of the off season in the early
  part of the preparatory period

15

• What type of training activity is involved with
  the hypertrophy/endurance phase?
• Low intensity with a high volume of repetitions,
  using activities that may or may not be directly
  related to a specific sport

16

• What is the goal of the hypertrophy/endurance
  phase?
• To develop a base of endurance on which a more
  intense training can occur

17

• How long does the hypertrophy/endurance phase
  last?
• From several weeks to two months

18

• When does the strength phase occur?
• During the off season in the middle of the
  preparatory period

19

• What type of training activity is involved with
  the strength phase?
• Intensity and volume progress to moderate levels,
  where weight-training activities become more
  specific to the sport or event

20

• When does the power phase occur?
• Pre-season, end of preparatory period

21

• What type of training activity is involved with
  the power phase?
• High intensity at or near the level of
  competition. The volume of training is decreased
  so that full recovery is allowed between sessions

22

• How long does the competition period last?
• In certain cases the competition period may last
  for only a week or less. With seasonal sports,
  however, the competition period may last for
  several months.

23

• What type of training activity is involved with
  competition period?
• High intensity training at a low volume. As the
  training volume decreases, an increased amount of
  time is spent on skill training and strategy
  sessions.

24

• During the competition period, what may be
  necessary to establish?
• Microcycles

25

• What is a microcycle?
• Periods which last from one to seven days

26

• What type of training activity is involved with
  a microcycle?
• Training should be intense early in the week and
  should progress to moderate and finally light the
  day before the competition.

27

• What is the goal of the microcycle?
• To make sure that the athlete will be at peak
  levels of fitness and performance on days of
  competition

28

• What is the concept cross training?
• An approach for a specific sport that involves
  substitution of alternative activities that have
  some carryover value to that sport (swimmer
  engages in jogging, running or aerobics to
  maintain levels of cardiorespiratiory
  conditioning)

29

• When should cross training not be used and why?
• Pre-season because it is not sports-specific

30

• What are the ten principles that should be
  applied in all programs of training and
  conditioning to minimize the likelihood of
  injury?
• Warm-up/cool-down
• Motivation
• Overload (SAID principle, specific adaptation to
  imposed demands)
• Consistency
• Progression
• Intensity
• Individuality
• Minimize stress
• Safety

31

• What is the function and purpose of the warm-up?
• To prepare the body physiologically for some
  upcoming physical work.
• To gradually stimulate the cardiorespiratory
  system to a moderate degree, thus producing an
  increase blood flow to working skeletal muscles
  and resulting in an increase in muscle
  temperature.

32

• What does the cool down enable the body to do?
• Cool and return to a resting state

33

• How long should the cool down last?
• Five to ten minutes

34

• What does a proper cool down help rapidly
  decrease?
• Blood and muscle lactic acid levels

35

• What is flexibility?
• The ability to move a joint or a series of joints
  smoothly and easily throughout a full range of
  motion

36

• What does a lack of flexibility result in?
• Uncoordinated or awkward movements and
  predisposes the athlete to muscle strain

37

• What are the factors that limit flexibility?
• Bony structure
• Fat
• Skin
• Muscles and their tendons
• Connective tissue

38

• What is active range of motion (dynamic
  flexibility)?
• The degree to which a joint can be moved by a
  muscle contraction, usually through the mid-range
  of movement

39

• What is passive range of motion (static
  flexibility)?
• The degree to which a joint may be passively
  moved to the endpoints in the range of motion. No
  muscle contraction is involved to move a joint
  through a passive range.

40

• Why is passive range of motion important for
  injury prevention?
• In many sports situations, the muscle is forced
  to stretch beyond its normal limits. If the
  muscle does not have enough elasticity to
  compensate for this additional stretch, the
  musculoskeletal unit will likely be injured

41

• What is ballistic stretching?
• Bouncing movement in which repetitive contraction
  of the agonist muscle are used to produce quick
  stretches of the antagonist muscle.

42

• Although ballistic stretching is effective in
  improving range of motion, why has it been
  criticized?
• Because the increased range of motion is achieved
  through a series of jerks or pulls on the
  resistant muscle tissue. The forces generated by
  the jerks are greater than the tissues
  extensibility which may cause muscle injury.

43

• What is static stretching?
• Passively stretching an antagonist muscle by
  placing it in a maximal stretch and holding it
  there.

44

• What are the recommendations for the optimal
  time for holding the stretched position?
• It ranges from as short as three seconds to as
  long as sixty seconds

45

• What has recent data indicate as the optimal
  time for holding a stretch?
• Thirty seconds

46

• How many times should the static stretch be
  repeated?
• Three or four times

47

• What is PNF?
• Stretching techniques that involve combinations
  of alternating contractions and stretches

48

• What does PNF stand for?
• Proprioceptive
• Neuromuscular
• Facilitation

49

• If weight training is done properly through a
  full range of motion, what will not be impaired?
• Flexibility

50

• What is muscular strength?
• The ability of a muscle to generate force against
  some resistance (the maximum force that can be
  applied by a muscle during a single maximum
  contraction)

51

• What is muscular endurance?
• The ability to perform repetitive muscular
  contractions against some resistance for an
  extended period of time (the ability to perform
  repetitive muscular contractions against some
  resistance)

52

• What are the three types of contractions
  skeletal muscle is capable of?
• Isometric
• Concentric
• Eccentric

53

• What is an isometric contraction?
• Contracts the muscle statically without changing
  its length

54

• What is a concentric (positive) contraction?
• The muscle shortens while contracting against
  resistance

55

• What is an eccentric (negative) contraction?
• The muscle lengthens while contracting against
  resistance

56

• What is hypertrophy?
• Enlargement of a muscle caused by an increase in
  the size of its cells in response to training

57

• What is atrophy?
• Decrease of a muscle caused by the decrease of
  the size of its cells because of inactivity