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Rotational Movement
Most sports require some sort of rotation during the motion. For example, baseball players generally just rotate in one direction when they hit (unless they bat both ways). This can sometimes cause pains in the body, especially the lower back and hips. Regardless, make sure that for sports conditioning you are getting rotational movement both waysso that one side of the body does not become terribly dominant. For sports, you want to be in the best shape possible, so make sure your body can function very well in all areas, not just on one side.
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Utilizing Medicine Balls
Medicine Balls can be used for a variety of different things. Everything from making explosive movements tougher to doing best to balance while moving them/throwing them in different directions. I am going to go over a few great ballistic exercises you can do with Medicine Balls.
First on the list in Jump Squats with a medicine ball. Hold the medicine ball in your hands with a hand on either side of the ball, with it at your chest. Perform the squat (look at my Blog to learn the Squat exercise), then explode up into a jump. Begin to extend your arms upward after you begin to ascent of the jump, and when the peak of the jump hits your arms should be fully extended above your head. Bring the ball back down to your chest on the descent and go into the next jump. This is specific for most sports and teaches the legs and arms how to work quickly/explosively. This is great for anyone who wants to be in stellar shape.
Another one of my favorite requires a partner and a good amount of space. It's a Ballistic medicine ball throw while balancing. Stand on one foot and hold the medicine ball behind your head with both hands equally on either side of the ball. From behind your head, throw the ball at your partner while staying on that one foot (yes, you could both do it at the same time). Make sure that as you perform the movement you stand as tall as you possibly can, throwing with mighty force. At no point should you put your foot that is up down (until you're done the desired amount of reps of course). Switch feet. This is a great balance workout, great for your core (abdomen, glutes, low back) workout, and you are training your arms/shoulders to work quickly and powerfully.
Hope that helps a bit. Medicine Balls are always good because you really have to grip them for them to stay in your hands. If you belong to a gym, ask a personal trainer to show you some other medicine ball exercises you could do.
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Jump Training
Let's see...Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer, Racquetball, Volleyball, Track, Wrestling, Squash...these all have a common theme in that one has to utilize some sort of 'jump' movement to excel at them. Jumping is an essential part of so many sports, so let's learn how to do it a little better.
To get good at jumping, start from the basics which would technically be an Explosive Squat. Why? Well, jumping really is a squat with power used to push you up with your lower body, moving you from the ground to above it, and upon landing again going into that squat. It is the utilization of the muscles in your lower body to propel you above where gravity is pushing you. So, for starters go read My Blog and learn how to execute a proper squat.
(Go read it... ... ... ... ... ah, you read it. Let's continue.)
To practice jumping, begin by jumping in place from a squat, exploding from your lower body to push you up, then (most importantly) landing in a squat. When you land again in a squat you prevent intense impact on the joints of your lower body, especially your knees. Once you get comfortable with that, begin jumping onto steps or platforms, making sure that you are clear of others. Once you become comfortable jumping up, also jump down, still landing in a squat. Quickly you will notice much more explosive strength in your legs allowing you to: jump higher, get lift quicker, sprint faster, accelerate quicker and perform better in sports.
Lastly, some people will say that working on jumping vertically will decrease your ability to sprint faster. That is just stupid, because the beginning of a sprint is a forward jump (but since your leaning over, it's actually vertical). How about this - to put that silly rumor to rest, try it on yourself. Go sprint and time yourself today, then practice jumping vertically for 3-4 weeks, and then sprint again. If your time doesn't improve, then you are a liar because you did not practice jumping for those 3-4 weeks.
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Cautions with Sit-ups
Full sit-ups can be a problem because the hip flexors attach to the lower spine, so doing a lot of sit-ups can cause or worsen low back pain. This is why crunches, which engage the abdominals but do not involve the hip flexors, are usually recommended. Crunches are safe for most people, but you should never do any exercise that causes pain.
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Overreaching, Overtraining
Overreaching symptoms are the first sign you're doing too much exercise or sports training. You may feel fatigued, lose enthusiasm for working out, not perform well, or have lingering colds. Athletes who work out twice a day are especially at risk. If you cut way back on your training, you may recover in 2 or 3 weeks. If you push through, you may reach an chronic overtraining condition, which can take up to a year for full recovery. Check with your coach or doc to help evaluate whether you're doing too much.
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Visualization
An important skill for any athlete is visualization. You can improve your technique and performance by visualizing your golf swing, tennis stroke, competitive dive, etc., the way it should be. Many runners and swimmers do mental drills--they visualize the whole race the way they plan to do it. Visualization may also help speed recovery from injury, as you visualize the tissues healing faster.
