This is an interesting podcast on strength training for distance runners from Magness and Marcus over at the Science of Running.
David Epstein: The sports gene and the myth of the 10,000 hour rule
This is a really interesting podcast from Justin Goodhart at the Wellrounded Athlete In the podcast he is chatting to David Epstein about the role of genetics in sports performance and the idea of needing to accumulate 10000 hours of practice in order to become really good at something.
Control ain’t the goal
When we injure ourselves we will see a reduction in our movement capacity in the area until things are back to normal. Hopefully with good rehab this will be a short period of restricted movement as we rebuild the capacity of the injured area to move. During the initial period we do see more control over the area as we do not want to re-injure it but long term this isn’t a valid option, what we require is more movement or a greater capacity/range of movement that we can move through without injuring ourselves. We need to practice as rich and varied range of movement as we can in order to fully recover from injuries and aid in helping avoid them in the future. Yes we require stability but we also need movement a graded approach to this can help ensure that we overcome the fear of movement and allow us to build our movement capacity. Our DMS rehab and the Dynamic Movement Skills work itself are both great tools to help with this.
This article by Joanne Elphinston is a nice read covering the subject.
Over training/reaching in endurance athletes
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Injury prevention and management
This is a good article, with lots of references so you can do some further reading if you wish, on Injury prevention and management.
Two take away points were;
In summary
· SS(static stretching) does not appear to reduce injury risk and any effect on earlier return to sport is of marginal clinical significance.
· In contrast, a graduated strength training program appears to significantly reduce injury risk and significantly reduce the time to return to sport after injury.
Injury prevention and management among athletic populations
The week in review
Here are a few bits and pieces from what I’ve been reading this week.
Ben Cormack at Cor-Kinetic makes some great points regarding joint mobility and our ability to express range of movement in a joint. It has become almost a must do before you do any kind of workout and yet aggressively going after increased range of movement pre workout may not aid your performance and may, in fact, actually hinder it or at least be a waste of time as you don’t need the extra ROM or have no control over it so your brain won’t allow you to access it. Here is Ben’s article.
This one from Running Times looks at different strategies for recovery. Whilst it is aimed at runners the principles apply to all sports with the bottom line being that unless you are getting enough sleep and eating enough quality food no amount of ice baths, compression gear, or creatine will make any difference.
Richmond Stace talks about Andy Murray’s cramps and what might actually cause them and it’s not dehydration or salt deficiency.
The myth of perfect form.
I came across a great article by Greg Nuckols about using perfect form, The myth of perfect form. and what it might be. It’s a great piece on why the perfect form that is often talked about really doesn’t exist as it is generally described. He uses the back squat as an example and talks about how chasing the mythical dream of squatting like an elite weightlifter might not be either desirable or even attainable. So lets look at how it might apply to other activities. Continue reading “The myth of perfect form.”
Strength training reduces injury rates
I picked up this link to this paper on the BJSM sebsite which looks at the effectiveness of exercise intervention in sports injuries. The conclusion from the paper was;
“In general, physical activity was shown to effectively reduce sports injuries. Continue reading “Strength training reduces injury rates”
The road to Glasgow
Just a short post today with a link to an interview with local Edinburgh runner and medal prospect at the Commonwealth Games Emily Dudgeon. Emily is one of the top 800m runners in the UK and being only 21 still has loads of potential for improving her PB of 2:02:32.