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Train Your Mind
Training your mind for sports is almost as important as training your body. Mental conditioning is often the difference between winning and losing or a good performance and a poor one. If you need to calm yourself down for your event, practice deep breathing or centering. Visualize your successful performance to heighten concentration. Use your imagination to psyche yourself up with whatever works best for you.
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Sports Stretching
Stretching to improve your flexibility can improve your sports performance. For instance, if you are more flexible and have greater range of motion, your tennis racket or the head of your golf club will travel farther, increasing the force with which it impacts the ball.
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Energy Systems
Most sports, especially team sports, are anaerobic, with short bursts of activity. The aerobic energy system doesnīt kick in until 3-5 minutes of continuous activity. Train the energy system you need for your sport.
Football and basketball players, for instance, need to do short-to-moderate sprints and intervals, and have little need to run long distances.
Aerobic sports, like long distance running, endurance cycling, distance swimming, triathlon, mountaineering, etc. require long, sustained training routines.
Soccer players benefit from aerobic training, and tennis can have both aerobic and anaerobic components, depending on how you play.
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Functional Sports Training
Anyone heard of Herschel Walker? If not, he won the Heisman trophy and played in the NFL for 11 years, and was a 2x Pro-Bowl selection (amongst many other things). He trained functionally for his body, meaning he did mostly body-weight exercise.
His workout consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, crunches and sprinting. That's it. And by 'that's it', he would only do around 2,000 push-ups, 3,000 crunches, 1,500 pull-ups.....!!! There was a competition in the NFL while he played to figure out who was in the best shape. They had a whole workout planned for some of the most in-shape athletes in the NFL, utilizing lots of machines to see who was in the best shape. Can you guess who won? Herschel Walker. He trained functionally, and saw incredible results.
What this means for you and whatever sport you play is that you need to train functionally, and I know I have spoken of this elsewhere. Train your body to be the strongest it can be for your body. Who cares how much you can bench press? It would be much more functional if you could do 2,000 push-ups, and oh my goodness would you be strong! Utilize movements that are specific for your sport, and then when/if you train in a gym, make sure you are doing lots of hard exericses with your body weight, staying away from most machines. You will be better at your specific sport and stronger than ever.
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In-season Weights
You need to schedule some weight training even during sports season. Especially for women athletes, just doing your sport wonīt maintain strength, and you will need that toward the end of the season. But keep these workouts minimal, as hard training will break you down further than your sport already does. One set of 15 to failure, per body part, should be enough for maintenance during the season.
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Training for Women Athletes
Women athletes suffer more injuries, especially to the knee, than men. Hormonal and biomechanical reasons have been proposed to explain this, but new research indicates lack of conditioning may be the key. Women typically do not have the same amount of experience with fitness and sports as men, because they have only recently been given encouragement and opportunity to participate.
Women athletes, no matter how talented, should work on general conditioning before getting heavily involved in their sport.
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Recovery Time
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter has a great sports conditioning test. To measure your fitness, check the time it takes your heart rate to return to its resting value after strenuous exercise.
First, cool down. Then, after 1 minute, your heart rate should fall by about 12 beats per minute. The quicker the better, usually 1-3 minutes. If it takes longer, you can improve your fitness through vigorous aerobic exercise training.
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Using Massage
Massage can be a great addition to your training routine, but make sure you get the right kind of massage. Somebody who specializes in sports massage is probably your best bet. Avoid getting a deep tissue massage the day before an event, or you may be too sore to do your best. And self- massage is better than no massage.
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Massage for Baseball Players
Many athletes find that massage helps them relax and loosens their muscles. Baseball players do a lot of sprinting, changing direction, and quick throwing, which can stress the joints and tighten the muscles. Along with a good stretching program, massage can help retain or improve range of motion. Some players will feel that massage helps more than others do. It's important to find a massage therapist trained in sports massage.
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Specific Training for Triathletes
Do your triathlon training in conditions as close to those of the race as you can. If the running part is going to be on trails or roads, donīt train on the track. If the swimming is in a lake or ocean, do at least some of your swimming drills there. And do your bike riding on hills or flats, as appropriate. Even if you live where itīs flat, you can train for hills by riding road overpasses and riding into wind.
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High Altitude Sports
Skiing requires preparation beyond checking the weather up there. If you are going to ski, climb, or otherwise exercise at altitudes over 5000 ft, get to the higher altitude as early as you can and give yourself time to acclimatize before vigorous exercise. Two days should be your minimum conditioning time if you are going to compete.
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